Christopher Walken answering the phone in The OutlawsImage via Prime Video
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Billy Fellows
Published 29 minutes ago
Billy is a Senior Features Author for Collider. Having written over 300 articles in just over a year, Billy regularly covers the biggest TV shows and films releasing while also analysing some of the most underrated properties that may slip your attention.
Having studied for an MA in Screenwriting at UAL in 2023, Billy honed his writing skills and also developed his ability to critique the work of other creative minds.
Before that, Billy studied politics at the University of Nottingham, which helped him to bring nuanced and scholarly analysis to the frameworks within which filmmakers and writers have framed their thematic messages.
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Who doesn't love a dramedy? In the past decade, shows such as Ted Lasso, The Bear, and BoJack Horseman have become increasingly popular and critically acclaimed. Not only do they combine what are arguably the two most popular genres among audiences, but they also excel when they begin as straightforward comedies before transitioning into more dramatic territory, still punctuated with comedic moments throughout.
That balancing of genres is exactly what the crime thriller The Outlaws nails as we watch a group of well-mannered, civilized people spiral out of control as they become dangerously involved with a drug kingpin. The BBC-produced series, created by Stephen Merchant and streaming on Prime Video, features a massive cast of memorable actors who all have great chemistry with each other, creating a tight-knit family in the process. While it will have your belly-aching from laughing, the dark moral undertones throughout create a sense of unease as our perfect protagonist sinks deeper into the grimy underworld.
What Is Prime Video's 'The Outlaws' About?
This 3-season show follows Rani (Rhianne Beretto) after she is caught shoplifting and sentenced to community service. There, she meets a mix of oddballs and recluses who all have their own bizarre reasons for being there. There is Merchant's meek lawyer, Greg, being caught with a sex worker, the spoiled Lady Gabriella (Eleanor Tomlinson) having vandalized her ex's car while drunk driving, and an old-school political activist, Myrna (Clare Perkins), who technically kidnapped police officers when she stole their kiosk with them still in it. Each character's reason seems more daft than the one before, yet that is exactly what makes them the perfect group to watch tackle the conflict of The Outlaws.
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Posts 4 By Andrea Ciriaco Aug 20, 2025One member of the group is Christian (Gamba Cole) — or at least that's the name he gives at first — a young man living on a council estate with his younger sister. He is in community service because of his involvement with a gang of drug dealers whom he owes a debt to, and it is this connection that gets the entire crew sucked into a drug feud between local factions, with a kingpin emperor looking over it all. The moment of true involvement comes when the crew finds a bag full of money belonging to the gang and, with each member having their own need for financial aid, decides to keep it for themselves. So begins the paranoia-filled game of cat and mouse that sees each character pushed to their absolute limit both physically and morally, since none of them are truly criminals at heart. That is exactly how The Outlaws communicates a vital message about how anybody can be capable of terrible things if they are pushed far enough.
'The Outlaws' Rani Is the Modern Day Michael Corleone in 'The Godfather'
Rhianne Barreto as Rani hiding among the bushes in a black hoodie in Season 3 of The OutlawsImage via Prime Video
Antiheroes, such as Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), are some of the most fascinating characters in all of TV. Watching them make morally dubious decisions for their own seemingly sympathetic reasons challenges the audience to question the subjectivity of morality itself. With this in mind, perhaps Rani is one of the best antiheroes put to screen in recent memory. Coming from a conservative household, she is considered the perfect young woman, getting perfect grades and setting herself up for a life at an Oxbridge university. This life is not what she wants, but is the clear wish of her parents, who give her little agency to decide for herself.
In this way, her descent into criminality parallels Michael Corleone's (Al Pacino) arc in The Godfather, as the person seemingly least prepared for this kind of lifestyle ends up being the most ruthless of the lot. Despite Walken's Frank being a former con-man, and Darren Boyd's John being a racially insensitive businessman, Rani not only embraces the conflict with drug kingpins, but enjoys it. Beretto's performance is both endearing and frightening to watch, as she employs a sadistic smile in many of the scenes where she is seizing power for herself. While she remains sympathetic because of how it can be rationalized that she is merely doing what she must to survive, it's hard not to miss the naive girl she was at the beginning of the series.
Prime Video's 'The Outlaws' Features a Fun, Stacked Cast
The cast of The Outlaws Season 1Image via BBC
What Merchant seems to excel at from a writing perspective is his ability to let each actor play to their strengths. Walken employs his wise-guy charisma that viewers have grown accustomed to. Baby Reindeer's Jessica Gunning plays an overly serious community service guard who seems to have no end of outlandish lines and an ambitious drive to be a detective. Despite being incredibly racially insensitive, Boyd's John is perhaps the funniest cast member out of the lot. Boyd gets to use his dry delivery, seen similarly in Apple TV's Down Cemetery Road, to make sure that we never laugh at John's humor, but at the character himself.
Each character is also given many flaws to go with the sympathetic positions they find themselves in, which constantly shifts your opinion on the character. While we feel bad for Walken's Frank that his family doesn't want him around, it is his own fault as his behavior landed him in prison decades ago. While Lady Gabriella is a spoiled brat, she is also ignored and dismissed by her rich father, and even though Myrna fights for the rights of others and against capitalistic authority, she holds everyone to an incredibly high standard that often pushes people away.
The Outlaws doesn't just make you feel like you're watching a family, but that you are a part of it yourself. It is impossible to condemn or completely redeem any of these characters. What you are sure of, however, is that you would hate for anything to happen to these people. While there are many dramedies, few feel as unique as The Outlaws, and viewers will see how Merchant brings that same style of humor from The Office to this series. In doing so, it is not only a comfort watch, but a deeply tragic story that follows a bunch of misfits who not only find a family to belong to, but must also fight to keep it alive.
The Outlaws
Like Follow Followed TV-MA Comedy Drama Crime Release Date October 25, 2021 Network Amazon Prime Video Showrunner Stephen Merchant Directors Stephen Merchant Writers Stephen MerchantCast
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Christopher Walken
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Rhianne Barreto
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Eleanor Tomlinson
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Darren Boyd
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