Joining Hardy behind the camera this time around are Marcela Said and Nima Nourizadeh. Both inject some freshness to the show with Said’s episode four easily being one of the most distressing hours you’ll spend in front of the television this year. Said continually teases the viewer, leaving them guessing the fate of a particularly cruel Koba punishment. Nourizadeh’s episode six is equally memorable as viewers are finally treated to a showdown between two of the series’ most bitter enemies. The pay-off is well worth the wait and has one Hell of a gut-punch conclusion. His presence naturally invites challenge, even from behind bars, and there's no greater rivalry to finish season two on than the one between Sean and Elliot.

Before Elliot gets a chance to pull the trigger though, Billy stabs him with a screwdriver, the one that Billy went to great pains early on to secretly obtain from Elliot's glove compartment. Koba (Waleed Zuaiter) is a brutal ruler who wants complete control of London's drug trade. (Image credit: Christopher Raphael / Sky / AMC)With horror maven Corin Hardy now lead director on the show it is perhaps no surprise that the levels of gore and violence are ramped up. Eyes are gouged, limbs are severed, it’s a show ideally watched with your own gang so you can share in the communal gasps and flinches. Really it’s a show that would benefit from the big screen. Like season one, Gangs of London season two is the closest you’ll get to cinema from a TV show. The whole thing looks stunning, the cityscapes are gothic and strange, while looking ultra modern at the same time, and the cinematography is gorgeous, with this season leaning into occasional slow mo for certain stand out ‘money shots’. Elliot sees that same vision of his father again, a pleading look on his face urging him to do better and so he does. Just. The only looming question we have is whether Joe Cole will return as Sean Wallace; Elliot shot him in the cheek under instruction from The Investors, and we later overheard from police chatter that Sean was dead. Sean, with his last few gasping breaths attempts to manipulate Elliot by telling him that his father would be proud and it kind of works. Gangs of London stars Joe Cole, Lucian Msamati, Sope Dirisu, Michelle Fairley, Brian Vernel and Waleed Zuaiter.

Elliot (Sope Dirisu) is clearly going to get into plenty more trouble working for The Investors. (Image credit: Sky Atlantic ) You wouldn’t want to be a henchperson of any denomination in Gangs of London, and season two ups the bodycount while maintaining the palpable tension and twisty plot audiences will be expecting. And don’t assume your favorite returning characters are safe either. So here’s where season two leaves us and what it might mean for season three. The Gangs: who’s left? Gangs of London was described as having elements of Peaky Blinders and Game of Thrones, and I can see that, so why was it I enjoyed those series but not this?

Side guide

Let me begin by saying it was extremely well produced, and the atmospheric opening shot of a dark London and the truly dramatic beginning promised great things. The first problem was that much of the action continued to take place in the dark. I realise many crime series often do, but it does make for hard going at times. I am afraid, contrary to majority opinion, I didn’t rate this series. Even before the end of the feature length opener, my enthusiasm had been dimmed. And by the fourth episode I really wasn’t enjoying it. I did struggle through to the end though, and as I did so I tried to analyse my feelings and what was wrong with it for me. Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge.

Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. Those who didn't make it through the street wars were Arta Dobroshi's Floriana (her last-minute double crossing of the Wallaces earned her a bullet in the head) and Koba (Waleed Zuaiter), Afridi's enforcer. Koba stepped on too many wrong shoes and met his fate via a poisoned chip shop patty. Billy’s got one arm, Sean is in prison, having been left hanging, perched on a car tire by Elliot. It’s not clear what he’s in for – his crimes are many, but what he’ll have admitted to is another matter. He certainly poisoned Koba whose body is there at the scene. So for now, Sean’s out of the running, but he’s such a huge part of the show we can’t imagine him not having a big part to play in season 3. Will he wheedle his way out? Will he form a new faction in prison? Or will he find that he suddenly has to grow humility from behind bars where he’s no longer the big man?Doubt it… The Allegiances

The story once more immerses the viewer in the violent world of London’s criminal underbelly. Events of the season one finale, and the death of Sean Wallace, have left a power vacuum that all factions are keen to fill. Leading the charge is the menacing new character, Koba (Waleed Zuaiter). At the start of the series he and his henchmen have London in an iron grip and his proclivity for violence is immediately demonstrated. If you thought this show peaked at season one, then strap in as the second season is even more traumatic. Season two sees the return of most of the gangs from season one and with a new antagonist in town the audience’s stand-in has switched. In season one it was Elliot, the undercover cop who was infiltrating this world just as we were. In season two it’s Luan. This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. Dazzler Media are due to release Gangs of London Season 2 on both Blu-ray and DVD this coming Monday in the UK. Now we come to the second of the problems for me. I have never been a lover of action movies - there are only so many car chases, squealing tyres, noisy shoot outs, plane crashes, explosions, fires, etc until they all become the same as far as I am concerned. Give me tense character driven stuff any day.

But a last minute decision to help Shannon and rescue Ed changes everything for Elliot. While his father waits for him at the airport Sean has sent a goon to assassinate him. When Elliot discovers it was Sean who betrayed him it pushes him over the edge. A mission to destroy Sean in Paris results in extensive loss of life – Elliot’s a full on criminal now, and by the end of the series has vowed to take everything Sean ever had. Saba and Faz For lovers of action there was plenty to enjoy with very well done fight scenes and shoot outs galore. But not everyone is happy about this. By the end of the season allegiances have been made and lost and the bodies have piled up. So who’s left? LuanI think there were two reasons, they had interesting characters who I cared about, this did not, together with engaging storylines, this did not. Whatever happens in season three, expect the focus on the diversity of the titular setting to continue. That will certainly be a big question in season three. Who is working with who and who will come out on top? Let me begin by saying I am immensely difficult to please these days, and as I’ve grown older, rather than becoming more tolerant and patient, I have become less so. I think this is because with the passing years you recognise that time is finite. Furthermore, there are so many more alternative forms of entertainment than there were when I was a child in the 60’s & early 70’s when I would indiscriminately watch anything.