Critic Reviews

Forsyth's skill for paring a narrative down to just the fun parts makes this irresistible. Steve Coogan is in his element as Don.

Based on season 1's top-tier quality, Legends could become Netflix's next crime franchise if the weekend viewership matches its acclaim.

Across six episodes, he [creator-writer Neil Forsyth] treats this premise with exactly the mix of disbelief and respect it deserves. The result is a tense, unfussy, occasionally overstuffed thriller with one hell of a payload.

Neil Forsyth (the writer of Guilt and The Gold) has turned this little-known episode in British history into a sure-footed six-part thriller. You will never stop marvelling throughout at the fact that it really happened.

This is glossy, big-budget drama filled with adrenaline — and a mighty fine early 1990s soundtrack — but it’s not without moments of comic relief, giving it a British feel that will undoubtedly please fans of Forsyth’s previous work on the BBC.

Together with directors Brady Hood and Julian Holmes as well as a uniformly strong cast, led by a gravel-voiced Coogan and Tom Burke (“Furiosa”) as Don’s star pupil, Forsyth makes “Legends” a gripping tale of found potential and assumed identity.

Legends is tightly wound from the get-go, a true-crime drama that sets itself apart through its top-tier cast and thrills rooted in the grimy greys of drug-ravaged Britain. 

[Steve Coogan] creates a sober, wounded portrait of a man who has been damaged by his own experiences undercover and knows it. .... The initial gathering of wannabe detectives is fairly comical. .... Even if the team makes a few acrobatic leaps in its confidence and capabilities, the storytelling is so brisk that one really won’t care.

While the first episode of Legends could have fleshed out some of the main characters a little better, it does just enough — with enough restraint — to keep us watching.

The energy spent keeping things serious prevents the series catching fire. But it remains a brilliant story, here well told.