Helen Mirren, Tom Hardy & Pierce Brosnan serve up grit, swagger and mayhem in MobLand

What do you get when you throw Helen Mirren, Tom Hardy and Pierce Brosnan into a London crime family saga? Pure television gold and a whole lot of stylish chaos. From Day of the Jackal creator Ronan Bennett, MobLand lands on M-Net (DStv Channel 101) from 10 July at 9pm, and it promises to be an absolute riot.

Set in London, the series follows the Harrigans, an Irish crime family caught in a deadly feud with the Stevensons that could wipe out both clans. Tom Hardy plays Harry Da Souza, a streetwise fixer tasked with keeping the Harrigan empire intact while trying to prevent a full-blown gang war. You just know he’s going to be brilliant at it.

And the star power doesn’t stop there. Brosnan steps in as family patriarch Conrad, with Mirren as his dangerously fabulous wife, Maeve. Paddy Considine rounds out the family as Kevin Harrigan, the second son who’s sure to have his own skeletons rattling around.

MobsLand also marks a first for director Guy Ritchie (yes, that Guy Ritchie): it’s his debut TV series for Paramount+. He’s behind the first two episodes, which are packed with his trademark grit, swagger and razor-sharp dialogue. No surprise then that it smashed records with 2.2 million viewers worldwide tuning in for the premiere. Oh, and it’s sitting pretty with a 75% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

So, what can we expect from these larger-than-life characters? Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Brosnan describes Conrad as: “This is a man who comes from a very broken background, one more than likely of abuse, sexual abuse, violence, self-loathing … fearless, courageous. He’s a sentimentalist as well. He’s Irish. He loves the old gargle — the gargle being the booze. He’s filled with great humour and passion and deep pride in being an Irishman, but he’s also a father and someone who has a pride in that and what he’s done by his family. So I think there’s a softness to him. There’s a human core of emotion that’s mixed with brutality, which he can’t control. He’s definitely unhinged.”

As for Mirren’s scene-stealing Maeve? Vogue’s Taylor Antrim puts it best: “Mirren is something special; a cherished actress playing delightfully against type. Martini in hand, hair down, some animal print ensemble on, her Maeve is a psychopath, goading her husband Conrad (Brosnan) to greater acts of violence and mayhem. In her long, illustrious career, Mirren has never been so gloriously undignified.”

Mirren herself told Antrim: “The sort of mad obsession of Phaedra and the ambition of Lady Macbeth, but both of those characters, in the end, do have a moral compass. They feel guilt. And Maeve feels no guilt. Guilt doesn’t even come into it. I guess she’s a psychopath. I guess that’s what she is. If one wants to go that route.”

So, set your reminder — MobLand kicks off on 10 July at 9pm on M-Net (DStv Channel 101). Expect glamour, grit, and gangland drama like you’ve never seen before.