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This was something truly special.
Back when the first season was released in April 2020, we knew that Gangs Of London was going to be something special. And ahead of the arrival of the second season, we wanted to look back over one episode of the first season in particular.
After all, it was co-created by Gareth Evans, the man behind modern action classics The Raid: Redemption and The Raid 2: Berendal.
Evans had brought on Corin Hardy (The Nun) and Xavier Gens (Hitman) to direct some of the episodes, and then filled out the impressive cast with the likes of Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders), Sope Dirisu (Black Mirror), Michelle Fairley (Game of Thrones), Emmett J. Scanlan (Guardians of the Galaxy), Lucian Msamati (See How They Run) and the legendary Colm Meaney.
The plot is centred on the city of London being torn apart by rival gangs going to war with each other after the murder of a key figure results in a massive power vacuum.
Ahead of the launch of season two of the show, which you will be able to stream very soon with a NOW Entertainment Membership, we wanted to look back over one specific episode from the first season – an episode we reckon is arguably the greatest hour of action ever committed to television.
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The episode in question was episode five, one of the two episodes in the season that was directed by Evans himself.
By this point in the show, we had already witnessed some incredible hand-to-hand combat, as well as some stellar shoot-outs, so we knew that Gangs Of London was bringing its A-game in terms of action scenes.
But the fifth episode – set almost entirely around the siege of a large farmhouse in the middle of nowhere – properly blew us all away.
Featuring a convergence of several of the major players in the show, it features the same jaw-droppingly kinetic, violent and massively impressive stunts and sequences that Evans had made a name for himself with in The Raid movies.
It kicks off with a line of heavily-armed mercenaries taking aim at the farmhouse, as well as anyone in or around it, and opening fire. The goal is to make sure that literally nobody is left standing.
From there, it is an absolute bloodbath matched with the usual bravura style you’d expect from Evans, as he brings in close-up machine gun battles, roof-top shotgun fights, hugely destructive bombings and loads more carnage that words can struggle to adequately describe.
This hour of action barely lets up to give the viewer a chance to breathe, and has arguably not been equalled since in terms of pure adrenaline-spiking action.
Every episode of the first season of Gangs Of London is available to watch right now with a NOW Entertainment Membership, and the second season will be available to stream weekly from Thursday, 20 October.
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