The creator of Netflix's latest true crime drama, 'Legends', has revealed that a key scene in the series went straight from real life into the script. All six episodes of the streaming giant's new series are now available from today (May 7). The show is inspired by the remarkable true story of a group of ordinary people who risked everything to do an extraordinary job.
The Plot of Legends
Set in the early 1990s, 'Legends' follows Her Majesty's Customs as they face political pressure over the battle against illegal drugs being smuggled across Britain's borders. With the impact of drug use felt across the country and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's power waning, an unorthodox solution was considered and put into motion. As part of a top-secret operation, a small team of Customs employees went undercover to infiltrate Britain's most dangerous drug gangs. These were not trained spies but normal men and women, plucked from ordinary lives, put through basic training, and tasked with building new identities in the criminal underworld. These identities were called Legends.
Creator Neil Forsyth's Inspiration
The series is created and written by Scottish screenwriter Neil Forsyth, known for the crime drama 'Guilt' and the true crime series 'The Gold'. For 'Legends', Forsyth drew from the real-life experiences of Guy Stanton, played by Tom Burke, who co-wrote the book 'The Betrayer' with Peter Walsh. Forsyth also conducted his own research and met Guy Stanton in person.
Meeting the Real Guy
In an exclusive chat, Forsyth described meeting Stanton as extraordinary. He said: "Just extraordinary. Basically sitting in a restaurant in a leafy sunny English village and this very kind of quite softly spoken older look telling me these incredible stories from his younger years. I couldn't really believe it. It's amazing." Forsyth revealed that several scenes in the series were taken directly from Stanton's stories and went "straight into the script."
Scenes Straight from Real Life
Forsyth shared an example: "There's a scene in episode six with Guy and his family on a tube train. I won't say any more than that but that's a story that Guy told me when we met up together and I just said, 'Yeah, I'm doing that'. It just went cleanly into the script really." He added, "I was like, 'That's crazy'. And the fact that his family were involved. So that just went straight in and there were lots of little moments like that." Forsyth also noted how two separate storylines—one involving a North London gang of Turkish heritage dealing heroin, and another about a Liverpool dealer—naturally came together when he discovered that a Liverpool man had joined forces with a Turkish gang in North London. He called this discovery "manna from Heaven."
'Legends' is now streaming on Netflix.
