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‘Legends’ Tops Netflix UK As Critics Hail HM Customs Undercover Drama

Early traction suggests viewers want a grounded retelling shaped with input from a real undercover officer.

Overview

  • Legends, a six-episode series now streaming, is Netflix’s number one show in the UK with a 92% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and sits sixth worldwide.
  • The drama follows HM Customs officers who create new identities called “legends” to infiltrate heroin networks, showing the risks and personal strain of long-term undercover work.
  • Creator Neil Forsyth based the show on The Betrayer by former officer Guy Stanton and consulted him to shape the characters and operation details.
  • Netflix confirmed extensive on-location filming across the UK, with standout sites in Liverpool and London, and additional shooting in Morocco.
  • The real operations that inspired the series grew out of Britain’s late-1980s heroin crisis, with a secret unit dubbed Beta Projects formed around 1989 and reporting seizures valued at more than £1 billion.