May 7, 2026 12:01am PT

Steve Coogan and Tom Burke Excel as Undercover Agents in Netflix War on Drugs Drama ‘Legends’: TV Review

Alison Herman

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Alison Herman

TV Critic

aherman2006

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Courtesy of Netflix

In the parlance of undercover operatives, a “legend” is the false identity one concocts to infiltrate a criminal network. “Your legend has to come from you, or it won’t work. Your legend has to be part of you, or it won’t work,” explains Don (Steve Coogan), a British customs agent charged with training a group of amateur spies to infiltrate heroin rings in the twilight of the Thatcher era. “And when legends don’t work, people die.”

“Legends” is also the name of the compact, compelling Netflix series Don kicks off by assembling a ragtag crew of secretaries, airport security officers and other understimulated misfits from his agency’s ranks for the mission at hand. Created and written by Neil Forsyth (“The Gold”), “Legends” is loosely based on a real set of customs operations in the late 1980s that intercepted several tons of narcotics with limited budget and resources. But together with directors Brady Hood and Julian Holmes as well as a uniformly strong cast, led by a gravel-voiced Coogan and Tom Burke (“Furiosa”) as Don’s star pupil, Forsyth makes “Legends” a gripping tale of found potential and assumed identity.

Steve Coogan and Tom Burke Excel as Undercover Agents in Netflix War on Drugs Drama 'Legends': TV Review