The Red Carpet Premiere of the new Netflix series, The Gentlemen

One of my favourite films of the last few years is The Gentlemen. I watched it several times during Covid in an empty cinema and when I could, I went out to visit one or two of the locations I wasn’t familiar with.

It’s a hilarious, stylish and sometimes very violent London gangster film by Guy Ritchie

So I was thrilled to learn that 5 years later Guy Ritchie was working on an 8 part mini series of the same name albeit with different characters and story,

Ritchie said there were themes and storylines which were “worth exploring” further following the film. 

Critics have broadly welcomed the series, although some say Ritchie relies too much on his usual style.

Empire said Ritchie “simply remixes his hit singles” for the series, with “more gangsters, more heists, infinitely more dialogue”.

But the Radio Times said that, in spite of its shortcomings, the series ultimately is “an absolute boat-load of fun”.

The 2019 film starred Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell and Hugh Grant – but none of them have returned to the franchise to appear in the TV series.

Instead, Theo James takes the lead opposite supporting characters played by Vinnie Jones, Ray Winstone, Joely Richardson and Max Beesley.

The series sees Eddie Halstead (played by James) inherit his wealthy father’s country estate following his death, much to the fury of Eddie’s pompous and drug-addicted elder brother Freddy.

Eddie initially considers selling the house to a rich but mysterious buyer – played by Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito (though I’ve never seen any of his shows before) – but decides against it when he finds the estate is partly being used to grow cannabis for an extremely successful underground drug empire.

Speaking at the premiere on Tuesday, Ritchie said adapting the film into a TV series “actually turned out to be easier than I anticipated”.

“You feel that this could run and run,” he continued, “the characters take on their own life, all you have to do is establish a character and create their own voice, and then couple that with an actor and we’re off to the races.”

The Gentlemen focuses on the criminal underworld and other familiar Guy Ritchie themes.

“The fascinating conceit was what attracted me,” James said at the premiere, “the melding of the aristocracy and the underworld, and how those things collide in the bombastic way. 

“Britain is so defined by class, and we love it and hate for various reasons, but defining it in the melee of this was really fascinating for me.”

One of the show’s toughest and most assured characters is Susie Glass – played by Kaya Scodelario – who is running the cannabis farm under the estate’s grounds.

“I very rarely get to portray women that are already at the top of the game when you meet them,” the actress said, “it’s always a young woman finding her way in life.

“But what I loved about Susie is she’s a boss, she’s good at her job, she can run things, she knows exactly what she’s doing.”

Esposito plays the wealthy investor who has his eye on the estate – Stanley Johnston. “With a T,” he repeatedly says – perhaps to differentiate the character from the real-life Boris Johnson’s father. 

The political references appear to be deliberate – another character is named Toni Blair.

Esposito said his character “is someone who is graceful, patient, cordial, and the British are that way”. 

“So this seems to be a perfect collision of this aristocratic culture and nature, but also not only criminality and non-humanity. And for me, that tells a bigger picture of our world.”

Ritchie’s credits include Aladdin and The Covenant, but he is best known for films which focus on themes of violence, gangsters and drugs but with a uniquely British twist.

Films such as Snatch, RockNRolla and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels were hugely successful at the box office in the late nineties and early noughties.

I used to attend lots of film premieres in London when I did more writing and am fortunate to know quite a few people in the business in London and Hollywood. However I haven’t been to one for yonks until by Excluded friend Sharon invited me.

Many of the 3.8 million Excluded the British government left to die with no help or support during Covid worked in the entertainment industries and it was really nice of my friend to invite me as her plus one to this special red carpet event.

We’d never met in real life before so un the hours before the big event, I gave her a great tour of London and areas around Covent Garden. Despite our dapper outfits and formal shoes, we chalked up 10 miles and I still have the cuts on my feet to prove it.

It was great to be back at a red carpet event with all the lights and fans and media everywhere. We were allocated front row gallery tickets and whilst others were standing in lines for an hour or two, we went in even after some of the stars in the show.

There was a little goodies bag for us too and I’d only ever been in the theatre once and that in Covid for a little peek inside when no-one was around so it was great to see the main auditorium before the Compare brought out Guy Ritchie and dignitaries from Netflix all of whom promised this was going to be entertaining Great British drama.

We were treated to the first 1 hour episode along with various entertainment media outlets and a lot of the cast and crew. Being such a big fan of the original The Gentlemen I was both excited and a little nervous as I didn’t want the new programme to sully the reputation of the film.

I needn’t have worried as it was brilliant and my friend Sharon who hadn’t ever seen the film laughed even more than I did.

The advantage of a series over a film is there can be more character development and more intricate story-telling though perhaps intricate is the wrong word to use here as anyone who has watched a Guy Ritchie gangster film might know.

It did make me laugh and there are some outrageous scenes. If anything there was less violence than I expected at least for the first 90% of the episode but then as is the way with Guy Ritchie films, that sense that everything is about to imminently explode just builds and everything racks up a notch just when you least expect it or at least in a way one might not expect.

I can’t wait to watch the entire series in the next few days. The first episode was great and so was the Premiere event and of course meeting my friend Sharon. It was also really neat to see Ray Winstone in the flesh who its fair to say having just celebrated his 75th birthday is the Granddaddy of London gangsters! I’m currently enjoying him in the first role I saw him in back in the early 80’s as Will Scarlet in Robin of Sherwood… he was a tough mofo back then too!

https://stephenliddell.co.uk/2020/02/26/the-life-and-grave-of-little-john-of-robin-hood-fame/

The Gentlemen drops onto Netflix today on Thursday 7th March 2024. I would like to put some of my favourite quotes up but most would be wholly inappropriate!