{"id":1924105,"date":"2026-05-07T07:00:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T04:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1924105"},"modified":"2026-05-07T07:00:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T04:00:38","slug":"legends-review-sprawling-crime-drama-spotlights-britains-unsung-drug-busters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1924105","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Legends\u2019 review: sprawling crime drama spotlights Britain\u2019s unsung drug-busters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Legends_Steve_Coogan.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"template-id-3332206\" class=\"post-3332206 tdb_templates type-tdb_templates status-publish post\">\n<div id=\"tdi_65\" class=\"tdc-zone\">\n<div class=\"tdc_zone tdi_66  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div id=\"tdi_67\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_68  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_70  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_71 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_71\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"696\" height=\"442\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Legends_Steve_Coogan-696x442.jpg\" alt=\"Legends\" title=\"Legends_Steve_Coogan\"><figcaption class=\"tdb-caption-text\">Steve Coogan in &#8216;Legends&#8217;. CREDIT: Netflix<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_72\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_73  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_75  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_breadcrumbs tdi_76 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-breadcrumbs \" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_76\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span>Reviews<\/span><span>TV Reviews<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_title tdi_77 tdb-single-title td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_77\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">\u2018Legends\u2019 review: sprawling crime drama spotlights Britain\u2019s unsung drug-busters<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_78 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_78\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Steve Coogan and Tom Burke star in a convoluted thriller about unlikely undercover agents<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_review_overall tdi_79 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_79\">\n<table class=\"td-review td-fix-index\">\n<tr class=\"td-review-footer rate_stars\">\n<td class=\"td-review-score\">\n<div class=\"td-review-overall\">\n<div class=\"td-review-final-score\">3<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_80 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_80\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span> Nick Levine<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_81 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_81\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2026-05-07T08:00:38+01:00\">7th May 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_82\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_83  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_85  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap big-read-dropcap\">F<\/strong>orget the generic title \u2013 this Netflix thriller should really be called \u201cunsung legends\u201d. Back in 1990, a handful of UK customs employees were plucked from their humdrum jobs searching suitcases or tracking down illegally imported porn mags, and transformed into undercover agents. Their mission was to bring down an international heroin-smuggling ring that was fast becoming public enemy number one.<\/p>\n<p>Written and created by seasoned TV dramatist Neil Forsyth, <em>Legends<\/em> makes it abundantly clear that the so-called \u201cwar on drugs\u201d was at least partly politically motivated. At the time, Britain\u2019s ailing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher needed a convenient bogeyman to vanquish so she could keep her treacherous Cabinet at bay.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Beyond the political context, though, the extent to which <em>Legends<\/em> is strictly factual feels more nebulous. Forsyth met many of the officers his characters are based on, but he\u2019s presumably taken liberties with their personal and professional lives to protect their identities. Certainly, there\u2019s a boilerplate quality to the backstories here: nearly every recruit is an outsider who\u2019s been screwed over by the class system in some way.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3944318\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3944318\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3944318\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Legends_Tom_Burke_Charlotte_Ritchie.jpg\" alt=\"Legends\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3944318\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charlotte Ritchie and Tom Burke in \u2018Legends\u2019. CREDIT: Netflix<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In episode one, we see the team being assembled by principled civil servant Blake (Douglas Hodge) and former undercover agent Don (Steve Coogan), a straight-talking northerner who explains the concept of a \u201clegend\u201d. Essentially, it\u2019s an alter ego so completely convincing that even the agent starts to believe it. As the series progresses, former border force officer Guy (Tom Burke), the most compelling character here, gets fully consumed by his role as a smack-moving middleman.<\/p>\n<p>While he worms his way into a drug-smuggling network rooted in London\u2019s Turkish community, plucky Kate (Hayley Squires) and buttoned-up Bailey (Aml Ameen) try to find out who\u2019s running the main supply chain in Liverpool. Meanwhile, seemingly privileged Erin (Jasmine Blackborow) takes on a deskbound role as an all-round fixer and code-cracker who makes their field work possible.<\/p>\n<p>Unfolding over six slightly convoluted episodes, <em>Legends<\/em> lacks the light touch of Forsyth\u2019s previous crime thriller, <em>The Gold<\/em>, which dramatised the 1983 Brink\u2019s-Mat robbery. Perhaps because <em>Legends<\/em> tells a less well-known story, Forsyth\u2019s dialogue works overtime to remind us of the stakes involved. Within the space of a few minutes, we\u2019re told that the operatives are trying to \u201cpull off the biggest result in customs history\u201d while the smugglers are plotting the \u201cbiggest heroin importation the country has ever seen\u201d.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thankfully, there\u2019s enough intrigue to keep you persevering through some protracted moments. Though Coogan never fully disappears into his role, Gerald Kyd is suitably mercurial as an enigmatic accomplice called Mylonas, and Burke makes Guy an entirely convincing mole. As he seizes his opportunity to build a more exciting life, he becomes less sensitive to the impact on his understanding wife Sophie (Charlotte Ritchie) and their young daughter.