From Stephen Graham to Louis Theroux, the migration of British TV legends to Netflix has borne some serious fruit in recent years. Next in line is Steve Coogan, whose new project Legends takes a little-known chapter in UK history and gives it the big streamer spin.
The six-part thriller follows a group of customs officers who, in the early 1990s, went undercover to infiltrate Britain’s most dangerous drug network to try to stem the flow of heroin into Liverpool. Coogan plays Dom, a no-nonsense police chief who has to guide the green recruits—in particular Tom Burke’s (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) Guy, who gets a little too into the act for his own good—as they try and give Margaret Thatcher’s Tory government a tough-on-crime headline win on a shoestring budget.
Written by Neil Forsyth (The Gold, Guilt), what starts as a solidly entertaining fish-out-of-water story expands into a compelling gangland drama that sees Coogan having all sorts of fun as a gruff northerner who has seen some things. We spoke to the 60-year-old about Legends, the new season of The Trip, and doing his own action sequences.
GQ: Is your character, Dom, based on anyone?
Steve Coogan: Legends is a true story—or ‘based on’ or ‘inspired by’, I don’t know which word they use these days—but Dom isn’t real, he’s an amalgam of people. I have played real people before, and if they’re alive, I talk to them. If they’re dead, I don’t.
That seems like a good approach. The show’s writer, Neil Forsyth, called you an “acting powerhouse” and a hero of his in a recent interview.
That’s obviously very complimentary. I started out in this business in my twenties doing standup comedy and impersonations. Then one day you wake up, and you’re the oldest person in the room. But the upside of that is, people who were basically kids when they watched me on TV are now at the peak of their creative careers and offering me work.
Why did Legends pique your interest?
The script was tight and different, and it was a good older character role. For me, it’s like a holiday because I only have to do one thing, and that’s act. And the part isn’t a million miles from me. I sort of crank up my northernness. I’ve known people like Don.
It starts off feeling almost like a caper, then expands into more of a gangland thriller. You can really feel the Netflix of it all.
It does grow as the episodes progress. There’s a real science to these things. The first episode is just basically making sure people watch the second one by setting a lot of little hares coursing. And that is done well. The supporting cast is really high caliber; no one phones it in. I watched [the whole series] a couple of weeks ago and I was surprised by how engaged I was. Then occasionally I’d crop up and I’d go, “Oh, I forgot. I’m in this.”