Series / The Gentlemen

Mind your manor...

The Gentlemen is a television series created by Guy Ritchie. It is a spin-off of Ritchie's 2019 film of the same name.

Eddie Halstead (Theo James) is the second son of the Duke of Halstead and has chosen a career in the British Army. With the old Duke on his deathbed, Eddie returns home to help his mother Lady Sabrina (Joely Richardson), his older brother Freddy and younger sister Charlotte. When the Duke dies, everyone is shocked to find that Freddy has been cut out of the will and the title and estate goes to Eddie instead. Eddie is subsequently approached by Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario) who reveals to him that the Halstead Estate is part of a marijuana growing empire and offers him a lot of money to continue the arrangement. Eddie now has to navigate an unfamiliar criminal underworld and try to keep himself and his family safe.

It was released onto Netflix on March 7, 2024.

The Gentlemen provides examples of

• Actor Allusion:
  • Stanley Johnston is the kingpin of a meth empire who poses as a legitimate businessman.
• Adolf Hitlarious: Episode 4 has Upper-Class Twit and aspiring actor Max revealing he has collected not only Adolf Hitler's paintings but even his legendary missing nutsack. As it happens, Max claims he isn't a Nazi, he's just convinced if not for that injury, Hitler would have become one of the greatest artists of his time and thinks he can somehow "absorb" that greatness. It doesn't end well for him.
• Affably Evil: As the title suggests, most of the characters act as Gentlemen and are rather polite and friendly - namely Stanley Johnston, Bobby Glass, Susie Glass and Eddie himself after he embraces the criminal lifestyle - despite being gangsters. They contrast the more traditional street level gangsters like Sticky Pete, Mercy or Toni Blair.
• Affectionate Nickname: The Halstead siblings regularly use these with each other. Edward is teased with “Edwina” and “Eduardo”, Charlotte is called “Chuckles” by both of her brothers, and Freddy is referred to as “Fredward”.
• Always a Bigger Fish:
  • Many of the bit players that Eddie encounters are actually backed by much more powerful criminal organizations.
  • Tommy Dixon is part of the Dixon Clan, led by John "The Gospel" Dixon.
  • Mercy is working for The Cartel
  • Sticky Pete learns his lesson and aligns himself with The Mafiya for protection.
  • Henry Collins is so brazen because he is backed by Stanley Johnston.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: When Eddie and Suzie negotiate with the Travellers, JP, their leader makes it clear that he does not care that Eddie is a duke and that it holds absolutely no sway with any of his people. We then see JP's mother fawning over Eddie and being absolutely thrilled that a member of the upper aristocracy is sitting in her caravan and having tea with her son.
• Animal Motif: An interesting and Invoked example with Freddy and chickens, Tommy Dixon forces him to dress up as a chicken as a form of mockery because he deems it a fitting symbol of his Lethally Stupid Upper-Class Twit nature, but also to psychologically break him down as “repentance” for failing to repay his debt. Like a chicken Freddy is not particularly smart on his own and tends to not think his actions through which causes plenty of problems for Eddie and Susie throughout the series. And of course he wears a ridiculous chicken outfit during the end of episode 1 and the start of episode 2.
  Tommy Dixon: There’s a reason I didn’t ask you to get dressed as an eagle. Eagles don’t dance. They soar. Through the air. But a chicken’s the bottom of the food chain. You’re a chicken, aren’t you, Freddy? You had to get bailed out of a debt you couldn’t repay. But you can repent. My brother’s a big fan of repentance. And a proportion of this debt is his. He sees this dance as a parable. Therefore, you don’t just pretend to be a chicken. You’ve got to actually be a chicken.
• Ax-Crazy: Freddie has his moments though is more of a downplayed example crossing over into Psychopathic Manchild (though mainly when he has snorted cocaine). Mercy Moreno is a more literal Played Straight example going so far as to murder two characters loudly with a machete.
• Bad Guy Bar: The underground boxing match is attended by every Generic Ethnic Crime Gang in the region, seemingly also being a Truce Zone based on the comment about Russians and Ukrainians sitting side by side.
• Battle Butler: Geoffrey, the manors groundskeeper played by Vinnie Jones.
