Gangs of London (Season 3)

Director: Various including Kim Hong Sun
Script: Paul McKenna, Kevin Rundle, etc.
Cast: Sopė Dirĭsŭ, Orli Shuka, Asif Raza Mir, Narges Rashidi, Lucian Msamati, Rich Dormer, Brin Vernel, Michaelle Fairley, Dippa Bennett-Warner, Joe Cole, Andrew Koji
Running time: 383 mins
Year: 2025
Certificate: 18

Season three of Gangs of London opens with large numbers of party goers at a gang-owed club dying, along with hundreds of other drug users all over London, because of a spiked batch of cocaine. As a result of this ‘technical glitch’ Elliot Carver (Sopė Dirĭsŭ) must employ some of his detective skills to hunt for answers before an all-out gang war breaks out through the capital city.

Initially, evidence points to Sean Wallace being to blame, despite him currently residing in prison, but it soon becomes apparent that all is not what it seems and that other, more powerful hands are behind the drug sabotage. And, while he’s hunting for answers, Elliot must confront a devastating truth about the deaths of his wife and son, who he thought were killed in a hit-and-run accident. In doing so he uncovers a link to a much bigger conspiracy, one which threatens to affect everyone residing in the UK.

First up, I have to say that I probably enjoyed this more than Season Two, although that earlier series was still highly entertaining, if a bit messy in its execution at times. Series Three plays out more like a murder mystery, but on an industrial scale, with the usual high levels of uber violence on display, just as we’ve come to expect from the series. And, as per usual, there are a number of impressive action set-pieces that make Gangs of London stand out from similar types of gangster fiction. For example, during the opening episode there’s a great sequence set in a carnival; in episode two there’s a cool set-piece involving Sean’s breakout from jail and, in episode four, there’s a fun over-the-top shootout in a church. Although, it has to be said that one of the things that lets the series down, at least for me, is the general lack of cops, who seem to be largely absent from GOL, which seems to be set in its own version of London where nobody reports gunfights, so the criminal gangs can get away with fire-fights, even in some public buildings!

And, as with previous series of Gangs of London, there are plenty of double-crossings, power-play politics and surprises in store. Just when you think a major character is safe, they get bumped off, often in a grisly fashion. While this time round a couple of the more peripheral characters from earlier seasons get more to do, this series introduces a couple of new major characters including Marion’s brother, Cornelius, (played by Rich Dormer), and hired assassin Zeek (Andrew Koji), who I think will turn out to be one of the more interesting characters in future seasons.

As one expects from a TV series made at this level of budget, the production value is high, as is the standard of acting and choreography, although a couple of sequences were diminished by poor editing choices and annoying camera moves.

Gangs of London also continues to push boundaries for onscreen violence and grue and Series Three continues in this vein, especially during a birthing sequence, which is set during an exciting office chase, ending with a goon being strangled by an umbilical cord! Yes, you did read that correctly.

Overall, I’d certainly recommend Season Three of Gangs of London to fans of the previous two series, and I’m certainly looking forward to the next series, which is praise in itself.

Dazzler Media have brought out a fairly basic Blu-ray of the series. However, it does feature a number of watchable featurettes, although they are all of an electronic press kit variety. These include:

A Look Inside (4.5 mins) – A ‘talking heads’ piece featuring many of the key players talking about this new series and their character’s motivations.

Creating Gangs of London (3.38 mins) – The production designer talks about the carnival shoot-out, while the head of production shows designs for the bath house fight.

Action! Kim Hong Sun (2.54 mins) – The lead director on the series is interviewed about his contribution to Gangs of London, and judging by others interviewed it seems his contribution was very substantial.

How they did that: Stunts (3.29 mins) – The stunt Coordinator, Adam Horton, is interviewed, with some nice behind-the-scenes shots included.