CHAOS IN CAPITAL

Peaky Blinders star Joe Cole has moved to the modernday mafia in this tale of warring crime lords in London

Joe Cole says he was in the shadow of Cillian Murphy when the pair played brothers in Peaky Blinders. But that’s about to change, and in spectacular fashion.

Joe takes the lead role of newlycrowned gang leader Sean Wallace in Gangs Of London, a ninepart modern-day thriller about the battle for control of the capital’s underworld. ‘I’ve spent the last few years turning down gangrelated drama, having done the first three series of Peaky

Blinders, and I was going to turn this one down as well,’ admits Joe, who played John Shelby, younger brother of Cillian Murphy’s allpowerful gangster character Tommy. ‘But I read the script for Gangs Of London and realised it could be special.

‘With Peakies, I never really got out of the gate – it’s Cillian’s show really. Gangs Of London is more of an ensemble piece.’

Joe’s character Sean is thrust into the spotlight following the murder of his father, Finn (Colm Meaney), the leader of the most powerful underworld family in the capital. His funeral is attended by hundreds of people, including Sean and his mother Marian (Michelle Fairley, who was Catelyn Stark in Game Of Thrones).

It’s a brief moment of calm before Sean sets out on a mission to avenge Finn’s death. ‘Finn’s second-in-command, Ed Dumani, calls a meeting of the leaders of all the gangs to try to calm the situation and stress that it’s going to be business as usual,’ explains Joe. ‘But Sean is angry and says he’ll stop at nothing to find out who killed his father. He wants to assert his authority and carry on where his father left off.’

The task facing Sean is daunting. His father has controlled drug trafficking and other illicit businesses for more than 20 years and his death creates a power vacuum. The show’s co-creator Gareth Evans says, ‘Rival gangs see Finn’s death as an opportunity to seize at least some control from the Wallaces. Albanian, Pakistani and Kurdish gangs are all vying for position.’

It’s the Albanians who are rumoured to be behind the kidnapping of Finn’s driver Jack in the wake of his employer’s murder – and Sean is surprised when Elliot Finch (Sope Dirisu), a previously low-level henchman within the Wallace organisation, sets out to track down Jack.

As Finch digs deeper into London’s murky underworld, he witnesses conflict at every turn. By the end of episode one, some kind of order has been restored, although Finn’s killer remains at large.

Gangs Of London, Thursday, 9pm, Sky Atlantic. All episodes available on Sky On Demand and Now TV thereafter.