Meet the ‘sociopathic’ women of Guy Ritchie’s testosterone-packed new show

When a new drama called MobLand is directed by Guy Ritchie and stars Tom Hardy, the one thing you’re not expecting is a glut of touchy-feely stuff. The story of two warring London crime families fairly reeks of testosterone. If tough-talking geezers who shoot first and ask questions later are your thing, here, it would seem, is your new favourite show.

This means the characters played by Downton Abbey star Joanne Froggatt and Sherlock’s Lara Pulver could easily be doormats. They play the women in this man’s world, the wives of Hardy’s gangland fixer, Harry Da Souza, and Paddy Considine’s made man, Kevin Harrigan. But the fact actors of the calibre of Froggatt and Pulver are here at all tells you something else about MobLand. If it were just cockney sparra’s blasting heads off in a Lock, Stock redux turf war, they wouldn’t have taken the roles.

“I play Jan Da Souza,” says Froggatt. “And Jan is probably the only person in Harry’s life who can really tell him the truth and that’s not scared of him. In fact, she’s probably the only person in Harry’s life who’s not intimidated by him. They’ve been together for 20-odd years, so they’ve got a great sort of friendship bond. She’s the truth-teller in his world.”

Joanne Froggatt as Jan Da Souza and Tom Hardy as Harry Da Souza in MobLand.Credit: Luke Varley/Paramount+

Jan and Harry’s discussions about marriage counselling, educating their daughter and the trifling but vital requirements of domestic life are some of MobLand’s best bits – just as entertaining (and considerably more edifying) as the bust-ups and the shakedowns.

Pulver’s Bella Harrigan offers a parallel from the other side of the London mob. “Jo and my characters have an interesting relationship because we’re both lonely within our worlds,” she says. “There’s almost a mirror, and yet, we both come from very different backgrounds and are making different choices within our marriages that are really being tested.”

Those choices stem from what their husbands are up to. Within the first few minutes of MobLand, Bella’s loudmouthed son Eddie (Anson Boon) gets into serious trouble, which requires Hardy’s Harry to do his customary clean-up job. This involves a call to corrupt police, an intimidating “chat” with the victim in his hospital bed and a visit to the nightclub to remove some CCTV footage and remind the owner you absolutely don’t mess with the Harrigans. Meanwhile, back at home, Jan is quietly going through some exam revision with her daughter.

“Jan knows what Harry does,” says Froggatt, laughing. “I mean, Jan prefers not to be told what Harry does on a day-to-day basis. She says, ‘You know, I don’t care what you do. I don’t want to know about it. I know about it, but I don’t want to know the details.’ So Jan’s complicit.”

That sets up a dynamic that undergirds the whole show: call it the Carmela Soprano dilemma. What, basically, are the women supposed to do while their men are out there breaking laws and faces? Are they enablers, gatekeepers, Lady Macbeths?

“I feel like they’re both almost like that mob wife, gangster’s moll-type thing,” says Pulver. “And yet, they’re so much women in their own right that the outfit doesn’t fit any more.”

Pulver: “[These] characters have an interesting relationship because we’re both lonely within our worlds.”Credit: Luke Varley/Paramount+

What Jan and Bella are not, decidedly, is ideal mothers. Froggatt and Pulver both have children, but they say that despite their characters’ luxe lifestyles and fancy cars, they won’t be taking any parenting tips.

“Oh, gosh, no. My on-screen family is screwed,” says Pulver, laughing. “Honestly, it’s such a look into how privilege can go terribly wrong. It’s almost like, oh, my gosh, I failed you on so many levels.”

Bella has the added conflict that her mother-in-law – Helen Mirren’s Maeve — has her son’s ear. She is not the best source of pastoral care; Eddie is a spoiled (and dangerous) brat.

Helen Mirren in MobLandCredit: Paramount+

“It’s so hard when that child becomes of a certain age, and they no longer listen to you,” says Pulver. “You are no longer almost valid. Your opinion is no longer valid. And that’s why I literally have to fight throughout the whole of the 10 episodes because he has grandparents that are hugely privileged and give him anything he needs and wants. I mean, I don’t know how you even begin to parent that. And no wonder he’s such a monster because he’s a victim of his circumstances. Thankfully, my children are not.”

In MobLand, being undermined by her parents leads Bella to forge her own path. “Bella’s super savvy,” adds Pulver. “She’s smart, but she’s also slightly damaged goods, I would say, slightly wounded. She comes from a very privileged background, and she’s almost run away from that into the arms of a very chaotic family. Through the series she’s navigating her way, finding her identity, finding her path – which isn’t necessarily well received by the family.”

Jan, too, has a power base of her own, in that she is powerful enough to stand up to Tom Hardy’s Harry.

“The first day Tom and I started working together, we hadn’t had any rehearsal or we hadn’t chatted before,” says Froggatt. “So we got our heads together and brainstormed about how to make Jan and Harry a believable couple. And one of the first things Tom said to me was, ‘Harry’s a powerful man. So the woman he’s with should definitely be more powerful than him to be able to deal with it.’”

Searching for that nerve and poise, both had a formidable matriarch to look up to in the form of Mirren’s character, Maeve Harrigan. It doesn’t take long to discover that as Conrad (Pierce Brosnan)’s wife, Maeve knows where the bodies are buried and is as ruthless, if not more so, than all the other Harrigans put together. She is Madame Mob.

“All the women in the show, from Maeve down in the pecking order, they’re all either as evil or sociopathic or flawed or damaged or strong, tough as the men,” says Froggatt. “Very different characters but all really strong women.”

It’s one thing to be told a woman is a strong character but another to have that character be written by a man. Pulver points to MobLand’s co-writer, the award-winning playwright Jez Butterworth (Top Boy’s Ronan Bennett created the series), as an assuring presence.

“Knowing that Jez Butterworth was at the helm helped. We all know from his stage and screen work how great he is at writing the messy familial stuff and that political dynamic. So we knew it wasn’t just going to be a superficial show.”

It helps the MobLand cast is, not to put too fine a point on it, ridiculous. From Pierce Brosnan as Godfather figure Conrad Harrigan to the fearsome Geoff Bell (RocknRolla) as his nemesis, from Mirren as Maeve to Hardy and Considine, this ensemble is a testament to the might and the money of modern international television.

“It’s always so blooming boring, isn’t it,” says Pulver. “When you’re watching a male or female lead. and they can only be as strong as their counterpart. What I think is quite brilliant in this show is it’s a big ensemble of great British actors. It’s the cream of British telly.”

MobLand is streaming now on Paramount+

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.