The Gentlemen – Is Guy Ritchie's latest Netflix tv series worth streaming?

Guy Ritchie’s latest offering recently dropped on Netflix and everyone has been talking about it. Here’s everything you need to know about the series so you can decide whether it’s worth your time or not (spoiler alert: we think it is!).

Kaya Scodelario and Theo James star in The Gentlemen

The Gentlemen is the essence of Guy Ritchie. Based on Ritchie’s earlier 2019 film of the same name, the new Netflix series consists of eight episodes that follow the same formula we’ve come to expect from him – an obsession with the rich, distinct accents, violence and lots and lots of drugs.

The series starts with Eddie (Theo James), receiving the news that his father is on his deathbed and he must return to the family estate. He is posted away with the army at the time after making a life for himself away from the family. After his father’s death, it’s revealed in his will that Eddie will become the next Duke of Halstead and inherit the family estate, despite being the middle child. It just so happens that that also makes him the landlord of a giant weed farm operation that his father had been hiding under the estate’s yogurt and livestock farm.

Years before, criminal entrepreneur Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario) had made a deal with Eddie’s father to run her weed operation unnoticed in the estate’s private grounds. A deal she’s not looking to end anytime soon. While trying to get the drug dealers off his estate, and at the same time going to them for support to deal with his cocaine snorting brother’s bad decisions, Eddie finds himself drawn further and further into the criminal underworld rabbit hole, with Susie there to guide the way.

Fresh after appearing in season two of The White Lotus, Theo James channels the stiff up lip of Eddie with ease. He manages to create a character that’s flawed enough to remain interesting and that doesn’t become completely lost on the sea of all the other enigmatic supporting characters.

Kaya Scodelario makes a welcome return to the small screen as the stylish and sophisticated Susie. Scodelario’s strong female lead works well against James’s upright presentation of Eddie, often stealing scenes from under him with her smug one-liners. Both James’s and Scodelario’s characters have great chemistry on screen and they manage to generate sexual chemistry while keeping their hands to themselves. You can’t help but wonder are they friends? Enemies? Frenemies? Colleagues? Or something else entirely?

The two leads are supported by a stellar cast, the true standout of which is undoubtedly Daniel Ings, who plays Freddy, Eddie’s brother. His character manages to be both likeable and infuriating all at once. He’s massively entitled and seems to be incapable of making any right decision. Ings leans into the chaotic energy of Freddy, while also bringing a dash of vulnerability to him.

Other cast members include; Vinnie Jones, who plays Geoff, the gamekeeper of Halstead manor, to Giancarlo Esposito, who play’s wealthy American Stanley Johnston. The cast also includes Ray Winstone, who play’s Bobby Glass, Susie’s father and leader of the crime family and Joely Richardson who play’s Lady Sabrine, Eddie’s mother.

Ritchie is at the helm of this project, as creator, co-writer, executive producer and director of the first two episodes, alongside co-writer and executive producer Matthew Read. Ritchie has managed to create a truly binge-worthy series, with a fast pace and an entertaining storyline full of twists and larger than life characters. The Gentlemen is one irresistible cocktail of action, comedy and drama.

The Gentlemen is available now to stream on Netflix.