Everything you need to know about Legends on Netflix. The six-part British drama dropped on the platform on May 7 and features an impressive cast, including BAFTA-winning actor Steve Coogan, Tom Burke of BBC's Strike fame, Tom Hughes from ITV's Victoria, Hayley Squires from Adult Material, Aml Ameen from The Porter, and Jasmine Blackborow from The Gentlemen.
What is Legends about?
Legends recounts the little-known true story of a group of Customs officers recruited by the British government to go undercover and infiltrate some of the UK's most dangerous drug networks during the 1990s. With barely any training and zero budget, these ordinary men and women assumed secret identities, or legends, to covertly penetrate illicit narcotics groups.
The team were forced to leave their families behind for their own protection as they got close to criminal kingpins. They risked their lives as part of Margaret Thatcher's war on drugs, at a time when countless people across the nation succumbed to addiction and death from the influx of illegal substances.
Pressure came directly from Prime Minister Thatcher and the Home Office, who were intent on the legends' progress. These legends were essentially Britain's answer to the USA's Drug Enforcement Agency, which in comparison had a billion-dollar budget and highly trained officers, as depicted in Netflix's Narcos and Narcos: Mexico.
How did they operate with no resources?
With a lack of resources, the legends had to devise inventive ways to carry out their work, including using impounded vehicles and seized jewellery. Nonetheless, they managed to help seize 12 tonnes of heroin with a street value of £1 billion, preventing it from ever reaching the public. Most people were unaware of their invaluable work until the Netflix series.
Is Legends based on a true story?
Although Legends is based on a true story and used anecdotal material from real-life legend Guy Stanton and Peter Walsh's 2022 nonfiction book The Betrayer: How An Undercover Unit Infiltrated The Global Drug Trade, parts have been fictionalised by writer Neil Forsyth. For clarity, Forsyth condensed the story and amalgamated several real-life figures into a couple of characters.
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