"I'm not interested in peace..."
”We’re born into a certain world, it’s chosen for us, some might think it’s brutal, I say it’s glorious. Once you enter this world, you can build an empire, you can be a king.”
Gangs of London is a 9-episode British Gangster Drama loosely based on the videogame of the same name, debuting in April 2020 on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK, with a US release on AMC+ later the same year. It was created by Gareth Huw Evans and Matt Flannery, known for The Raid and its sequel, with some episodes also being directed by Xavier Gens and Corin Hardy. It stars Colm Meaney, Joe Cole, Sope Dirisu, Lucian Msamati and Michelle Fairley.
The plot follows the travails of the Wallace dynasty, the most powerful criminal family in modern-day London, when patriarch Finn Wallace is assassinated and no-one knows who ordered the hit. Family scion Sean Wallace makes enemies among his father's associates when he puts a hold on all of their operations, turning the city upside down to find the ones who ordered Finn's murder. Complicating matters is Elliot Finch, a low-level chancer within the Wallace organisation's ranks, who sees an opportunity for advancement in the turmoil of the new power vacuum.
The show has aired three seasons.
Gangs of London contains examples of:
- All for Nothing: Kinney survives the campsite massacre, crosses England while grievously wounded, defends himself and his son against a heavily-armed hit squad... and still has to watch Darren die in front of him, feet away from the boat taking him to freedom.
- Always a Bigger Fish: As the series progresses, it becomes apparent that the Wallaces and the other London gangs are just small fish and the events are orchestrated by people with a lot more power and resources. When these people want you dead, they will send a squad of Danish ex-Special Forces mercenaries after you.
- Badass Family: The Wallaces beyond being the most powerful crime family in London are a family of killers (with the exception of Jacqui, and even she grabs a gun to defend herself).
- Ditto for the Dumanis: The Patriarch Ed is a veteran crime lord and The Consigliere, son Alex is The Smart Guy of the Wallace/Dumani criminal organisation. Shannon previously murdered her son’s father and willingly becomes a Cop Killer when Vicky threatens her son with social services.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Elliot in episode 1 during the Bar Brawl including a Badass Longcoat. Several others also count such as Ed Dumani and Luan Dushaj.
- Bloody Hallucinations of Guilt: Following betraying and watching Sean Wallace getting shot in the season one final, Alex Dumani is dealing with this at the beginning of season two, at one point having a graphic hallucination of Sean bleeding out on the floor reaching out to him for help, representing his feelings of guilt for turning on his friend. Its partially because of this guilt (and partially the sheer stress of running the money laundering) that he decides to kill himself when The Investors catch onto his plans to escape, rather than accept Eliot's offer to fight them.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Asif tortured Lale's husband to death but he barely remembers the incident. Over the years he killed a lot or people in many brutal ways.
- The Cartel: Asif and Lale’s organisations are Pakistani and Kurdish examples.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Several instances:
- In the first episode, Sean dangles a witness over a building before burning him alive.
- In season two, Ed Dumani is subject to this by Big Bad Koba.
- The Consigliere: Ed, to Finn and thereafter what he tried to be to Sean.
- Constructive Body Disposal: Used in the introduction of ruthless Nigerian gangster Mosi. Showing off a skyscraper he's having constructed whilst finalising a joint venture with Albanian Mob boss Luan, as a warning Mosi introduces Luan to the last person who failed him then has the walls of his cage boarded up, all whilst he's still pleading for mercy, Mosi then has it filled with concrete becoming one of the skyscraper's pillars. The scene pans out showing multiple other pillars, suggesting it's not the first time he's done this.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: So many. Death by dart, death by cooking alive, death by butcher's knife, and so on…
- Dark Action Girl: Lale, who is a former soldier and the leader of the Kurds.
- Deuteragonist: Sean is the Villain Protagonist, but Elliot, a henchman on the rise and an undercover cop with immense fighting skills, gets about as much screentime and has the second-most important plot.
- Driven to Suicide: Alex Dumani, in the first episode of season 2, takes his own life due to the Investors sending Elliot to kill him and despite the latters pleas that they can both get out with the evidence he has on a flash drive, Alex by then believes there is no chance of escape.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: One of the main themes of the show. All but the most depraved gangsters on display have families they care for deeply.
- Everyone Has Standards: In the end, even Sean discovers that there are some things he will not do. He draws the line at hurting young kids to get back at their parents.
- Fight Scene: Bar brawls, knife fights, shootouts, brutal hand-to-hand combat and more.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: Several of the Wallace organisation’s henchmen and security personnel are ex-“squaddies”. Lale is also an example as a Kurdish freedom fighter.
