Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Rhianne Barreto, Gambia Cole, Christopher Walken, Eleanor Tomlinson, Darren Boyd, Clare Perkins, Charles Babalola, Stephen Merchant, Isla Gie, Jessica Gunning, Grace Calder, James Nelson-Joyce, Guillermo Bedward, Aiyana Goodfellow, Ian McElhinney, Gyuri Sarossy, Dolly Wells, Marcus Fraser, Tom Hanson, Kojo Kamara, Sam Troughton, Inez Solomon, Evelyn Temple, Claes Bang, Hannah Brownlie, Josh Alexander, Leigh Williams, Michael Cochrane, Richard E. Grant.

Community and friendship, or at least a beneficial and mutual understanding that has a public identity weaved through it, is not just important, it is vital if we are to continue onwards as a species. Too often we are almost shamed into believing that what matters most is the me first mentality, that selfishness is undeniable, and if someone else’s life is ruined by outside forces, then as long as we are okay, then the world is fine and dandy.

Mistakes though are what makes us human, and the idea of continually locking people away for the smallest of infringements so that society can function, almost blissful in its ignorance of what drove the single parent to shop lift, what illness lay behind the reason to be forced into wearing a tag, what misery had been inflicted upon the ‘social criminal’ for them to break and fight back; the call for justice is never seemingly louder when it offers the public the chance to be vindictive and see a person embarrassed, forced to attend the modern equivalent of the stocks.

It is in the sheer weight of illuminating observation by Stephen Merchant that the first series of The Outlaws leaves the impressionable mark on the mind of the viewer.

The sense of gallows humour is prevalent within the six-episode series, and it is one installed with the very spirit of human understanding of what court directed community service means, the humiliation of having let down your friends and family as you are reduced, in the eyes of the holier than thou populace, to that of a skivvy, a slave, someone to be ridiculed…and yet as the series shows, these are people with lives that matter, that what they may have done is not cause for degradation, but instead an opportunity to grow and face down the fears worming their way through them.

The backdrop of Bristol has rarely had the chance to shine, and yet its importance as one of the towns in the Black Lives Matter debate cannot be ignored, and as Stephen Merchant’s script revolves around the life of Rhianne Barreto’s Rani Rekowski and that of Gambia Cole’s Christian Taylor, what the viewer is treated to is the way that the system is stacked against certain groups of people when they commit a crime, the pressure of the family to conform, the sense of alienation found in the shared misery of gang culture, and it without doubt that the pair of actors highlight the actions of their characters and how they came to fall upon their metaphorical sword to save those they see as a family.

With terrific performances by the entire ensemble, each performer adding a layer of dynamic colour to the overall series, The Outlaws is not only a sublime piece of television, but also a reminder of what we place upon those who are already burdened by society’s need for retribution and perceived justice. A beautiful, insightful, revealing look at how society can function when we place rehabilitation and recovery above the need for revenge. 

Ian D. Hall