• Because I'm Good At It: Played With. Over the course of season 1, Eddie wants to leave the business behind. But it's undeniable he's very good at being a criminal (he's constantly told so by others) and it's clear he enjoys some parts of the "job". In the end, he willingly becomes part of the Glass family's business, but he doesn't do it solely for fun although that may play a part here.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Eddie's and Susie's partnership frequently verges into this, despite Eddie's attempts at evoking Teeth-Clenched Teamwork from working with a criminal that is a potential threat to his family. Many characters, such as Jack, wonders if they are a couple or aren't at least sleeping together. Susie even Lampshades this when she brings Eddie back home drunk from a party, telling him she "[doesn't] fuck the help". In Episode 5, the morning after they partied and drank with the Travellers, JP states they both were "wild" on the sofa, and the flashback montage shows them sitting together and their faces close, but whatever they did is not elaborated upon. The ship is seemingly sunk by the events of Episode 6 and its aftermath in the last two episodes, but the series end with them locking eyes as Eddie kills Henry Collins.
• Big Brother Instinct: Inverted. The series starts with Eddie trying his damndest to help pay off a debt Freddy has with a drug cartel, not because of a Noodle Incident the latter keeps bringing up about saving Eddie from drowning as child, but because they’re brothers. And while he agrees to Tommy’s offer to cut down out the interest in exchange for an embarrassing video of Freddy, he quickly gets sick of Tommy putting Freddy through further humiliation with an impromptu rehearsal where he belittles Freddy constantly and tries telling him to get it over with.
  • Played Straight in Episode 3 when Freddy refuses to leave Eddie behind at the car heist, despite being scared out of his mind and Eddie repeatedly telling him to leave. Eddie escapes without his brother's help, and Freddy ends up being captured, but its the thought that counts.
  • When Susie's brother is hospitalized, she either remains by his bedside or goes out to kill whomever she holds responsible for much of the next episode.
• Billionaire Wristband: Stanley Johnston wears a Petek Philippe. But not just any Patek Philippe, but one previously owned by Winston Churchill.
• The Bore: Rick, a criminal accountant, is well paid and smart but his true gift is that he truly loves the ins and outs of numbers to the point he will go on and on, becoming so boring that his bosses barely care anymore about what he does as long as it works. One boss openly says he's kept at arm's length "because he's so fucking boring."
• Call-Back: Several to the original movie.
  • Tommy Dixon wants to humiliate Freddy by filming an embarrassing video of him set to "Old Macdonald Had a Farm". Much like the Toddlers did to Big Dave (thankfully it doesn’t lead to the same level of humiliation).
  • Eddie and Susie have Florian de Groot poisoned in order to extort information from him before giving him the antidote upon his compliance. Mickey did the same to Lord George, both doing so to show their victim that they could get to them anywhere.
• Carrying the Antidote: How Susie and Eddie extort the name of The Mole from Florian de Groot.
• Churchgoing Villain: The Dixon crime family of cocaine dealers, lead by Sinister Minister John "The Gospel" Dixon.
• The Clan: The Dixons, and The Wards.
• Cleanup Crew: Felix makes bodies (and living witnesses) disappear on behalf of Susie Glass.
• Cloudcuckoolander Jimmy, the marijuana farmer working for Susie.
• Daddy's Little Villain: Susie really loves and adores her father who's role as head of the drug operation she gladly fills while the latter serves his prison sentence.
• Did Not Think This Through:
  • Thanks to his addictions and idiocy, Freddy shows this all the time. Take when he throws away a phone before thinking it's better to see who the guy was texting a warning to and that said text suddenly breaking off would be suspicious. Or trying to push an idea to mix crack and weed together, ignoring that's scientifically impossible.
  • Susie's father tells her off that her Roaring Rampage of Revenge against everyone responsible for her brother being beaten into a coma is incredibly short-sighted as killing so many people in broad daylight only gets attention and especially means that Collins knows she's coming. He points out that Susie is thinking with her emotions and not considering why Collins is so confident making this move as he clearly is being backed by someone else and all Susie's actions are doing is making it harder to figure out who and leaving the family vulnerable.
• Didn't See That Coming: In Episode 6 Susie is thrown when money launderer and promoter Henry Collins demands to take over her operation. She's brushing him off only for Collins to reveal the "fixed" fight Susie's brother Jack is taking part in is really against a monster boxer who beats him down. Susie soon realizes someone is playing a dangerous game against her.
