Created by Guy Ritchie
Inspired by The Gentlemen by Guy Ritchie
Story by Guy Ritchie & Matthew Read
Starring
- Theo James as Edward “Eddie” Horniman, The 13th Duke of Halstead and a former United Nations peacekeeping officer.
- Kaya Scodelario as Susan “Susie” Glass, the de facto head of Bobby Glass’ criminal syndicate while he is in prison.
- Daniel Ings as Lord Frederick “Freddy” Horniman, Eddie’s unreliable cocaine-addicted older brother.
- Joely Richardson as Sabrina Horniman, The Duchess of Halstead, Eddie, Freddy and Charly’s mother who wants to keep her family away from criminal activity.
- Joshua McGuire[a] as Peter Spencer-Forbes / Sticky Pete, a criminal con-man who targets Freddy.
- Vinnie Jones as Geoffrey Seacombe, the long-time groundskeeper of the Halstead Manor.
- Edward Fox[a] as Archibald Horniman, The 12th Duke of Halstead, the ageing father of the Horniman brothers.
- Giancarlo Esposito as Stanley Johnston, a wine-loving American billionaire who seeks to buy the Halstead Manor.
- Ray Winstone as Robert “Bobby” Glass, Susie’s father and the incarcerated head of a cannabis empire that uses the Halstead Manor grounds as part of its operation.[1]
- Freddie Fox[a] as Max Bassington, the 9th Lord Bassington Smythe and an aspiring actor with a dark secret.
- Kristofer Hivju[a] as Florian de Groot, the Belgian distributor of cannabis from England to mainland Europe through Zeebrugge.
- Laurence O’Fuarain[a] as JP Ward, the head of a traveller family who becomes Susie’s cannabis distributor.
Music by Christopher Benstead
Production
Executive producers Guy Ritchie, Matthew Read, Ivan Atkinson, Bill Block, Marn Davies, Will Gould, Marc Helwig, Frith Tiplady
Producer Hugh Warren
Cinematography Ed Wild, Björn Charpentier, Callan Green
8 episodes, running time 43–67 minutes
Production companies Moonage Pictures, Miramax Television
Guy Ritchie’s career has been a bit spotty over the years, but when he is in his favorite genre (heist stories) and has the right cast and the right approach, the results can be stellar. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is one of the all-time great heist movies. His 2019 movie effort, The Gentlemen, was popular with the same people who loved his other heist movies, but didn’t really expand his appeal beyond that genre.
The Netflix series spin-off of that movie might change that. Like most heist series (including Netflix’s most popular show of all time, Money Heist) it has a convoluted and engrossing series of multiple plotlines, with many twists and turns, unexpected rescues and savage betrayals. The characters are all engaging, even the baddies, and of course you can’t really be sure of just who the baddies are in most cases. None of them are exactly choir boys, you understand.
The casting is pitch perfect. Eddie (Theo James) is the soldier who comes home to the family estate to say goodbye to his dying father, expecting that as the second son he would be returning to his army duties after the funeral and will-reading. Instead he unexpectedly inherits the title and the estate over his older brother, Freddy (Daniel Ings), a feckless ne’er-do-well with a rather bad nose candy problem.
One of the first things the new 13th Duke of Halstead learns is that in addition to being, like most English nobles, land rich and money poor, his brother owes eight million quid to a vicious Liverpool mob from drugs and gambling. The second thing he learns is that his money flow is much greater than expected—not enough to bail out Freddie, but enough that he won’t have to sell any of the estates.
The third thing he learns is that he has inherited a partnership with Susie (Kaya Scodelario) who is the daughter of Bobby Glass, who runs one of the biggest criminal syndicates in Europe. She is there overseeing a vast underground grow operation on the estate that produces many tons of marijuana a year. Eddie is a bit surprised to learn this.
First order of business is saving Freddie’s ass, and to that end, Eddie and Suzie make a deal with the head of the Scouse outfit he’s in hock to, lowering the repayment to something they can afford, but with certain stipulations, such as having Freddie appear on video as a chicken, dancing for the Liverpudlian boys. But things go south when Freddie, oops, shoots and kills the head of the Scouses.
Plot complications ensue.
The cast is marvelous. Scodelario made her debut as Tony’s bratty kid sister in Skins, becoming the central character by the end of that remarkable series’ six-year run. She is now a formidable force in television and movie acting. Ray Winstone is Suzie’s father, pigeon-fancier, jailbird and head of a vast crime syndicate. Giancarlo Esposito (who plays Gus Fring in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul) is in a similar role here, as the pleasantly urbane sociopath who wants to buy Eddie’s estates. Other strong performances abound.
Dark humor is rife, and there are fairly brilliant satirical pokes at the British caste system, Brexit, drug dealing, and of course criminals. A large family of Rom, drawn into the mess, provide interesting commentary. And there is a religious lunatic who is head of yet another crime syndicate.
The series is a lot of fun, and hopefully Guy Ritchie will continue to mine this particular vein of action-adventure shows.