On the Red Carpet with: Gangs of London Season 2

Wednesday night saw the premiere of Season 2 of Sky TV’s Gangs of London take place at Outernet London, and it was a full carpet of people who were lucky enough to make it out of Season 1 alive. Spoiler alert: This show is bloody. So bloody in fact that one of the families introduced in Season 1 are essentially wiped out by the time we get to Season 2. A moment of silence please.

Thank you. Star of the show Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù was recently asked by The Times about the degree of violence in the show, and he said something I found interesting: It’s not gratuitous, it’s balletic. So when I got the chance to speak with director Corin Hardy, I had to ask - how do you go about walking the line between gratuitous violence and something artistic when we’re dealing with the level of violence this show contains? According to Corin, there’s a lot of answers to that. He says it’s about “visualisation, choreography, and cinematography”, and that the thing they’re aiming for is a “visceral reaction.” How does he do that? He brings cinema to the small screen. “By that I don’t just mean visually, you want the audience to feel like they’re on the edge of their seat and they don’t know what’s going to happen next. I didn’t want it to be like a regular television show, there’s a rollercoast ride element to Gangs of London, it’s something that people get thrilled by.”

Season 2 picks up a year after the end of Season 1, I’m told by Ṣọpẹ́, who plays undercover police officer Elliot Finch in the show. “It’s been a very dark and difficult year for Elliot Finch, and I think we meet him questioning actually, who he is, what he is in control of, and how he can effect change. Because he’s not as powerful as he was in the first series.”

And he’s not the only character who we find in a place of turmoil. Narges Rashidi, who plays Lale, says that Lale is “not very happy with what has happened to London, now that Asif has taken over.” This is a huge problem for Lale because (spoiler alert) she killed Asif’s son Nasir, and Asif had her husband killed. So as you can imagine, “they’re not big fans of each other. So let’s see how that plays out.”

However, the biggest story of the night was written on the hands of the cast and crew. The first I noticed was Ṣọpẹ́, but as I started looking it became clear all the cast and crew had something written on the palms of their right hand. Corin Hardy even made sure that every person he spoke with got a picture of his hand - this was the message he wanted people to be left with. Speaking to Ṣọpẹ́ before we spoke about the show, I had to ask - what does his say and why?

“Mine says Jin, Jiyan, Azadi.” he says, and holds his hand up. It means Women, Life, Freedom in Iranian. “We just wanted, whilst we’re celebrating our show this evening, we also wanted to celebrate and amplify the voices of the women in Iran.” Why was this important for them to do on this night? “They’re currently fighting for their lives, you know. We’re doing make believe here, and having a great time, but like, shit’s real. So it’s important to recognise that, even as we celebrate tonight.”

Season 2 of Gangs of London starts 9pm tonight, October 20th, on Sky Atlantic and Now TV.