Netflix True Crime Series ‘Legends’ Starring Steve Coogan And Tom Burke Is Out Today

Love a bit of true crime and looking for a new series to binge through? Netflix’s new series Legends, which stars Steve Coogan and Tom Burke, is set in 90s Britain and delves into the effort to clean up the illegal drugs trade from the inside. A group of infiltrators is dispatched to go undercover and take down gangs, but the risks involved pose serious challenges. Here’s all you need to know.

What is Legends about?

Legends is inspired by a remarkable true story and a real-life investigation, set in the 1990s, when Britain was struggling to contain a growing drug crisis. You can expect the usual nostalgic trappings of a 90s-set drama, but the focus here is on the drug trade getting increasingly out of hand. In response, a top-secret plan was devised: a group of ordinary customs employees would be sent undercover to infiltrate some of the country’s most dangerous drug gangs, essentially as amateur spies with no training.

Ordinary people with ordinary jobs were now expected to keep themselves completely undetectable using convincing identities that could be uncovered by any slip-up. For the recruits, these identities were dubbed “legends”, and as Coogan’s character explains in the trailer, anyone given this mission had to embody their fake lives and personas and make them “part of you.” Coogan plays Don, the head of the operations, who isn’t afraid to make it totally clear that failure almost certainly means death.

Meanwhile, Burke plays Guy, one of the customer officers who is given the opportunity to become an undercover operative. Like the rest of them, he’s an ordinary guy who’s driven to achieve more in life: he works alongside Sophie, his wife (played by You’s Charlotte Ritchie), and has a daughter, but wants more. When the chance to become a “Legend” and do a duty to the country comes, he takes it, and Guy is based (according to Netflix) on Guy Stanton, a real-life person who was involved in the plan in the 90s.

What else do we know, and who else stars?

There’s an official trailer for the six-part show released by Netflix, giving particular focus not just to Tom Burke’s Guy and Steve Coogan’s Don, but also the world of customs officers in general and the inherent riskiness of the new mission. Alongside the two main stars, the series features a strong ensemble cast including Ritchie, Hayley Squires, Aml Ameen and Tom Hughes, bringing the wider team of undercover operatives to life.

When does it release?

Legends premieres globally on Netflix today [May 7th 2026], with all six episodes dropping at once.

Watch the trailer