McMafia
McMafia is a British crime drama television series created by Hossein Amini and James Watkins, and directed by Watkins. It is inspired by the non-fiction book McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld by journalist Misha Glenny. The series stars James Norton as Alex Godman, the British-raised son of a Russian mafia boss living in London whose father is trying to escape from the world of organised crime. It is co-produced by BBC, AMC Networks, and Cuba Pictures. It premiered in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 1 January 2018, and in the United States on AMC on 26 February 2018. The series was canceled after one season.
Cast
Main cast
- James Norton as Alex Godman, a young financier who, under the influence of circumstances, begins to cooperate with the Russian mafia and the Mexican cartel
- David Strathairn as Semiyon Kleiman, Russian-Israeli businessman and politician linked to the Israeli mafia
- Juliet Rylance as Rebecca Harper, Alex's fiancée
- Merab Ninidze as Vadim Kalyagin, powerful member of the Russian mafia
- Aleksey Serebryakov as Dimitri Godman, Alex's father, businessman and Russian mafia ex-member
- Maria Shukshina as Oksana Godman, Alex's mother
- Faye Marsay as Katya Godman, Alex's sister
- David Dencik as Boris Godman, Alex's uncle associated with the Israeli mafia and Russian mafia
- Oshri Cohen as Joseph, Israeli bodyguard working for Kleiman
- Sofia Lebedeva as Lyudmilla Nikolayeva, beauty therapist
- Caio Blat as Antonio Mendez, colombian gangster working for a Mexican cartel
- Kirill Pirogov as Ilya Fedorov, Vadim's right-hand man, special services officer
- Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Dilly Mahmood, Kleiman's indian business partner and Mumbai gangster
- Karel Roden as Karel Benes, Czech gangster
Recurring cast
- Yuval Scharf as Tanya
- Anna Levanova as Natasha
- Clifford Samuel as Femi
- Maria Mashkova as Masha
- Kemi-Bo Jacobs as Karin
- Atul Kale as Benny Chopra, Mumbai gangster, Vadim's indian business partner
- Evgeni Golan as Marat, gangster and hitman, an enforcer working for Vadim
- Eve Parmiter as Jennifer
- Tim Ahern as Sydney Bloom, an English financier who preached the need for ethical business, made his fortune on financial scams in Africa
- Ellie Piercy as Sandrine
- Danila Kozlovsky as Grigory Mishin, businessman linked to the Russian mafia
- Alexander Dyachenko as Oleg, diplomat at the Russian embassy
- Fernando Cayo as Guillermo Alegre, Mexican cartel boss
- Lidiya Fedoseyeva-Shukshina as Vadim Kalyagin's mother
Production
The BBC announced the series in October 2015. In April 2016, it was announced that James Norton had been cast in the lead role of Alex Godman and that co-creator Watkins would direct all eight episodes. Additional casting, including Maria Shukshina and Aleksey Serebryakov as Alex's parents, and David Strathairn as a shady Israeli businessman, was announced in November 2016. In addition to Amini and Watkins, David Farr, Peter Harness, and Laurence Coriat co-wrote the series.
Filming locations included London, Zagreb, Split, Opatija, Primošten, Qatar, Mumbai, Prague, Cairo, Belgrade, Belize, Istanbul, Moscow and Tel Aviv. The budget was several million pounds per episode.
Episodes
Reception
McMafia has an approval rating of 71% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 38 reviews, and an average rating of 6.7/10.Lucy Mangan, writing for The Guardian said that the show was "beautifully put together" and described the script as "a cut above average".
Future
In 2018, BBC One announced that it had recommissioned the programme for an eight-part second series.In March 2022, it was reported that the planned second series had been cancelled, but author and executive producer Misha Glenny immediately denied the report on Twitter.
On 25 April 2025, Misha Glenny confirmed "with great sadness" that McMafia had been cancelled; despite having come "close to filming" the second series twice.