National Geographic Channel
Britain’s Underworld lifts the lid on the crimelords who flourished in Britain and Ireland’s roughest, toughest cities, from the 1950s to the 1990s.
In Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Dublin, Essex and the Costa Del Crime, we meet the ruthless gangsters who fought the law - and their rivals - in a desperate bid for money, power and influence. And we hear from the cops who fought long and hard to lock them up.
We learn how a post-war Britain ravaged by poverty and decay spawned homegrown gangsters, who founded empires, and changed the very nature of British crime.
This ground-breaking series, featuring in-depth interviews with some of Britain’s most feared criminals, charts these seismic changes – as competing gangs fought for the richest pickings of the day.
In the 1950s, safe-blowers were top criminal dogs, whilst more business-minded crooks blighted our cities with brutally enforced loan-sharking and protection rackets.
By the 1970s, armed robbery was all the rage in the criminal world as teams used the new motorway network to range far and wide with their shotguns and balaclavas.
Then when new alarms and CCTV started making life harder for the robbers, the importing and selling of drugs of all kinds proved a path to hitherto unimagined riches - spawning criminal enterprises which spanned the globe.
Behind these crimes have been some of this country’s biggest crimelords. And whilst the crimes may have changed, murder and intimidation have been a constant weapon in their battle to dominate Britain’s Underworld.
Series 2
Costa Del Crime: Monday March 21st, 8pm
Essex: Monday March 28th, 8pm
Dublin: Monday April 4th, 8pm