MobLand review: Guy Ritchie's new gangster joint doesn't hit the heights of The Gentlemen – yet

At least, that's how it's felt. In truth, MobLand has been in development for some time, first as a spin-off to Liev Schreiber series Ray Donovan, then as its own stand-alone project going by numerous different titles.

It's also not as firmly a Guy Ritchie venture as The Gentlemen was – while that show was created by Ritchie and inspired by his own film of the same name, this comes from Top Boy and The Day of the Jackal creator Ronan Bennett, with Ritchie acting as an executive producer and director.

Regardless of Ritchie's level of involvement, you can feel his stamp all over this – a gang drama traversing all aspects of London society, with a particular focus on one, rather sprawling and dysfunctional family. But how does it measure up to his previous works?

At one point in its development, MobLand was going by the working title of The Fixer – which, in truth, may have actually been a more apt moniker.

The series stars Tom Hardy as Harry Da Souza, who works as a fixer for the Harrigans, a criminal family led by Pierce Brosnan's Conrad.

In truth, perhaps more firmly in charge is Conrad's wife Maeve, as played by Helen Mirren, who he turns to for every crucial decision.

Other key family members include their children Brendan (Daniel Betts) and Kevin (Paddy Considine), Conrad's daughter Seraphina (Mandeep Dhillon), Kevin's wife Bella their his reckless son Eddie (Anson Boon) – the latter of whom provides the inciting incident for the show's central story.

This revolves around a brewing potential gang war between the Harrigans and the Stevensons, a rival gang led by Richie Stevenson (Geoff Bell).

None of it is hugely original, but there's no doubt the character whose storyline works best is Hardy's Harry. As is so often the case with TV, watching a professional do their job incredibly well can be strangely compelling – even if that job is organised crime.

We get hints early on about how he came to be wrapped up with the Harrigans, and this will no doubt continue to be teased out over the coming episodes (only the first two were made available for review).

Hardy is magnetic in the role, providing an impressive lead performance that doesn't overshadow those provided by his co-stars, but instead compliments them. There's a subtlety to his work here that may come as a surprise given the heightened world in which it lives.

The supporting cast are also doing great work, with Paddy Considine giving his all as usual, and Anson Boon bringing everything he learnt as Johnny Rotten in Danny Boyle's Pistol to provide a suitably unhinged turn as Eddie.

Then we come to Brosnan and Mirren. Both are obviously hugely accomplished actors and a real draw, and they are compelling here – but there's no denying their takes on an Irish accent are distracting.

They can be passable during scenes involving quick conversations, but whenever a dialogue-heavy sequence comes up it quickly becomes clear that, to put it kindly, they haven't quite mastered them.

Brosnan in particular struggles, and one scene in which he gives an extended speech to the rest of the family really suffers for it. One wonders whether a quick change of backstory wouldn't have gone amiss.

Their storyline is all fairly standard – a mob boss struggling to cling on to power and being driven by his Lady Macbeth-style wife. It's all a bit rote, but two episodes in, its hard to pass judgement. If things stray from the predictable path, things could get more interesting; if not, they could get really rather dull quite fast.

Thankfully, the show does share some of Ritchie's sensibilities on the tonal front. It often sprinkles the scenes with welcome humour, particularly in scenes showing Harry's exasperation at his at times preposterous duties.

It's not as prominent a factor as in, say The Gentlemen - that show so roundly succeeded by balancing its tones. Anytime it started to get too self-serious or cliched, it would undercut things with a knowing wink. In a genre like this, which has been so thoroughly mined, it was a real breath of fresh air.

Here, the moment of levity are less frequent and also less successful – there are some which unfortunately just entirely miss the mark. There's also just not quite enough of them, and here's hoping that as the show progresses comedy and humour is something it can lean into more.

There's also a risk of the show revelling in its own excess here. Not only has it assembled a ridiculous amount of A-listers, but it's also a full 10 episodes – not historically a lengthy series, but one which in the modern era feels surprisingly extended.

There are also just so many characters. After two episodes, there's enough to engage us about Harry and Conrad and Maeve and Kevin and Eddie, for instance.

But Brendan? Seraphina? They haven't yet had enough to do to justify their inclusion, and it's not clear, with so many other characters played by the likes of Joanne Froggatt and Jasmine Jobson that I haven't even got around to mentioning, that they ever will.

The good news is that, regardless of any quibbles, the first two episodes of MobLand are very watchable, with fun sequences and performances. Each instalment leaves you wanting more, and excited to come back for the next one.

The problem as of now is that it doesn't do much to stand out from the crowd, leaving its buzzy, A-lister filled cast feeling like something of a stunt to get people to watch what is otherwise a serviceable gang drama.

As the genre starts to become almost as much of a go-to for commissioners as police procedurals, with the likes of The Penguin, This City is Ours and Gangs of London all jostling for space, it's not clear whether MobLand has the innovative spirit to stand out.

Of course, Ritchie has precedent in doing so. The Gentlemen felt like an authored, inventive show with links to Ritchie's previous works, but few TV series that were directly comparable. But can he and Bennett do it here? Two episodes in, the jury is still out.

MobLand premieres on Paramount Plus on Sunday 30th March 2025.

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