McMafia is a British crime drama television series created by Hossein Amini and James Watkins, and directed by Watkins. It is inspired by the non-fiction book McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld by journalist Misha Glenny (2008). The series stars James Norton as Alex Godman, the British-raised son of a Russian mafia boss living in London whose father is trying to escape from the world of organised crime. It is co-produced by BBC, AMC Networks, and Cuba Pictures. It premiered in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 1 January 2018, and in the United States on AMC on 26 February 2018. The series was canceled after one season.
Contents
Cast
Main cast
James Norton as Alex Godman, a young financier who, under the influence of circumstances, begins to cooperate with the Russian mafia and the Mexican cartel
David Strathairn as Semiyon Kleiman, Russian-Israeli businessman and politician linked to the Israeli mafia
Juliet Rylance as Rebecca Harper, Alex's fiancée
Merab Ninidze as Vadim Kalyagin, powerful member of the Russian mafia
Aleksey Serebryakov as Dimitri Godman, Alex's father, businessman and Russian mafia ex-member
Maria Shukshina as Oksana Godman, Alex's mother
Faye Marsay as Katya Godman, Alex's sister
David Dencik as Boris Godman, Alex's uncle associated with the Israeli mafia and Russian mafia
Oshri Cohen as Joseph, Israeli bodyguard working for Kleiman
Sofia Lebedeva as Lyudmilla Nikolayeva, beauty therapist
Caio Blat as Antonio Mendez, Colombian gangster working for a Mexican cartel
Kirill Pirogov as Ilya Fedorov, Vadim's right-hand man, special services officer
Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Dilly Mahmood, Kleiman's Indian business partner and Mumbai gangster
Karel Roden as Karel Benes, Czech gangster
Recurring cast
Yuval Scharf as Tanya
Anna Levanova as Natasha
Clifford Samuel as Femi
Maria Mashkova as Masha
Kemi-Bo Jacobs as Karin
Atul Kale as Benny Chopra, Mumbai gangster, Vadim's Indian business partner
Evgeni Golan as Marat, gangster and hitman, an enforcer working for Vadim
Eve Parmiter as Jennifer
Tim Ahern as Sydney Bloom, an English financier who preached the need for ethical business, made his fortune on financial scams in Africa
Ellie Piercy as Sandrine
Danila Kozlovsky as Grigory Mishin, businessman linked to the Russian mafia
Alexander Dyachenko as Oleg, diplomat at the Russian embassy
Fernando Cayo as Guillermo Alegre, Mexican cartel boss
Lidiya Fedoseyeva-Shukshina as Vadim Kalyagin's mother
Production
McMafia was inspired by journalist Misha Glenny's non-fiction book McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld, published in 2008. The series took a few stories from Glenny's book, which documents various mafia organisations thriving around the world today. The series was created by Hossein Amini and James Watkins, and is a co-production of the BBC, AMC, and Cuba Pictures, in association with Twickenham Studios.
The BBC announced the series in October 2015. In April 2016, it was announced that James Norton had been cast in the lead role of Alex Godman and that co-creator Watkins would direct all eight episodes. Additional casting, including Maria Shukshina and Aleksey Serebryakov as Alex's parents, and David Strathairn as a shady Israeli businessman, was announced in November 2016. In addition to Amini and Watkins, David Farr, Peter Harness, and Laurence Coriat co-wrote the series.
Filming locations included London, Zagreb, Split, Opatija, Primošten, Qatar, Mumbai, Prague, Cairo, Belgrade, Belize, Istanbul, Moscow and Tel Aviv. The budget was several million pounds per episode.
Reception
McMafia has an approval rating of 71% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 38 reviews, and an average rating of 6.7/10.
Lucy Mangan, writing for The Guardian said that the show was "beautifully put together" and described the script as "a cut above average".
Future
In 2018, BBC One announced that it had recommissioned the programme for an eight-part second series.
In March 2022, it was reported that the planned second series had been cancelled, but author and executive producer Misha Glenny immediately denied the report on Twitter.
On 25 April 2025, Misha Glenny confirmed "with great sadness" that McMafia had been cancelled; despite having come "close to filming" the second series twice.