Television series

MobLand

Name: MobLand
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: 2025
Cast: Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, Teddie Allen, Paddy Considine

MobLand is a glossy, brutal British crime drama about the man who cleans up messes for London's most powerful criminal family. Tom Hardy is coiled menace as the fixer caught between loyalty and self-preservation, while Brosnan and Mirren play the aristocratic monsters at the top. Slick, violent, unashamedly entertaining pulp for grown-ups.

TVMaze rating

8.1

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Same job, different postcode: a professional fixer for the rich and untouchable, drowning in family obligation and violence he can't escape. If you want more Harry, this is his Hollywood cousin.

But Seven seasons deep, it gets repetitive - every year another crisis, another betrayal, same emotional beats recycled.

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British crime at its most operatic and violent, with fight choreography that will genuinely wind you. Power vacuum in London's underworld, alliances shifting hourly - MobLand's spiritual sibling in scale and swagger.

But The violence is extreme, sometimes to the point of feeling gratuitous rather than earned; not for the squeamish.

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The gold standard for British gangster family sagas: style, swagger, a soundtrack that shouldn't work but does, and a family business built on menace and loyalty in equal measure.

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

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Bob Hoskins gives one of the great performances of British cinema as a gangster trying to go legitimate just as his world burns down around him - tense, unpredictable, brilliant.

But Dated fashions and a slower, talkier build than modern crime thrillers; patience required before the tension detonates.

Succession2018

Swap the guns for boardrooms and you've got the same rot: an ageing patriarch, a matriarch playing her own game, and children scheming for the throne. Cruelty as a love language.

But No crime, no violence, just people in expensive suits being awful to each other - some viewers miss the danger.

The Sopranos1999

The foundational text for every prestige crime family drama since, including this one. Watch it for the therapy-session psychology beneath the murders and see where the genre learned to breathe.

But Slow by modern standards, and the shadow it casts means some of its best tricks now feel familiar.

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A ruthless matriarch running a crime family through charm and fear alone - Mirren fans will recognise the type instantly. Sun-bleached Californian crime instead of London rain, same rotten warmth.

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Gorgeous, unhurried, and stacked with actors having the time of their lives playing monsters in good suits. If you like watching organised crime metabolise a whole era, this is patient, handsome viewing.

But The pace is glacial compared to MobLand's propulsion - this rewards patience more than adrenaline.

Sons of Anarchy2008

Trade the boardrooms for a clubhouse and you get the same tribal loyalty, blood debts, and men who love each other while destroying everything around them.

But Leather and motorcycles instead of tailoring; the tone is pulpier and less controlled than MobLand's cool menace.

The Departed2006

Two hours instead of ten - a tight, ferocious blast of Irish-American gangster paranoia and betrayal, with a cast at the absolute top of their game.

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But Melodrama over menace - if you want grit and violence rather than musical numbers and soap theatrics, this isn't it.