Paramount+ has had a lot of success with shows about antiheroes on the wrong side of the law. That trend continues this month with the debut of MobLand, a new crime series starring Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren.
Harry Da Souza (Hardy) is thrust into a mob war between two of London’s rival crime families: the Harrigans and the Stevensons. Conrad Harrigan (Brosnan) wants Harry to be a fixer for his side, and it’s not an offer that can be turned down.
Ronan Bennett (Top Boy) created the series, which he executive produces with Hardy, Guy Ritchie, and others.
Since the first season will stream in the next few weeks, What to Watch is sharing a selection of seven shows to watch if you like MobLand.
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‘Taboo’ (2017)
MobLand is actually the second crime drama headlined by Tom Hardy. In 2017, Hardy and his father, Chips Hardy, collaborated with Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight on Taboo, a British series set in the early 19th century. Hardy portrayed James Delaney, a man whose father may have been murdered by the East India Company, which wants the family’s parcel of land in North America.
James has to get his hands dirty to fight for his inheritance, and he’ll have to contend with London’s gangs as well as the East India Company. James’ half-sister, Zilpha Geary (Oona Chaplin), isn’t always on the same page with him. But sometimes, they’re a little too close, in keeping with the name of the series.
Taboo is streaming on Peacock.
‘Peaky Blinders’ (2013 – 2022)
Like Taboo, Peaky Blinders also explores the seedy side of England’s underworld, but it’s set around 100 years later at the end of World War I. Oscar winner Cillian Murphy headlines the series as Tommy Shelby, the leader of the Peaky Blinders gang.
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Shelby recognizes that the end of the war is an opportunity for the Peaky Blinders to expand their reach, and he spends the next few years fighting to realize his ambitions while occasionally paying the price as well. There are six seasons of this series, with a movie on the way to Netflix in the near future.
Peaky Blinders is streaming on Netflix.
‘The Sopranos’ (1999 – 2007)
Few shows have been as game-changing as The Sopranos and its leading character, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), who ushered in the age of the TV antihero. Tony doesn’t have a lot of redeeming qualities as the head of a New Jersey crime family. He cheats on his wife, Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco), murders, and steals. But he also truly loves his family and suffers from crippling panic attacks.
To cope with the stress of his double life, Tony goes into therapy with Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco). While The Sopranos can be very funny, it’s definitely not a comedy. There are few limits for how low Tony will go to protect what’s his, but thanks to Gandolfini’s performance, the audience is almost always on his side.
The Sopranos is streaming on Max.
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‘Mob City’ (2013)
After bringing The Walking Dead to TV, Frank Darabont recruited the former star of that series, Jon Bernthal, to headline Mob City, a series set in Los Angeles in the 1940s. Bernthal was also surrounded by an amazing supporting cast that included Ed Burns, Milo Ventimiglia, Neal McDonough, Robert Knepper, Jeremy Luke and Alexa Davalos.
Joe Teague (Bernthal) is a burned-out LAPD Detective who finds himself in the middle of the war between LAPD Captain William Parker (McDonough) and mobster Mickey Cohen (Luke). Joe doesn’t want to be a mob enforcer on the take for Bugsy Siegel (Burns), but Bugsy has leverage over him. Joe also cares too deeply for Jasmine Fontaine (Davalos), a woman from his past who is now a singer at Cohen’s nightclub. As long as Jasmine’s safety can be threatened, Joe is at the mercy of the mob.
Mob City is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.
‘Tulsa King’ (2022 – Present)
Sylvester Stallone stars as Dwight “The General” Manfredi in Tulsa King, one of several Taylor Sheridan-created series on Paramount+. 25 years ago, Dwight was a capo in the Invernizzi family before he was sent to prison for murder. Dwight’s reward for not ratting out his family was his exile to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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Feeling betrayed by his old associates, Dwight starts over from scratch and forms his own crime family, including Tyson Mitchell (Jay Will) and Lawrence “Bodhi” Geigerman (Martin Starr). Dwight’s activities don’t go unnoticed by his former family or ATF agent Stacy Beale (Andrea Savage), who had a one-night stand with Dwight before she learned who he was.
Tulsa King is streaming on Paramount+.
‘The Gentlemen’ (2024 – Present)
Prior to directing episodes of MobLand, Guy Ritchie created The Gentlemen for Netflix as a spinoff from his 2019 feature film of the same name. Theo James stars as Edward “Eddie” Horniman, the heir to his father’s title as Duke of Halstead since his older brother, Freddy (Daniel Ings), is addicted to drugs.
After assuming his new position, Eddie discovers that most of his family’s money comes from a highly illegal deal with the incarcerated Bobby Glass (Ray Winstone) to grow cannabis on the Horniman estate. That leaves Eddie in the unenviable position of overseeing his family’s finances while appeasing a criminal syndicate that’s now run by Bobby’s daughter, Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario). As he gets deeper into the criminal underworld, Eddie discovers that he’s going to fit right in with all the thieves and murderers he does business with.
The Gentlemen is streaming on Netflix.
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‘The Black Donnellys’ (2007)
The same year that The Sopranos went off the air, NBC debuted The Black Donnellys, an attempt to replicate the success of that HBO show on network television. Million Dollar Baby and Crash screenwriter Paul Haggis co-created the series, which focuses on the Donnellys, a family that’s deeply involved with the Irish mob.
Tommy Donnelly (Jonathan Tucker) thought he had a way out of the family business by training to become an artist. But his brothers, Jimmy (Tom Guiry) and Kevin (Billy Lush), keep pulling him back in. Even Tommy’s efforts to keep his youngest brother, Sean (Michael Stahl-David), out of the mob life fail to make much of an impact. Tommy’s also deeply in love with his childhood friend, Jenny Reilly (Olivia Wilde), despite hiding the fate of what happened to her late husband when he crossed the wrong people.
The Black Donnellys is streaming on Peacock.
