Posted in: Current News, Editor's Picks TV News, HBO, Movies, TV, YouTube | Tagged: action, bleeding cool, cable, cinemax, Clare Wilson, crime, crime drama, downton abbey, drama, Gangs of London, gareth evans, HBO, HRL, iko uwais, Joe Murtagh, Matt Flannery, Peter Berry, Rama, Ray Sahetapy, series, sky, sky atlantic, streaming, Tama Riyadi, television, The Raid, the raid 2, the raid: redemption, thriller, tv
Gangs Of London: The Raid's Gareth Evans Sets Series For Cinemax, Sky
Director Gareth Evans (The Raid) is set to tear apart the means streets of contemporary London with his latest project, gangland drama series Gangs of London (working title). Set to launch in 2019 on HBO's Cinemax and Sky Atlantic, Evans and Matt Flannery (Downton Abbey) are set to direct the series and will also handle scriptwriting, alongside Peter Berry, Clare Wilson, and Joe Murtagh.
Variety reports exclusively that the series is set in a modern London as it is becoming torn apart by power struggles involving a number of international gangs. The series begins as the head of one criminal gang is assassinated and the power vacuum threatens the fragile peace between the other underworld organisations.
Gangs of London marks lead producer Pulse Films first venture into television drama, with the company better known for its feature films (American Honey, Nick Cave's 2000 Days On Earth) and music documentaries (Blur: No Distance Left To Run, LCD Soundsystem's Shut Up And Play The Hits). Jane Featherstone's Sister Pictures (Chernobyl) will be serving as co-producer, and is currently producing Netflix and BBC1 drama Giri/Haji and Hulu and Channel 4 comedy The Bisexual.
Commissioned by Sky's Head of Drama Anne Mensah and Kary Antholis, President of Miniseries at HBO and President of Programming at Cinemax, Gangs of London is set to be executive produced by Pulse Films' Thomas Benski and Lucas Ochoa; and Featherstone and Sky's Anna Ferguson.
"It has been a thrilling experience to leap into longform storytelling, exploring a multicultural world of global crime as it intersects on the streets of London."
– Gareth Evans
In Evans's critically-acclaimed 2011 film The Raid, rookie Rama (Iko Uwais) and an elite law enforcement squad is dispensed to the slums of Jakarta, tasked with infiltrating a high-rise building under the dictatorial control of a ruthless drug lord Tama Riyadi (Ray Sahetapy) and bringing his reign to an end.