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Steve Coogan as Don in Legends Netflix
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What you need to know about... the new series Legends
The Netflix series is based on the real-life story of British Customs staff who were sent to work undercover.
IF A CRIME drama based on a little-known real-life story sounds enticing to you, you’re definitely going to want to check out the new series Legends.
Arriving on Netflix on 7 May, this is about a gang of British Customs employees who were sent to work undercover to tackle drug smuggling in the 1990s (yes, really).
Here’s everything you need to know about Legends.
It’s based on a true story
It sounds fantastical, but Legends is indeed based on a true story – not one that’s gotten a lot of press.
Here’s how Netflix explains it:
In the early 1990s, Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise was losing its battle with illegal drug smuggling across Britain’s borders. The solution was extraordinary. In a top-secret operation, a small team of Customs employees were sent undercover. Their task – to infiltrate Britain’s most dangerous drug gangs.
But these were not trained spies. They were normal men and women, plucked from ordinary lives around the UK, put through a basic training regime and tasked with building new identities in the criminal underworld. These identities were called Legends.
In the trailer, the staff are warned:
“It’ll be the greatest challenge of your lives, taking on a level of danger and risk unimaginable.”
Sounds… terrifying! But also a great basis for a thrilling TV show.
What else do we know about the story?
In an interview with Tudum, its writer Neil Forsyth explained that during the time that this all happened, Britain was entering a recession.
“A lot of [the Legends] are from working-class backgrounds without any kind of financial support underpinning their decisions. So they’re trapped, and that’s very important,” he said.
They could see how their life would play out for them, but this offered the chance to go down a different – albeit more risky – route.
“And suddenly, they have this opportunity to do something completely different that satisfies a lot of their unique personal motivations and hopes and dreams, but with it comes an enormous danger, and they can’t resist plunging into that.”
This is what interested Forsyth – how it was ”the last throw of the dice for them, in terms of doing something with their life where they really think they’ll make a mark in the world”.
So the offer might be seductive, but it will lead them into danger too.
There’s a great cast
Among the cast in this series are Steve Coogan, Tom Burke, Charlotte Ritchie, Hayley Squires and Aml Ameen.
Coogan was most recently in Saipan, while you’ll have seen Tom Burke in The Souvenir and Black Bag. Charlotte Ritchie was in Ghosts and Feel Good, Hayley Squires was in The Night Manager and Aml Ameen starred in Kidulthood.
It’s of note that Tom Burke plays Guy, a customs agent who works alongside his wife, Sophie (played by Ritchie). This character is based on a real Legend named Guy Stanton, who spoke with Forsyth while he was developing the series.
Who’s the writer of Legends?
That would be Neil Forsyth, who has already proven his mettle with the series The Gold, which is also about a real-life event – the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery, where gold bullion, diamonds and cash were stolen from a warehouse near Heathrow Airport.
He also wrote the Scottish thriller series Guilt. In other words, we’re in safe hands here.
He said of Legends:
I’ve written shows in the past that are about well-known events. You then tell the story behind it, that isn’t so well known. This is unique, in that the work of the Legends is barely known at all. There was this core team of people that did all of this, and they did it almost without any public recognition.
When can I watch Legends?
The series begins streaming on Netflix on 7 May.
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