Dazzler Media are due to release Gangs of London Season 2 on both Blu-ray and DVD this coming Monday in the UK. 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.

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. As instructed, Sean arrives at the location, a seemingly abandoned junkyard. He drags Koba's lifeless body out, offered as proof that the deed is done. That will certainly be a big question in season three. Who is working with who and who will come out on top? 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.

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. 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? Luan 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. 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. 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.

For lovers of action there was plenty to enjoy with very well done fight scenes and shoot outs galore.

Side guide

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. So here’s where season two leaves us and what it might mean for season three. The Gangs: who’s left? Elliot (Sope Dirisu) is clearly going to get into plenty more trouble working for The Investors. (Image credit: Sky Atlantic ) Koba (Waleed Zuaiter) is a brutal ruler who wants complete control of London's drug trade. (Image credit: Christopher Raphael / Sky / AMC) This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.

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. 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.Gangs of London stars Joe Cole, Lucian Msamati, Sope Dirisu, Michelle Fairley, Brian Vernel and Waleed Zuaiter. 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. 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’.