Gangs of London star shocked by ‘graphic and brutal’ umbilical cord scene

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In 2020, Gangs of London overtook Game of Thrones as the most violent show on TV with 133 deaths and 13 harrowing tortures.

As season 3 lands five years later, the drama shows no signs of wanting to relinquish that accolade. High body counts may no longer shock viewers accustomed to the ultra-violence, but Gangs of London has found a solution: the most inventive murders yet.

In one scene, Lale (Narges Rashidi), who is being pursued by her captors in an abandoned office, pauses not to catch her breath but to give birth. Rather than, say, collapsing, she finds an alternative use for the umbilical cord. Turns out it’s a rather handy method of strangulation.

‘I heard about that scene and it sounded very….’ Andrew Koji, who plays new character Zeek, tells Metro, seemingly at a loss for words.

‘I was like, “That sounds graphic and brutal.” It will be interesting to find out what the audience thinks about it.’

The Black Doves actor, 37, is similarly awaiting fans’ reception to Zeek, a cold-hearted and mysterious assassin. Other character details are being kept strictly under wraps.

Andrew Koji said a Gangs of London scene was ‘graphic and brutal’ (Picture: Susie Allnutt)

‘They will either love me or hate me,’ he teases.

That must be a cross to bear when Gangs of London has become a British TV classic. The show’s average score on Rotten Tomatoes is an enviable 91%. Does that add pressure?

Andrew replies: ‘I mean Zeek’s a bit of an outsider, so coming into the show I was okay with being a bit of an outsider and just fighting my way in like a hand grenade.

‘I think it’s always an interesting experience to come into a pre-established show and family but everyone was really welcoming and kind.’

Andrew is not the only new kid on the block. Game of Thrones legend Richard Dormer – who from his former role as Beric Dondarrion knows a thing or two about violence- also joins the cast of Gangs of London as Cornelius Quinn.

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Previous Page Next Page Richard said an epic battle scene was filmed in a real church (Picture: Sky Limited/ Pulse Films.)

But even he recoiled at a particularly gruesome scene. ‘There’s something I do in a pool hall that made me wince when I saw it,’ the 55-year-old actor recalls to Metro. ‘It involved smashing somebody’s teeth on the edge of a pool table.’

Richard also found, understandably, ‘breaking a guy’s ankle, breaking all his teeth, breaking a woman’s jaw and repeatedly smacking a guy’s head off every surface in the room gruesome. ‘It was bonkers,’ he says.

Despite various body parts being put through the wringer, he wasn’t altogether shocked. ‘I’m just impressed by the technical aspect of it when they make it just look almost effortless,’ he explains.

‘In all TV shows when it’s done well it’s impressive and it’s also heightened so you know it’s not real. But it’s just people’s weird, morbid fascination with violence.’

Richard is accustomed to violence after starring in Game of Thrones (Picture: 2017 Home Box Office, Inc. All)

Even a church was willing to oblige with ‘people’s morbid fascination with violence’ in Gangs of London, albeit for a fee. Richard was among the cast filming an epic battle sequence inside the sacred setting and it was, somewhat surprisingly, the real deal.

‘I don’t think they understood,’ he says while laughing. ‘They bargained what they were getting, though I don’t think they realised there was going to be about 10,000 machine gun rounds going off.

‘But it’s a consecrated, real church. They were just glad to get some money to keep the church running because a lot of churches are closing at the minute. So, it was a real church and it was beautiful.’

Both do have a devout following, so there is at least one common ground between the unlikely union of Gangs of London and a church, I suppose.

All eight episodes of Gangs of London season 3 have now dropped as a box set on Sky Atlantic and the streaming service Now.

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