• The Don: Susie’s father, (somewhat) incarcerated crime lord Bobby Glass.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • The series opens on Edward cooly resolving several disputes between civilians at a border crossing, showing he’s a flexible Reasonable Authority Figure.
  • Freddy is first introduce as seemingly calm and solemn, managing the estate in the wake of his father’s death. Then he learns he’s been passed over for the inheritance, and throws a temper tantrum.
• Evil Is Petty: After Susie negotiates with him, Tommy agrees to waive the interest on Freddy’s debt and cut the amount owed back down to four million, on the condition that he gets to record him dressed like a chicken doing a silly dance while calling himself a cock. And he even goes as far to try and have him do it twice, the first time to make sure it’s worthy of recording, and belittles and insults him the entire time because he wants him to do a perfect performance. This backfires when a drug-fuelled and thoroughly pissed off Freddy grabs a shotgun and shoots his head off.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Eddie clearly is doing his best to not only hold the family together but keep them alive while his drug-addicted, short-tempered and frankly idiot brother Freddy would have them bankrupt and/or dead in no time.
• Foreshadowing: In episode 1, Freddy is seen practicing shooting with a shotgun. He uses it to kill Tommy Dixon by the episode's end.
• Friend to All Living Things: Geoff adopts many hurt animals, even ones he is supposed to kill for his gamekeeping job.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: the reluctant arc of Eddie, a former peacekeeper who finds himself deeper and deeper in the criminal underworld. Boxing promotor and money launderer Henry Collins is also a veteran, specifically a paratrooper.
• Gargle Blaster: JP, the head of the clan of Irish Travellers carries around a bottle of spirits made from apples and antifreeze, that is tradition to drink to seal deals.
• He Knows Too Much: Eddie wants to spare Jethro, the money counter who witnessed Freddy kill Tommy Dixon, but Susie arranges for Felix to kill he leaves England by boat.
• Inadequate Inheritor: Freddy is the older brother and, by tradition, is supposed to inherit the title and the estate. However, he is a cocaine addict and has incredibly poor judgement. The old Duke decides to leave it all to Eddie instead.
• In Love with the Mark: Gabrielle first gets involved with Jimmy to take advantage of his involvement in the weed trade, but their relationship gets deeper than that to the point that she is at least affected by a threat to his life.
• Instant Messenger Pigeon: Bobby Glass gives Susie pigeons to give the different prospective buyers of their operation as a way to communicate their offers to him.
• Land Poor: The Dukes of Halsteads own a huge estate with a large mansion but on its own it is not profitable and it costs a lot of money to maintain. The old Duke realized that the family was going broke so he entered into the deal with Bobby Glass to use part of the estate as a marijuana growing facility.
• Lethally Stupid: Freddy's stupid actions routinely put not only himself but also Eddie and the rest of the family in mortal danger.
• Loan Shark: Freddy's big problem is that he did not borrow money from just any standard loan shark but from Tommy Dixon, a crazy, vicious drug lord. Tommy not only wants his money back with outrageous interest but also thinks that Freddy insulted him and wants to psychologically destroy Freddy for it.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Neither Eddie or Freddy had any idea of their father's drug business until after his death. Their mother knew but kept it quiet.
• London Gangster: The Glass family.
• Luxury Prison Suite: Taken to absurd lengths with the treatment of Bobby Glass. We see him lounging outside, having barbeque prepared for him by a Japanese gourmet chef, who is even allowed to have knives laying around in a prison. A nordic sauna and a swimming pond are also mentioned.
• Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Aside from the Luxury Prison Suite accomodation, Bobby Glass can freely hold meetings with his daughter, and even her new criminal associate with no guards in sight, and has access to an Instant Messenger Pigeon coop.
• My Nayme Is: "Stanley Johnston, with a T".
• Named After Someone Famous: Toni Blair, the Kosovar gangster that deals with Susie Glass. A Truth in Television moment in that Tony Blair is actually a somewhat common given name in Kosovo for his involvement with the 1999 Kosovo War.
