Gangs of London has been declared by season three director Kim Hong-Sun as a “Blood Opera”, with tragic tales of interweaving family and business dynamics matched only by its bloody and violent nature.
Season three of the series promises to be the most radical story yet – with London as a whole devolving into chaos when a laced cocaine batch spikes and kills hundreds of people in the space of one weekend.
With the government now set on eradicating the city of drugs for good, it’s up to the gang leaders to find the culprit and bring them to justice or risk their entire crime syndicate crashing to the ground.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg for the gangs, with the series building up to this moment from the first episode, where the fall of a once great leader created a vacuum that saw brutal power plays, betrayals and violence come in its wake.
If you’re new to the series or just want a refresher on what happened so far, here’s everything you need to know about seasons one and two before diving into season three.
Season 1
Crime lord Finn Wallace is shot dead by a group of teenagers, seemingly at random, after being head of the Wallace Organisation for more than 20 years. Through his leadership he’s managed to somewhat keep the peace in London, acting as intermediary between the international drug lords with which he collaborates and the mysterious “Investors” who help keep the business afloat.
But with Finn now gone, his eldest son, Sean is his heir-apparent and hellbent on revenge. He sends his close friend and fellow gang leader, Alex Dumani, to find the culprit. Much like Sean, Alex is the son of a key member of the crime family, Finn’s right-hand man, Ed Dumani.
Through Alex’s hunt he meets local tough guy Elliot, who shares information leading him to an Albanian crime family led by Luan Dushaj. Establishing trust with Alex, Elliot is quickly brought into the fold of the criminal world, although not everyone is quick to have faith in him.
Turns out for good reason: Elliot is an undercover police officer, on a mission to take the drug syndicate down from the inside. Regardless, he finds himself enthralled by the world he has muscled his way into, getting close to Alex’s sister Shannon Dumani and revealing to her that his wife and child were murdered.
There are also shady dealings going on without the Wallace’s knowledge, with Ed Dumani seen dealing in information with Luan. Luan killed off an entire Albanian family for Finn, and in exchange, a half-billion-pound construction deal for a skyscraper was to be set up in London for him with the help of Nigerian kingpin, Mosi. This deal did not go through by the time of Finn’s death, prompting Luan to confront Sean to uphold his father’s end of the bargain.
Meanwhile in Turkey, Lale, the head of a Kurdish freedom fighters syndicate, robs a stash of drugs owned by Pakistani mob boss, Asif. Lale has a long-held score to settle against Asif, who tortured and killed her husband in the past. This stash is then trafficked into London, but this is quickly picked up by Billy, Sean’s drug-addicted brother, who informs him there are new dealers making moves in on their turf. Sean later confronts Lale, allying himself with her and promising to team up and take Asif’s organisation down.
Asif has friends, or rather, family, in high places too. His son, Nasir, is running for Mayor of London, with one of his forefront policies being anti-drugs and crime.
Finn’s murder is eventually tracked back to a group of Travellers run by a man named Kinney, whose son, Darren, was paid to kill the crime boss off by an unknown benefactor. Coming clean to Sean, Kinney is unwilling to give up his son. He pays for this as he watches his entire settlement and everyone in it go down in a hail of fire and bullets. While Kinney and Darren initially escape, a group of mercenaries, led by Leif Hansen, eventually get to them – but not before leaving a bloodbath in their wake.
But Finn had even more secrets that come spilling out over time – most notably his pregnant Albanian mistress, Floriana, who he’s named a boat after. This information crushes his wife, Marian, but unknown to her Floriana and her baby are being held by Leif.
It’s also later revealed to Ed Dumani by middleman Jevan that the Investors wanted to place Alex as the head of the organisation, not Sean, who is considered too reckless to be in charge. Leif’s team is later hired to take out Sean, but killer Tove fails in the mission, with Ed later discovering Jevan’s responsibility in the hits. Tove is later taken hostage and tortured by a vengeful Sean, much to the shock of Alex, who disagrees with the brutality. He later agrees to make a deal with Jevan to take over the organisation, with father Ed in agreement.
However, Marian’s got an investigator tailing them, and finds out everything, while Alex denies everything to Sean when confronted. They soon have bigger issues to deal with when they discover the money laundered to secure Finn and Luan’s skyscraper deal has gone missing. With Mosi now on the rampage and Luan in fear for his life, he reaches out to Ed for help. Eventually he takes matters into his own hands when he is ambushed by Mosi and his men.
Alex discovers more than £1.6billion is missing from the company’s funds, and believes Finn is somehow responsible for it. Marian and Sean later confront Ed on what he knows, and he reveals Finn’s plans to flee London and his family in order to start a new life with Floriana. It’s assumed that Floriana has the money in some way, with Finn presumably setting an account up in her name or hiding it for her.
Ed also finally tells them about Finn and the Investors’ hesitance in Sean taking over the business, wanting Alex to lead instead. Furious, Sean shoots Ed in the leg and demands they leave, before fleeing from the Investors who still intend on taking him out. Sending a message to the Investors, Sean has the Wallace building in the centre of London blown up, backed up by Lale.
In the final episode, Ed shoots Marian, Asif’s son is killed by Lale, and Elliot’s cover is blown, prompting Sean to confront him about it. Elliot shoots him in the face and leaves him for dead. It’s revealed Elliot was forced to kill Sean by the Investors, who threatened the life of Shannon and her young boy if he didn’t. Elliot is arrested, while Alex manages to escape. But the reach of the Investors is shown when the arresting officer lets him go – somehow, Elliot is considered a ‘diplomat of the Republic of Panama’ and therefore has diplomatic immunity.
