The British crime seriesGangs of Londonshares obvious similarities with other shows of the same genre. Not only does it bear some of the same hallmarks as Stephen Knight’sPeaky Blinders, but its lead actor, Joe Cole, originally made his name on Knight’s show. Yet the premise ofGangs of Londonactually has far more to do with a long-forgotten video game made for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in 2006 than it does with any other TV show.
Series creators Gareth Evans and Matt Flannery began working on it after their production company acquired the rights toa video game franchise which included a game with the titleGangs of London. This game was itself a very minor title within the franchise. Nevertheless, Evans and Flannery clearly dug deep into the game, as their TV version shares certain unmistakable similarities with its source material. They took the idea and ran with it, though, takingGangs of Londoninto its third seasonas a critically-acclaimed, BAFTA-winning streaming behemoth.
Gangs Of London Is Based On A 2006 PSP Game, Which Was Based On A PlayStation 2 Title
TheGangs of Londonvideo game was a PSP spinoff fromThe Getaway, a PlayStation 2 game first released in 2002. Developed in London by Team Soho, The Getaway and its three sequels focused on gang warfare in the streets of Britain’s capital, with similar third-person, open-world gameplay to the legendaryGrand Theft Autoseries developed by Rockstar Games.
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For many gamers,The Getawaywas simply aBritish knock-off ofGrand Theft Auto. This assessment meant that it didn’t survive as a franchise beyond the initial surge in the demand for games that could replicate the experience ofplayingGrand Theft Auto IIIall over again. Yet certain unique aspects ofThe Getaway’sGangs of Londongame in particular have served as direct inspiration for Evans and Flannery’s hit show.The game depicts London’s ganglands as a multipolar, multi-ethnic underworldof gangs from various different countries, all battling for control of the same criminal enterprises.
How Gangs Of London Compares To The Video Game Series
There Are Certain Similarities But More Differences
Beyond this specific aspect of theGangs of Londongame, however,the TV show andThe Getawayvideo games don’t actually have a lot in common. The general premise of gang warfare on the streets of London remains the same, and the backstory ofThe Getaway’s Mark Hammond shares similarities with the primary motive of Joe Cole’s gang leader Sean Wallace. While Wallace’s father was killed by a rival gangster, it’s the murder of Hammond’s wife and the kidnapping of his son that motivate his actions.
Although their Pakistani drug lord Asif Afridi shares a first name with a British-Indian gangster in theGangs of Londonvideo game, very little else resembling theGetawayfranchise remains in the TV show.
Otherwise, the TV version ofGangs of Londonfeatures charactersentirely different from those we see in the video games. Although their Pakistani drug lord Asif Afridi shares a first name with a British-Indian gangster in theGangs of Londonvideo game, very little else resembling theGetawayfranchise remains in the TV show.
As Evans said, any medium other than a TV series “wouldn’t do justice to the myriad of different diverse cultures and ethnicities that make up the city.” (viaSky News).The Getaway’s London setting might have been what first brought it to the attention of television producers. But that’s where the game ended, and the actualGangs of Londonbegan.