• Nouveau Riche: Stanley Johnston as an example that plays with the usual stereotypes a little bit - Rather than spending his money on flashy Conspicuous Consumption, he does everything he can to appear to be a refined aristocrat, but the ridiculous amount of money he's willing to spend to do so causes him to come off as tasteless and superficial anyway.
• Oop North: The Dixon crime family, hailing from Liverpool.
• Open Secret: By the halfway point of the series, it seems like most of Europe knows about the "secret" weed farms.
• Plot-Triggering Death: The death of Eddie, Freddy and Charly’s father the Duke of Halstead is what leads to the plot of the series.
• Pragmatic Villainy: The Glass family steers clear from the cocaine business, not for any moral reason, but because the business attracts crazy and dangerous people, and want nothing to do with Jonston's meth business for the same reason.
• Protagonist Journey to Villain: Eddie starts the series as a peacekeeping soldier and aristocrat who doesn't want to have anything to do with the illegal business of the Glass family and only cooperates with them to repay his brother's debts. He spends most of season 1 trying to get out of the business, only to realize he's very competent as a criminal. In the season finale, he finally embraces this side of himself and willingly takes part of the drug business.
• The Queenpin: Susie Glass, with her father in jail at the moment, and Mercy Moreno.
• Resignations Not Accepted: Eddie wants his family out of the drug business, but quickly realizes that the Glass family might not be happy with losing access to the Halstead Estate and the profits it brings. It finally comes to a head in Episode 6.
  Eddie: When will you let me and my family go?
  Susie: Never.
• Robbing the Mob Bank: Eddie is tasked with stealing a Lamborghini from a dealership, which unbeknownst to him, is also full of cocaine, and the dealership is staffed by Colombian cartel members working with Mercy Moreno.
• Ruthless Foreign Gangsters: Mercy, and her Colombian associates revel in brutality, and insist making the brothers and Susie watch as she executes Toni Blair with a machete.
• Ship Tease: Eddie has two instances with both Rosie and Susie.
• Shown Their Work: In the UK, the inheritance rules of hereditary titles are set in stone^note Priority goes to the title holder's legitimate sons by order of birth. If none are available then the next-closest, legitimate, blood male relative inherits the title. If none of those are availalble, then the title is considered extinct. and making exceptions for established title requires drawn-out petitions and royal assents that none can be bothered to make. However, it is possible to ask for special exceptions to be included in letters patent when new titles are gifted, as the Halstead family lawyer mentions to explain why Eddie, the second son, inherits the Dukedom instead of Freddy, the first son.
• Sinister Minister: John "The Gospel" Dixon, who is the head of a cocaine empire staffed by his brothers, and is shown to read the bible to people they torture and kill.
• Smug Snake: Sticky Pete, who as the name suggests is a bit of a slimeball.
• Smuggling with Dolls: JP and the Travellers use statues of the Virgin Mary to smuggle marijuana to continental Europe for Susan and Eddie
• Spanner in the Works: Freddy can be this to Eddie with his impulsiveness and stupidity. A good example is how Eddie's initial plan to pay off the debt is marred when Freddy takes the money in the safe to bet on a "sure thing" boxing match, which turns out to be a fixed fight scam and put them deeper in the hole.
• Spare to the Throne: Eddie is the second son and everyone expects the title and bulk of the estate to go to Freddy. Eddie never expected to inherit much and was planning to return to the Army after the funeral. He even refers to himself as "the spare".
• Those Wacky Nazis: Max, the new Lord Basington wears an SS signet ring, owns a German Shepherd, a secret basement full of Nazi memorabilia including functioning guns, paintings by Adolf Hitler and Hitler's missing testicle.
• Totally Not a Criminal Front: Mercy's car dealership deals in high-end sports cars and cocaine smuggling but has just a bunch of cheap cars sitting in the lot.
• Upper-Class Twit: Freddie is a textbook aristocrat who hasn't had to put in a days honest work in his life, and has been conned by fellow UCT Sticky Pete, who is more crafty but still also an arrogant twerp who counts too much on his wealth and status to protect him. The young Lord Basington also is an out-of-touch aristocrat.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: When casing the dealership to steal a Lamborghini for Toni Blair, Freddy and his wife pretend to be Russian oligarchs, complete with an ear-grating fake Russian accent.
• White Gangbangers: The Kosovar gangsters working with Toni Blair dress and talk like roadmen.