With 113 bodies in the first season alone, and scenes of harrowing torture, Gangs of London is not for faint-hearted viewers.
The new Sky Atlantic drama has been rated the most violent show on British TV, demolishing Game of Thrones, the previous holder of the title, which had a mere 48 deaths in its first series.
It drew in 2.23million viewers for its opening episode, making it Sky Atlantic’s second biggest original drama launch behind Chernobyl.
In the opening one-and-a-half hours, the characters are punched 26 times and kicked seven times while four people are shot and three are tortured.
Viewers see a machete attack, a man bleeding out and a victim chopped up in a bath in the same timeframe.
Across the first series, a total of 96 people are shot, most of them fatally, there are 30 stabbings and seven characters are strangled.
There are also 13 incidents of torture including a man entombed in concrete and a mother having her teeth and nails removed with pliers.
A total of 113 dead bodies are seen over nine-and-a-half hours.
Viewers witness two characters having their eyes gouged out, a tongue is cut off and a decapitated head is seen.
Gangs of London tells the story of mobs battling for domination after the head of the most powerful crime family Finn Wallace (Colm Meaney) is shot.
New leader Sean Wallace, played by Peaky Blinders actor Joe Cole, is attempting to track down his dad’s killer.
At the same time he is struggling to contain bloody clashes between Albanian gangsters, Kurdish freedom fighters and a Pakistani drug cartel with political links.
The series only has a couple of nude scenes but features drugs and an orgy.
The drama has aroused controversy for its intricately choreographed fight scenes and shootouts that are reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino films – with many viewers saying they were turned off by the extreme violence.
Welsh writer and director Gareth Evans says he was inspired by cowboy flicks he used to watch as a child.
He said: “This was my modern take on a Western. I grew up watching cowboy movies with my dad all the time.”
TV presenter Julia Bradbury admitted she found it hard to watch.
She said: “I’m not squeamish but I find watching such extreme violence really disturbing at the moment... life is stressful enough.”
Another viewer said: “It’s definitely the most violent show I’ve watched. Can’t believe some of it has made it on to TV.”
