Netflix has greenlit a new British drama series from “The Gold” creator Neil Forsyth, based on the incredible true story of a group of customs officers who went undercover to infiltrate some of Britain’s most dangerous drugs gangs.
Titled “Legends,” the six-part series follows a thrilling criminal investigation based on Forsyth's extensive research and interviews with those involved.
“In the early 1990s, at the height of the international war on drugs, the government agency responsible for Britain’s borders, HMRC, realised it was losing the battle against drug smuggling. The solution it came up with was unusual,” the film’s introduction says. “In a top-secret operation, a small team of British customs officers were sent undercover. Their mission was to infiltrate Britain’s most dangerous drugs gangs.”
“They were not trained spies, nor had they any experience of undercover work. They were ordinary men and women, plucked from ordinary lives across the UK, put through a basic training programme and then ordered to build new identities in the underworld. These identities were called legends.
Forsyth's Tannadice Pictures will produce the project. Forsyth will executive produce alongside Ben Farrell (The Gold) and Richard Bradley of Lion Television. Charlie Leach (The Gold) will produce.
“I am so excited to be able to tell this incredible story, alongside everyone at Tannadice Pictures,” said Forsyth. “I believe Legends is a wonderful, exciting and little-known British story that deserves to be told in its entirety. I am delighted that Netflix has agreed to do so.”
“As fans of Neil’s Gold, we were immediately excited by the prospect of an extraordinary Legends story in his hands,” added Mona Qureshi, Netflix’s UK Content Director. “Neil’s scripts transport us to Britain in the 1990s, where the government was losing the battle in what amounted to a global war on drugs, and introduce us to a compelling cast of characters whose unexpected journeys into the dangerous maze of covert operations make for a gripping and thrilling series in the best tradition of UK crime fiction. We can’t wait for Legends to come to life on Netflix.”
