McMafia charts the journey of Alex Godman (James Norton) as he is drawn deeper and deeper into the world of organised crime.

 

Russian crime boss Vadim Kalyagin (Merab Ninidze) meets with his Indian associate Benny Chopra (Atul Kale) to discuss their control of Mumbai’s main port. As Vadim leaves the meeting, his vehicle is blown up by a car bomb. It's not long before his allies have the name of the man believed to be behind the assassination attempt...

 

Alex Godman, a successful young hedge fund manager, joins his family at a charity gala - his father Dimitri (Aleksey Serebryakov), a depressed Russian exile, his socialite mother Oksana (Maria Shukshina), his beloved and larger-than-life uncle Boris (David Dencik), his wayward sister Katya (Faye Marsay), and his British girlfriend Rebecca (Juliet Rylance).

 

When his hedge fund comes under fire, following rumours that they’ve been trading in embargoed Russian stocks, investors start to withdraw their money in droves. Alex tries to find new clients, but struggles against the prejudices that stem from his Russian background.

 

When Alex approaches his uncle Boris for help he mentions a wealthy Israeli friend of his, a shipping magnate named Semiyon Kleiman (David Strathairn). Alex gratefully agrees to a meeting, but it soon becomes clear that Semiyon, his money and his intentions are not as legitimate as they first seemed...

(Source: BBC Media Centre)

 

Excited for this! It's been greatly advertised and hyped up by the BBC; seems to be a similar blockbuster, big-budget, film-esque drama like The Night Manager was.

 

First episode is New Year's Day, second episode is the following day and the third episode is on Sunday 7th (presumably it will remain in this slot from that point as Silent Witness is back on the Monday and Tuesday). Hope it lives up to expectations.

HYPED. Starts tonight so I'll be tuning in!

I was so intrigued by the trailers, for me it started too slow just couldn't get into it, just felt it was going nowhere, than all of a sudden the pace picked up a gear. I give it another look tomorrow and decide, as I felt it was a bit disappointing.

Yeah, don't know if it's because I'm shattered but I couldn't get into it.

 

It did step up a gear towards the end and the preview of tomorrow's episode looks a bit more action-packed so hopefully I'll be a bit more gripped.

I really enjoyed it! Started slow but then it kicked into gear halfway through and never let up.

 

James Norton is SUCH a good actor although tbh I was a little distracted by his beauty during some of his scenes :lol:

What's the verdict on the first two, is it worth starting?

I love the cinematography, they've been to some gorgeous places to film but the story itself isn't really gripping me so far. As the other posters have said, it's quite slow and I've found the female cast severely underused so far - Faye Marsay in particular, who seems to be in everything at the moment, has barely said a word! I'm going to stick with it for now, it's better than Rellik but worse than Liar if that helps?

 

Also I cannot get over the awful title for series - the concept being the McDonald's-isation of the Mafia... How did McDonald's not get wind before and stop them using it?! :lol:

omg is that really why it’s called McMafia?? That’s awful!! I thought it was because it focused on a Scottish mafia :lol:

 

cba watching this, not really been intrigued by it for some reason and all I’ve heard is that it’s quite slow

omg is that really why it’s called McMafia?? That’s awful!! I thought it was because it focused on a Scottish mafia :lol:

Yep :| I thought that too and was put off by the name alone - it's about Russian/British family with links to Russia and Israel (with filming locations so far also including Cairo, Prague and Dubai *.* )

omg!!!! I thought the same as Klaus :lol: That's so bad lmao

I'm still enjoying the hell outta this :wub: Sure it's a slowburner but you can tell it's building up to something thrilling!

I've gave up, I think this would have worked better as 4 episodes 1 hour and 30 mins long each episode.

The last 15 minutes or so were very tense to watch! Rebecca is a wet blanket but it would be a shame if she was the first member of the main cast to die. It felt a lot stronger overall without Semiyon/Mumbai cluttering up the screen time.

Another very tense final 15 minutes. The problem with this show is that it's 45 minutes of boring followed by 15 minutes of actual decent programming. If this gets renewed for a second series, it's definitely something that needs to be worked on. Also 8 episodes is too much, it would have been better as a 6 parter.

 

Sad to see Iggy Azalea be killed off! I only just learned her name :(

Bah-dah-dah-dah-dah! (in Joe Pesci-esque voice) I'm lovin' it!

 

McMafia: Billions and billions bribed