- Network: Netflix
- Series Premiere Date: May 7, 2026
Critic Reviews
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Forsyth's skill for paring a narrative down to just the fun parts makes this irresistible. Steve Coogan is in his element as Don.
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Based on season 1's top-tier quality, Legends could become Netflix's next crime franchise if the weekend viewership matches its acclaim.
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Legends is tightly wound from the get-go, a true-crime drama that sets itself apart through its top-tier cast and thrills rooted in the grimy greys of drug-ravaged Britain.
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Together with directors Brady Hood and Julian Holmes as well as a uniformly strong cast, led by a gravel-voiced Coogan and Tom Burke (“Furiosa”) as Don’s star pupil, Forsyth makes “Legends” a gripping tale of found potential and assumed identity.
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Across six episodes, he [creator-writer Neil Forsyth] treats this premise with exactly the mix of disbelief and respect it deserves. The result is a tense, unfussy, occasionally overstuffed thriller with one hell of a payload.
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Neil Forsyth (the writer of Guilt and The Gold) has turned this little-known episode in British history into a sure-footed six-part thriller. You will never stop marvelling throughout at the fact that it really happened.
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This is glossy, big-budget drama filled with adrenaline — and a mighty fine early 1990s soundtrack — but it’s not without moments of comic relief, giving it a British feel that will undoubtedly please fans of Forsyth’s previous work on the BBC.
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While the first episode of Legends could have fleshed out some of the main characters a little better, it does just enough — with enough restraint — to keep us watching.
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[Steve Coogan] creates a sober, wounded portrait of a man who has been damaged by his own experiences undercover and knows it. .... The initial gathering of wannabe detectives is fairly comical. .... Even if the team makes a few acrobatic leaps in its confidence and capabilities, the storytelling is so brisk that one really won’t care.
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It lacks the pizzazz of Peaky Blinders or the relentless rug pulls of Line of Duty. What’s left is Forsyth’s trademark brand of period drama: engaging but not gripping, authentic but not original, well-crafted but not striking. Legends, is, in short, what a lot of British telly is: an exercise in risk-free repetition.
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The energy spent keeping things serious prevents the series catching fire. But it remains a brilliant story, here well told.