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, it\u2019s both a testament to <em>Legends<\/em>\u2018 world-building, and a reflection of its flaws, that you\u2019re left wondering whether the real-life agents may have been even more extraordinary.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018Legends\u2019 is streaming now on Netflix<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_tags tdi_87 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_87\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<ul class=\"tdb-tags\">\n<li><span>Related Topics<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Netflix<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_88\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_89  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_91  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"vc_row_inner tdi_93  vc_row vc_inner wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column_inner tdi_95  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-inner-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"vc_column-inner\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_97 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>More Stories<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap td_flex_block_1 tdi_98 td-pb-border-top td_module_flex_1--card td_module_flex_1--card--highlight td_block_template_2 tdc-no-posts td_flex_block\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_98\">\n<div id=\"tdi_98\" class=\"td_block_inner td-mc1-wrap\">\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Gaming News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">\u2018Devil May Cry\u2019 season 2 soundtrack is full of \u201800s rock 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class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap big-read-dropcap\">F<\/strong>orget the generic title \u2013 this Netflix thriller should really be called \u201cunsung legends\u201d. Back in 1990, a handful of UK customs employees were plucked from their humdrum jobs searching suitcases or tracking down illegally imported porn mags, and transformed into undercover agents. Their mission was to bring down an international heroin-smuggling ring that was fast becoming public enemy number one.<\/p>\n<p>Written and created by seasoned TV dramatist Neil Forsyth, <em>Legends<\/em> makes it abundantly clear that the so-called \u201cwar on drugs\u201d was at least partly politically motivated. At the time, Britain\u2019s ailing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher needed a convenient bogeyman to vanquish so she could keep her treacherous Cabinet at bay.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Beyond the political context, though, the extent to which <em>Legends<\/em> is strictly factual feels more nebulous. Forsyth met many of the officers his characters are based on, but he\u2019s presumably taken liberties with their personal and professional lives to protect their identities. Certainly, there\u2019s a boilerplate quality to the backstories here: nearly every recruit is an outsider who\u2019s been screwed over by the class system in some way.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3944318\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3944318\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3944318\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Legends_Tom_Burke_Charlotte_Ritchie.jpg\" alt=\"Legends\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3944318\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charlotte Ritchie and Tom Burke in \u2018Legends\u2019. CREDIT: Netflix<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In episode one, we see the team being assembled by principled civil servant Blake (Douglas Hodge) and former undercover agent Don (Steve Coogan), a straight-talking northerner who explains the concept of a \u201clegend\u201d. Essentially, it\u2019s an alter ego so completely convincing that even the agent starts to believe it. As the series progresses, former border force officer Guy (Tom Burke), the most compelling character here, gets fully consumed by his role as a smack-moving middleman.<\/p>\n<p>While he worms his way into a drug-smuggling network rooted in London\u2019s Turkish community, plucky Kate (Hayley Squires) and buttoned-up Bailey (Aml Ameen) try to find out who\u2019s running the main supply chain in Liverpool. Meanwhile, seemingly privileged Erin (Jasmine Blackborow) takes on a deskbound role as an all-round fixer and code-cracker who makes their field work possible.<\/p>\n<p>Unfolding over six slightly convoluted episodes, <em>Legends<\/em> lacks the light touch of Forsyth\u2019s previous crime thriller, <em>The Gold<\/em>, which dramatised the 1983 Brink\u2019s-Mat robbery. Perhaps because <em>Legends<\/em> tells a less well-known story, Forsyth\u2019s dialogue works overtime to remind us of the stakes involved. Within the space of a few minutes, we\u2019re told that the operatives are trying to \u201cpull off the biggest result in customs history\u201d while the smugglers are plotting the \u201cbiggest heroin importation the country has ever seen\u201d.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thankfully, there\u2019s enough intrigue to keep you persevering through some protracted moments. Though Coogan never fully disappears into his role, Gerald Kyd is suitably mercurial as an enigmatic accomplice called Mylonas, and Burke makes Guy an entirely convincing mole. As he seizes his opportunity to build a more exciting life, he becomes less sensitive to the impact on his understanding wife Sophie (Charlotte Ritchie) and their young daughter.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, it\u2019s both a testament to <em>Legends<\/em>\u2018 world-building, and a reflection of its flaws, that you\u2019re left wondering whether the real-life agents may have been even more extraordinary.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018Legends\u2019 is streaming now on Netflix<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/reviews\/tv-reviews\/legends-review-steve-coogan-netflix-3944313&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Legends_Steve_Coogan.jpg&#8221;] Steve Coogan in &#8216;Legends&#8217;. CREDIT: Netflix ReviewsTV Reviews \u2018Legends\u2019 review: sprawling crime drama spotlights Britain\u2019s unsung drug-busters Steve Coogan and Tom Burke star in a convoluted thriller about unlikely undercover agents 3 By Nick Levine 7th May 2026 Forget the generic title \u2013 this Netflix thriller should really be called \u201cunsung legends\u201d. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,78],"class_list":["post-1924105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nme-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1924105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1924105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1924105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1924105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1924105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}