MobLand is a crime family drama centred on the Harrigans who are pitted against the Stevensons in a battle for supremacy in the London criminal underworld. Caught in the crossfire between the two clans, lies fixer Harry DeSouza (Tom Hardy) who juggles shifting priorities, loyalties, and their consequences, as he dutifully takes care of the Harrigans’ messy family business. Creator Ronan Bennett spoke with Creative Screenwriting Magazine about the origins of the show and what makes global audiences want to watch more crime families on television.
Bennett mentions that are real crime families in Ireland (where he was born) and the UK. So, there is a solid blueprint on which to base MobLand. “These families are fathers, sons, mothers, sisters, cousins, and the rest,” explains Bennett. In order to accurately depict these family dynamics, and make them as grounded as possible, the screenwriter undertook meticulous research.
Ronan Bennett
“I talked to people from that world who gave me details about how things are done. That detail is important for winning the audience’s trust. I think the audience can get a pretty good picture very quickly of whether this is made up or not,” he continues.
From Ray Donovan To MobLand
The origins of MobLand can be traced to Showtime’s Ray Donovan (starring Liev Schreiber in the title role), a show about a fixer who works for Los Angeles’ rich and famous which ran from 2013 to 2020. Following the show’s cancellation after seven successful seasons, there was a desire to create an origin story for Ray.
“I was contacted by David C. Glasser at 101 Studios, the man behind Yellowstone (Parmount+) who wanted to do a UK version of that,” recalls Bennett. It was unexpected and time was of the essence since an approximate broadcast date was already set and not a single script had been outlined. Bennett has written crime family dramas before, so he had a starting point for MobLand. He knew who to speak to in London about crime families and how they operate.
“The more I created this world and the new characters, the further into the distance the original idea of having a Ray Donovan character receded. What I was writing seemed to come alive for them [producers] and they liked the idea of making it a thing in itself rather than a prequel or some kind of spin-off to the Ray Donovan story,” adds Bennett.
Harry De Souza (Tom Hardy) Photo by Luke Varley/ Paramount+
However the original Ray Donovan idea of a fixer carried through to Mobland. The writer finds these characters attractive to write because many people would love to have a fixer in their lives to get them out of life’s unwelcome mischiefs.
Meet the Harrigans and The Stevensons
Ronan researched the Kinahan Cartel (a Dublin-based crime family) and another North London Irish crime family as touchstones to creating his crime family characters. He blended those families and their stories to construct the Harrigans and the Stevensons.
“The Harrigans have done very well for themselves. I’ve always been disappointed when I see criminal families in the homes that they live in. Although they earn all this money, their homes are really mostly quite disappointing,” remarks Bennett.
The writer defied this convention. Conrad (Pierce Brosnan) and Mauve Harrigan (Helen Mirren) moved to the countryside and creating a different identity for themselves as a new generation of crime lords comes up through the ranks.
London is physically and culturally divided by the Thames river so that the North and South have distinct identities. The Stevensons are forging their path in South London and the Harrigans in the North.
Richie Stevenson (Geoff Bell) Photo by Luke Varley/ Paramount+
“The Stevensons are much more of a ‘Brexit’ family. They are noisy Union Jack patriots. They are less successful than the Harrigans, more inward-looking, and less expansive.”
Although Conrad heads the Harrigans and Richie (Geoff Bell) arguably leads the Stevenson clan, the matriarchs have a solid role in making decisions. Mauve Harrigan and Vron Stevenson (Annie Cooper) take on strategic roles in their respective family empires. Perhaps non-coincidentally, Abby (Paula Malcolmson) takes on a more active role in her husband’s activities in Ray Donovan.
“During my research, I discovered those women do have enormous respect within the family, and their voice counts a lot. They’re aware of their power and sometimes you’ll see very serious criminals afraid of them.”
Tom Hardy who plays fixer Harry DeSouza, had a hand in shaping all the characters and how they might interact. Harry technically works for the Harrigans, but he understands that their lives are in constant peril, so he must delicately navigate protecting their interests and avoiding all out gang warfare with the Stevensons.
“We’ve ended up with a really compelling character and a lot of that is Tom. He’s an actor who really inhabits whatever role he’s given. He has to grab it from you, grab it from the writers and make it his own. That’s why he gives such compelling performances, especially in the role of the fixer,” explains Benett.
What Part Of Writing Does Ronan Bennett Find Most Challenging?
Most writers have an aspect of screenwriting that they struggle with more than others. For Ronan Bennett, that challenge is plot.
“I always want to know what day it is. Is there enough time to get across London to be somewhere? Once I’ve got the characters in my head and I know that they’ll work as characters, I can relax a little bit on that score,” he mentions.
“But the plot mechanics really do take up a lot of time of my time when I’m writing. A dialogue polish is actually the easiest part any rewrite. It’s the structure, the architecture of the show that’s the hard thing, and over ten hours that’s a big challenge.”
