Legends
Release poster
Genre	Crime thriller
Created by	Neil Forsyth
Inspired by	The Betrayer: How An Undercover Unit Infiltrated The Global Drug Trade by Guy Stanton Peter Walsh
Written by	Neil Forsyth
Directed by	Brady Hood Julian Holmes
Starring	Steve Coogan Tom Burke Hayley Squires
Music by	Sion Trefor
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Executive producers	Neil Forsyth Richard Bradley Ben Farrell
Producer	Charlie Leech
Production companies	Lion Television Tannadice All3Media
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	7 May 2026 (2026-05-07)

Legends is a British television drama series written and created by Neil Forsyth and produced by his Tannadice Pictures production company. It is a dramatization of the true story of British undercover Customs investigators who infiltrated the drug world in the early 1990s, and the cast includes Steve Coogan, Tom Burke and Hayley Squires.

The series premiered on Netflix on 7 May 2026. It received positive reviews from critics.

In the early 1990s, Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise was losing its battle with illegal drug smuggling across Britain’s borders. In a top-secret operation, a small team of Customs employees were sent undercover with new identities and told to infiltrate Britain’s most dangerous drug gangs.^[1]

• Tom Burke as Guy
• Steve Coogan as Don
• Hayley Squires as Kate
• Aml Ameen as Bailey
• Jasmine Blackborow as Erin
• Douglas Hodge as Blake
• Charlotte Ritchie as Sophie
• Tom Hughes as Carter
• Johnny Harris as Eddie
• Gerald Kyd as Mylonas
• Numan Acar as Hakan
• Joshua Samuels as Zeki
• Kem Hassan as Aziz^[2]
• Thomas Coombes as Shaun^[3]
• Alex Jennings as the Home Secretary^[4]
• Con O'Neill as Arthur Goodwin
• Deepak Verma as Ayub Afridi

The six-part series is written by Neil Forsyth, and was commissioned by Netflix in August 2024. Forsyth and Ben Farrell are executive producers for All3Media-backed Tannadice and Richard Bradley is an executive producer for Lion Television. Directors on the series are Brady Hood and Julian Holmes, and the series producer is Charlie Leech.^[5][6]

The cast is led by Steve Coogan, Tom Burke and Hayley Squires and includes Aml Ameen, Jasmine Blackborow, Charlotte Ritchie, Douglas Hodge, Tom Hughes, Johnny Harris, and Gerald Kyd.^[7]

Principal photography took place in Farnborough, Hampshire and Camberley, Surrey in April 2025, and Acton and Muswell Hill, London, in May 2025.^[8]

The series premiered on Netflix on 7 May 2026 with six episodes.^[9]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% approval rating based on 12 critic reviews.^[10] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave a score of 75 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[11]

In a five-star review, The Financial Times said, "This is outstanding TV, elegant and composed, and it does not let its grip loosen for a second” and praised the "impeccable ensemble cast".^[12] In another five-star review, the Radio Times said that Forsyth had “struck gold again” and said his, "skill for paring a narrative down to just the fun parts makes this irresistible".^[13]

Variety called Legends "a gripping tale of found potential and assumed identity".^[14] Collider said that Legends “might be the most watchable crime drama Netflix puts out this year" and praised Forsyth’s "knack for turning forgotten chapters of British history into propulsive television".^[15] The Times called Legends "superb" and "filled with adrenaline"^[16], while The Wall Street Journal praised Coogan’s "splendid performance" as a "sober, wounded portrait of a man who has been damaged and knows it".^[17] Digital Spy called Legends, "bitingly tense" and praised Charlotte Ritchie’s "quietly stunning performance".^[18]

• Undercover Customs

• Legends at IMDb
• "Undercover investigation smashed drugs ring". BBC News. 17 July 1998.
• Walsh, Peter (28 November 2018). Drug War: The Secret History. Milo Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-908479-94-5.