The six-part series, described as one of the year's best crime thrillers, draws from Guy Stanton's 2022 book 'The Betrayer: How An Undercover Unit Infiltrated The Global Drug Trade'. Stanton spent about a decade posing as a criminal in East London using a fake identity called a 'legend'. The undercover operation was part of HM Customs's secretive 'Beta Project', which aimed to deploy operatives to target the world's biggest illicit drug smugglers.
The project was prompted by Margaret Thatcher's 'war on drugs' stance following an epidemic of heroin deaths. The story remained undisclosed to the UK public until Stanton's book. Steve Coogan stars as the head of the special customs unit, a role far from his Alan Partridge character.
The cast also includes Jasmine Blackborow, Douglas Hodge, Hayley Squires, and Aml Ameen. Squires and Ameen play fellow officers sent to Liverpool. Tom Burke portrays the tension between being a suburban family man and his undercover persona.
The series shows Guy Stanton leaving his wife and child to move to London's Green Lanes and infiltrate Turkish and Kurdish gangs. The real Stanton's wife, Jo, also worked for HM Customs and helped him create his undercover persona. Stanton told his parents and siblings he worked in a quiet office job.
Forsyth was drawn to the story because the customs officers were 'glorified amateurs' who learned on the streets.
To maintain his cover, he wore two gold Rolexes borrowed from confiscated goods held by Customs, one worth £175,000 and the other £75,000. The £175,000 Rolex was made of solid block sapphire and 18-carat gold with square diamonds, one of only five ever made. The £75,000 Rolex had a black onyx dial set with pavé diamonds.
Stanton also wore Hugo Boss shirts and fancy shoes. Stanton's undercover work involved orchestrating a two-tonne heroin deal to catch criminals. Episode one opens with the fatal heroin overdose of a female student at Oxford University.
The Kurdish gangsters controlling heroin importation in London team up with Liverpudlian counterparts controlling distribution. com, writer Neil Forsyth described the customs officers as 'glorified amateurs' who learned on the streets. The series is described as 'shambolically amateurish' and 'very British'.
Some details were changed in the TV show to protect identities even 35 years after the operation. The Daily Mirror reports that it and its partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from users' devices. The collected information is used to improve experience on the site, analyze how it is used, and show personalized advertising.
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