MobLand

Streaming on: Paramount+
Episodes viewed: 2 of 10

There are as many crime dramas in the world as there are Tom Hardy accents, and it sure does feel like the majority wind up on Paramount+ these days. With the likes of Landman, Tulsa King and Mayor Of Kingstown already pulling in subscribers, it's tempting to question the need for another macho series that operates in a similar vein, but MobLand has plenty going for it, not least another Tom Hardy accent to contend with.

Starting out as a prequel to Liev Schreiber's Ray Donovan, MobLand jumped the Pond mid-production to become an original London-set affair that takes a somewhat unique perspective on the usual tropes of gang warfare. Our window into this brutal world is Hardy's geezer fixer, who ruthlessly enforces his employers’ wants and needs by threatening, cajoling and killing anyone who gets in the way. But MobLand isn't all just glares and shoot-outs. There are also moments that will make you laugh, intentionally or otherwise, such as when Hardy threatens a nameless nobody with this heavily caveated promise: “I, or possibly one of my associates, depending on my availability, will find you.”

There's charisma aplenty in this star-studded cast.

His character's employers, the Harrigans, are also unhinged in a fun, terrifying sort of way. They include Pierce Brosnan as patriarch Conrad Harrigan, and his wife Maeve, the real boss, played by yet another A-lister, Helen Mirren. There's charisma aplenty in this star-studded cast, which also includes Paddy Considine and Joanne Froggatt, but in the two episodes made available to critics so far, it's hard to see what makes MobLand stand out beyond that.

Not even direction from Guy Ritchie — on more sophisticated form than normal — can entirely elevate a somewhat by-the-numbers story that will feel familiar to anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the genre. Showrunner Ronan Bennett is on capable form here though, even if MobLand is yet to hit the heights of his other notable shows, including Top Boy and last year's The Day Of The Jackal.