Legends: Cast, Plot, Release Date of Tom Burke and Steve Coogan Series

SALLY MAIS/NETFLIX
Deep Dive
Legends Is Now Streaming — Are You Ready to Go Undercover?
The series stars Tom Burke and Steve Coogan, and is based on real events.
By John DiLillo
May 11, 2026

In Legends, the new six-episode series from creator Neil Forsyth (The Gold, Guilt), a group of ordinary British Customs officers are given a top-secret mission: Infiltrate the country’s most notorious criminal drug gangs, and help take them down from the inside. Starring Tom Burke and Steve Coogan, Legends is inspired by one of the most remarkable criminal investigations ever conducted.

Read on to learn more about Legends, which is now streaming on Netflix, including the rest of its daring team — and watch the trailer here.

What is Legends about?

In the early ’90s, her Majesty’s Customs and Excise was losing its battle with illegal drug smuggling across Britain’s borders. The solution was extraordinary. In a top-secret operation, a small team of Customs employees were sent undercover. Their task — to infiltrate Britain’s most dangerous drug gangs.

But these were not trained spies. They were normal men and women, plucked from ordinary lives around the UK, put through a basic training regime, and tasked with building new identities in the criminal underworld. These identities were called legends.

Two people sit in a car, with a woman in a denim jacket holding a camera with a large lens, looking intently outside as if observing or photographing something, while a man sits beside her, watching her actions.

Sally Mais/Netflix

Who’s in the cast of Legends?

The ensemble cast of Legends includes:

Tom Burke (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Souvenir) plays ‘Guy’
Steve Coogan (Philomena, The Reckoning) plays ‘Don’
Hayley Squires (Beau Is Afraid, I, Daniel Blake) plays ‘Kate’
Tom Hughes (The English, Victoria) plays ‘Carter’
Aml Ameen (A Man in Full, Rustin) plays ‘Bailey’
Jasmine Blackborow (The Gentlemen, Marie Antoinette) plays ‘Erin’
Douglas Hodge (G20, Joker) plays ‘Blake’
Johnny Harris (A Gentleman in Moscow, Great Expectations) plays ‘Eddie’
Gerald Kyd (The Assassin, Love Rat) plays ‘Mylonas’
Numan Acar (In the Fade, Homeland) plays ‘Hakan’
Charlotte Ritchie (You, Ghosts) plays ‘Sophie’
Joshua Samuels (The Gold, Saltburn) plays ‘Zeki’
Kem Hassan (The Sandman, Vera) plays ‘Aziz’
Thomas Coombes (Baby Reindeer, Luther: The Fallen Sun) plays ‘Shaun’

Who is the creative team behind Legends?

Written and created by Forsyth, Legends is directed by Brady Hood (Top Boy, Great Expectations), who is handling Episodes 1-4, and Julian Holmes (Reacher, The Boys), who is directing Episodes 5-6.

The show is executive produced by Ben Farrell (The Gold, Feel Good) and Forsyth for Tannadice and Richard Bradley for Lion Television. Charlie Leech (The Gold, Lovesick) serves as series producer.

A man in a black jacket runs through a city street at night, with blurred lights and a market stall in the background, suggesting urgency in an urban environment.

Justin Downing/Netflix

When will Legends be on Netflix?

All six episodes of Legends are now streaming globally.

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Legends

6 EpisodesTV-MA2026

As drugs flood the streets of '90s Britain, a team of civil servants is thrust undercover to topple the gangs behind it. Inspired by an untold true story.