As Elliot returns to his freedom and walks the streets of London, he receives a call from a woman who tells him they’ll “be in touch”.
Find out more about season one…
Meet the cast and characters
Read our season one full episode guide
Season 2
Picking up a year after the events of the season one finale, Ed Dumani and Asif Afridi are the leading crime bosses within London. But when a number of unauthorised weapons are bought by Luan, a mole within the Albanian gang feeds the information back to a new face on the scene named Koba, an enforcer for Asif. Koba intercepts the shipment, brutally killing those in charge of looking after it.
Meanwhile, Alex gets on the wrong side of the Investors when he launders £200million without their clearance. Alex plans to get out from under the Investors, prompting them to send Elliot to kill him. Elliot instead tries to bargain with Alex, propositioning him with a thumb drive containing information on the Investors, but Alex kills himself by jumping off the building, believing fighting them is futile.
With Luan’s deception over the weapons sales revealed, Koba is dispatched to the crime boss’s home to take him out. Instead, he kidnaps Luan’s wife Mirlinda, using her as leverage for Luan to do his bidding and get to the arms supplier: Marian Wallace. Despite Luan following his wishes, Koba buries Mirlinda alive, and demands Luan relinquish his power to him. A desperate Luan later forces Ed at gunpoint to take him to Mirlinda’s burial spot, where they are ambushed and kidnapped.
The Wallaces are a shadow of their former selves, with Marian miraculously surviving being shot by Ed, but mourning the loss of her son, Sean. She now harbours Floriana, her dead husband’s mistress, as well as baby daughter, Rose. Instructing Billy to avenge Sean’s death, he starts tracking Elliot, who is making plans to leave London by feeding information to an intelligence officer named Singer. Elliot is drawn into another shootout, where he meets Saba, niece of Algerian crime boss Basem Soudani. Basem is shot dead in front of Saba as Billy opens fire on them both. Crashing into the Thames, he is saved by Sean – it is revealed he survived being shot with the help of Lale but has been held captive by unknown faces and has hidden underground since.
When he’s reunited with his family at Lale’s warehouse, Sean shares his plans to take down the Investors and kills Floriana in a bid to take back control of his father’s money. He later recruits other drug leaders but runs into trouble when Asif gets hold of Finn’s accounts before him, draining it of the money they thought they had.
Sean’s team ambush Koba’s men and free Luan, with him rushing to Mirlinda and thankfully finding her alive, though in bad shape. Ed, meanwhile, was left with Koba. Sean later tries to recruit Luan for his mission, but the terrified boss refuses considering what happened before.
Koba continues to torture Ed for information, while Shannon is warned to take cover with her son. She calls Elliot for help, but he tells her Ed is most likely dead in Koba’s domain. Elliot then gives his father a new identity and allows him to leave the country without him as he goes in search of Ed, despite being warned against it by the Investors runner, Ms Kane.
Finding and freeing Ed, Elliot makes a new bid for the airport, only to find his father and Singer both dead. Elliot goes after Kane, believing it to be her doing, and kills her. He later finds out the truth from Shannon: It was Sean.
Finally getting his revenge against Elliot’s betrayal at the end of season one, while also acquiring the thumb drive, Sean uses the information to form an alliance with Koba to take down the Investors. They offer a deal to Asif, giving him the chance to continue his gun and drug distribution in exchange for access to his network. Asif refuses, knowing Sean’s intimate connection with Lale, who killed his son, so Koba proposes they hand Lale over as a deal sweetener – before revealing he’s already delivered her to Asif’s house. Sean is furious, but Koba argues it’s a necessity.
Lale breaks free at Asif’s house and manages to take out a number of his men in the process, but she’s left devastated when, after running into Sean outside the house, he betrays her and hands her back to Asif to do with what he wants. But she’s not killed by Asif – instead, with his power on London now gone, he strikes a deal.
Marian, Ed, Shannon and Luan join forces to stop Sean and Koba’s attempts to take over London, halting a heroin shipment in progress. But Billy remains loyal to his brother, later following his mother to discover where the stash is hidden. He’s caught by Luan, who under Marian’s instruction locks him in the van with the heroin.
Sean and Koba head to Paris to arrange a new deal, bringing Saba as a translator. But she’s intercepted by Elliot, who is hot on their heels and convinces her to help him take out Sean. When she panics and sends him the wrong details, the plan for both Sean and Elliot goes awry. Elliot sends a message to Marian and Sean by delivering Billy’s severed arm in a package to their house. Knowing what his mother has done, he violently lashes out at her before saying he never wants to see her again and goes to get his brother.
Under Elliot’s instruction, Sean poisons and kills Koba before heading to his brother’s location. Billy puts up a fight against Elliot, stabbing him in the hand, but Elliot takes them both out, stopping short of killing Sean. Instead, he hands him over to the police and flees with Billy. Before he leaves, he promises to take everything Sean built for his own.
In the meantime, the shipment is tracked to a house – but it’s a trap, with Ed and Shannon Dumani there armed with machine guns, done with working as underlings for the Wallace family. In the final moments, Ed, Shannon and Elliot appear at a meeting, seemingly the new overlords of the London crime syndicate, ready to rule.
Find out more about season two…