- Generic Ethnic Crime Gang: The titular gangs are each a particular nationality: Albanian, Algerian, Chinese, Georgian, Kurdish, Nigerian and Pakistani groups are all shown, as well as the London Gangster Wallaces and Dumanis. There’s also Marian who comes from The Irish Mob as well as the Welsh Travellers.
- Gorn: Gareth Evans' taste for ultraviolence seen in The Raid is on full display here - this is among the most brutal shows on contemporary television.
- The Hero: Elliot fills this role as an undercover police officer attempting to infiltrate the Wallace criminal organisation to bring them down. Also serves as the main Action Hero of the series.
- Improbable Weapon User:Sean: You did all that on your own? What was it, six of them?Elliot: Eight, but I had a dart, so...
- Inadequate Inheritor: Finn Wallace raised Sean to take over the Wallace criminal organization but in the end even Finn decided that it would be a very bad idea for Sean to be boss. Finn's death results in Sean taking over anyway and things quickly go downhill.
- Inciting Incident: Finn Wallace, head of the Wallace crime family and by extension all organized crime in London, is killed in the first few minutes, causing a hunt for his killer. But the real inciting incident is at his funeral. An angry Sean Wallace declares that no business will be done until the killer is found, which means the families must either ignore his order and risk punishment, or obey and lose income. This is enough to risk a war.
- The Irish Mob: Finn Wallace was an Irish immigrant who grew into the head of the largest organised crime family in London. Marian herself also qualifies as she comes from a family of Irish criminals.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Luan has spent most of the series acting scared and being dismissed when he makes demands, but when Mosi threatens his wife and children, Luan kills Mosi and his three guards in the space of ten seconds before gouging out Mosi's eyes, without taking any injuries himself.
- London Gangster: The series revolves around them.
- Made of Iron: Several characters absorb absolutely obscene amounts of punishment and still manage to fight on. Elliot is just the prime example.
- Kinney is also an example, as seen in episode 5. After surviving the massacre at the travelers' encampment, he manages to make it on foot, badly wounded, to the safe house where his son Darren is being kept. When the Danish hit squad attacks the house, Kinney manages to remain standing even after sustaining multiple bullet wounds, and still has the physical ability and presence of mind to toss a grenade out of a window, taking out several members of the hit squad. It takes being shot in the head point-blank to finish him off for good.
- The Mafiya: Luan Dushaj and his Albanian criminal organisation.
- Mob Debt: This becomes the driving plot for Luan Dushaj, the leader of the Albanians, during the second half of season one. After years of effort Luan manages to strike a deal with Finn Wallace to build a luxury skyscraper, thus securing his family's wealth and power, but lacking the necessary capital Luan reluctantly entered a partnership with the vicious Nigerian Crime lord Mosi. However, Finn cheats him and steals the money. To Luan's horror Mosi arrives in England with his goons, and makes it clear he doesn't care Luan doesn't have the money, either he finds a way to pay him back in the next few days or Mosi will murder his entire family.
- More Dakka: How Sean deals with The Travellers' encampment in the second episode. The hit squad in Episode 5 operate much the same way.
- One-Man Army: Elliot. In the first episode's Bar Brawl he takes out eight men by himself.
- Poor Communication Kills: A lot of conflict could have been avoided if Ed told Sean what was really going on right after Finn was killed. Ed had good reasons to keep silent but it ended in catastrophe anyway.
- Psycho for Hire: Cole, the "help" that Sean hire in episode 3. Everyone is either fearful or disgusted by him. The way he relishes the chance to butcher a mother and two little girls in front of Eliot, it's not hard to see why.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Sean's reprisals are not quiet.Sean: I’m not interested in peace.
- Ruthless Foreign Gangsters: Several examples, ranging from Pakistani and Kurdish to Albanian and Nigerian. The trope is somewhat Inverted, however, in that while they're all powerful in their own right, the homegrown Wallace family are still the most dangerous of the lot.
- The Smart Guy: Alex Dumani, who manages the financial side of the Wallace and Dumani criminal organisation.
- The Triads and the Tongs: The Chinese crime organisation run by Wong, which isn’t given the same level of prominence as the others.
- Villain Protagonist: Sean Wallace. The first scene of the series is him burning a man to death. A man we later discover knew nothing about Sean's father's murder and was just walking by when it happened. The casual way he does it drives home what kind of series this is.
- The Yardies: Nigerian variant with Mosi and his organisation however they are far from the gangbangers this trope is typically associated with.
- Your Head Asplode: Mark takes a bullet for Sean. One big enough to obliterate everything north of his throat.
