Stylish New Crime Drama, Sexy Beast, Comes To Paramount+ This Month

There’s nothing quite like a gritty British crime drama, and with Jackdaw and The Gentlemen releasing in the next few months, we won’t be short of the genre. And if that’s not enough, Paramount+ is adapting a modern classic of gangster films into a new series set to drop this month. Sexy Beast serves as a prequel to the early 2000s film of the same name and tells the tale of two best friends in London’s criminal underworld during the 90s. This is a stylish guns-and-grit heist drama that’ll please anyone who loves a good thriller.

What is Sexy Beast about?

If you’ve not seen the original film, you won’t need to for the series (though you should watch it anyway as it’s a good’un), with it acting as a prequel. Sexy Beast told the story of a retired, tough guy criminal (played by Ray Winstone) and the reappearance of his former associate (played by Ben Kingsley) who threatens to bring chaos into his now peaceful life. It’s been praised as one of the best British films of all time with its stylish visuals and captivating performances- so the Paramount series has a lot to live up to.

The prequel sees Gal Dove (Winstone’s character in the film and played by Mare of Easttown actor James McArdle) team up with fellow thief Don Logan (Kingsley’s character in the film and played by The Gold’s Emun Elliott) become involved in a stealing spree across London as they commit crimes and rob anywhere they can.

What else do we know?

Gal is the calmer of the two, and while the effective criminal has dreams of one day moving past his current lifestyle, particularly after he meets the adult film star DeeDee (Penny Dreadful’s Sarah Green and falls for her.) Don, however, as anyone who’s seen the film can attest, is volatile, dangerous and prone to raging outbursts- usually repeating himself for effect.

The show’s trailer, which you can watch below shows Gal making moves to leave the crime world, but Don’s powder keg nature sets up a potential feud if he makes the wrong move. “You’re gonna regret this…” the gangster warns Gal, and suddenly everything is at stake. The trailer also reveals Black Books and Friday Night Dinner star Tamsin Greig’s tough-talking character Cecillia, joined by Stephen Moyer (True Blood) as Teddy.

Is there a release date?

The eight-part series will be available to stream on Paramount+ starting with the premiere on 25th January, and you can watch the trailer below.