Given all the conflict raging around the world, The Outlaws has a very humane message underlying the premise of seven misfit criminals thrown together while doing community service.
As it returns for a third series, its creator Stephen Merchant, who was behind The Office and is one of the most acclaimed TV writers today, says it was conceived as something deeper than a comedy caper.
‘Part of the impetus was to take people with very different backgrounds, who come from different walks of life and have different viewpoints, and see if they could find any common ground,’ says Stephen.
‘The fun of the show is creating these unlikely friendships. We’ve got John and Myrna, a right-wing loud-mouth and a left-wing activist. They were polar opposites and now they’re firm friends. They’ve bridged the divide.’
The story began in 2021 with Stephen’s character Greg, a newly divorced lawyer who’d been caught in a compromising position with a prostitute, doing community service with petty criminals.
Jessica Gunning has been a hoot as deluded Diane, the Community Payback Officer desperate to be a policewoman, and it was this role that led to Baby Reindeer
Jessica Gunning, the star from Baby Reindeer, is pictured as Diane in The Outlaws
In series one they locked horns with dangerous drug baron the Dean (Claes Bang) after they found a bag of his ill-gotten cash and spent it without realising he was on their tails.
In series two the Dean forced them to deal drugs to pay him back, but they plotted their revenge by planting cocaine in his car in the hope it would put him behind bars.
In series three, which arrives two years later, the group have moved on with their lives but stayed in touch.
Then a body turns up, and when it becomes clear the Dean may avoid jail and the gang are framed with murder, they must go all out to prove their innocence.
Fans will be pleased to know all their favourites are back, including the show’s most unlikely star, Hollywood legend Christopher Walken, and Jessica Gunning who’s since earned huge acclaim as stalker Martha in Netflix hit Baby Reindeer.
She’s been a hoot as deluded Diane, the Community Payback Officer desperate to be a policewoman, and it was this role that led to Baby Reindeer.
‘Diane’s persistent, ruthless, no-nonsense, she never misses a trick – or so she thinks!’ laughs Jessica.
Jessica Gunning has earned huge acclaim as stalker Martha in Netflix hit Baby Reindeer
‘She tries her best and I don’t think there’s anything she wants more than to become a police officer. Maybe an American detective, she’s Cagney & Lacey’s number one fan. Does she get there? You’ll have to wait and see.’
She’s now a Police Community Support Officer with a protegee who may or may not be alert to what the Outlaws are up to.
From the start, Stephen welcomed improvisation during filming on set in his hometown of Bristol, and Jessica was so good at it that ahead of this series he asked her to join the show’s writing team.
She has co-written the fifth and final episode with Stephen. ‘I feel really lucky to have been asked into the writers’ room,’ says Jessica.
‘I was always involved and I liked watching how it was done, and I think Stephen recognised that. I’ve learned so much from him and the writers and it was a real honour to see it all come to life.’
Stephen, who writes, directs and produces the show too, says it certainly does that. ‘The problems the gang thought they’d buried become unburied,’ he says.
‘With each series we tried to dial up the tension, the drama and the humour. In the new series, it’s turned right up.’
The elements of friendship are as important as ever though. When we meet Greg again he’s living platonically with troubled aristocrat Lady Gabby (Eleanor Tomlinson), trying to patch his life up.
The series was created by Stephen Merchant , who was behind The Office (right) and stars Eleanor Tomlinson
She, meanwhile, has plans of her own. ‘Gabby’s living the high life. She’s sober and wants to have a baby,’ says former Poldark star Eleanor.
‘She’s got a new girlfriend but is she the one she wants to have a baby with? And who’s going to be the father?’
For Stephen, the whole experience is a dream come true. ‘It’s a real pleasure to be in the city I was born in,’ he says.
‘The dream was always to come back to my hometown, see people I knew, family, introduce actors who hadn’t worked here before to the town and make that feel part of the show. It’s very much a love letter to Bristol.’
The Outlaws, Thursday, 9pm, BBC1 and BBC iPlayer.
FIVE MORE THRILL-A-MINUTE CRIME CAPERS
The Gentlemen (Netflix)
Joely Richardson, as Theo James’ mother Lady Sabrina in The Gentlemen
Guy Ritchie’s thriller stars Theo James as the son of a duke (Joely Richardson, as his mother Lady Sabrina) who unwittingly inherits a huge marijuana farm. Toffs go toe-to-toe with criminals in this wild eight-parter.
Guilt (BBC iPlayer)
Pictured: Brothers Max and Jake (Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives)
An old man is killed in the first two minutes of this macabre Scottish comedy. Brothers Max and Jake (Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives) cover up the crime but their guilt comes back to haunt them.
Boat Story (BBC iPlayer)
Pictured: Janet (Daisy Haggard) in the gory series Boat Story
Don’t watch this quirky series if you can’t stomach gore – there’s a lot of blood and it’s used to darkly comic effect.
In a sleepy Yorkshire town, strangers Janet (Daisy Haggard) and Samuel (Paterson Joseph) discover a haul of cocaine washed up on the beach. They decide to sell it, but soon become the targets of a mad mob boss.
Only Murders In The Building (Disney+)
A delightful comedy starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez as neighbours who turn into amateur sleuths investigating and making a podcast about murders in their Upper West Side apartment block.
Look out for big-name guest stars – including Meryl Streep and Sting – over the three series.
Based On A True Story (Sky/NOW)
Ava and Nathan (Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina) in Based On A True Story
When Ava (Kaley Cuoco) discovers the identity of a local serial killer, she convinces husband Nathan (Chris Messina, above with Cuoco) to blackmail the murderer into recording a podcast with them.