---
title: "The Outlaws"
year: 2021
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/the-outlaws"
fi1m_id: "the-outlaws"
imdb_id: "tt11646832"
tmdb_id: 136044
wikidata_id: "Q107016644"
fi1m_score: 67
critics_score: 65
critics_reviews: 5
published: "2026-10-01T00:09:04.782572+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-01T00:09:19.534784+00:00"
region: "EC"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Outlaws (2021)

Created by Stephen Merchant, Elgin James · 58m · Comedy, Crime, Drama

## Identity

The Outlaws

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/the-outlaws
- **Type:** Series
- **Fi1m ID:** the-outlaws
- **IMDb ID:** tt11646832
- **TMDB ID:** 136044
- **Wikidata ID:** Q107016644
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11646832/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/136044, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107016644

**Fi1m score: 67** · Critics 65 (early) from 5 reviews

*In a sentence:* Christopher Walken in a hi-vis tabard doing community payback in Bristol, and somehow that is the least strange thing in it

> Stephen Merchant’s comedy about strangers thrown together on community payback is warm, well cast and funny in bursts, with a Christopher Walken performance that is worth the evening on its own. It is far less sure of itself when the guns come out.

## Synopsis

Bristol. Seven strangers are sentenced to community payback and sent, in hi-vis tabards, to renovate a derelict community centre under supervisor Diane (Jessica Gunning), who takes the job more seriously than anyone. Among them are Frank (Christopher Walken), an elderly con man not long out of prison; Rani (Rhianne Barreto), a star pupil caught shoplifting; John (Darren Boyd), a businessman with firm views on immigration; Myrna (Clare Perkins), a veteran protester; Gabby (Eleanor Tomlinson), a celebrity with a large online following; and Christian (Gamba Cole), a young man trying to keep his sister clear of a local gang. They want to serve their hours and go home. Then a bag of money turns up, and the gang that lost it, run by Malaki (Charles Babalola), wants it back.

## Review

Stephen Merchant and Elgin James have taken a sentence of community payback, the hi-vis vest and the half-painted wall, and asked what would happen if the people serving it became a family and then, by accident, a gang. *The Outlaws* runs to three series, the first two of six episodes and the third of five, each nearly an hour long. It is a comedy with a crime plot bolted on, and the comedy is the better half. We liked it, laughed at it often, and spent a fair amount of its running time waiting for it to get back to the paint table.

Christopher Walken is the reason to start. He plays Frank as a man who has been charming people out of their savings for sixty years and sees no reason to stop because he is now holding a roller. The drawl is slower than ever, the pauses longer, and he appears to be acting in a different, stranger programme that the others are too polite to interrupt. We laughed every time he opened his mouth, and the laugh was partly disbelief: here is one of the great American screen presences being told off about a tea break in the West Country, and he is plainly having the time of his life.

The rest of the cast earns its place. Rhianne Barreto gives Rani a brightness that keeps curdling into something angrier, and Gamba Cole’s Christian is quiet and watchful and carries most of what the show has in the way of real danger. Jessica Gunning, who also writes for the series, makes Diane a woman who has read the health and safety guidance twice and would like you to know it, and she is funnier for never once winking at us. Darren Boyd and Clare Perkins, as John and Myrna, are handed the political argument, right against left, and play it with more patience than the writing always gives them. Eleanor Tomlinson’s Gabby starts as the joke the others tell about her and ends as the person we worried about most.

Nick Martin shoots the city in flat, overcast daylight and the community centre in dusty light through boarded windows, so the renovation always looks like a job nobody will finish. The gang scenes are lit at night, in car parks and stairwells, and they look like a different programme because they are one. Stew Jackson and Dan Jones score the comedy lightly and the threat heavily, and when the two meet in the same episode the music is the first thing to give the join away.

That join is the problem. Merchant, James and a large writing room want the stakes of a thriller, and so Malaki and his people turn up to menace Christian and the money has to be hidden and moved and lied about. The threats are real enough to stop the jokes but not built enough to replace them. We felt it most in the middle of each series, when an episode would spend half an hour on a plan we did not believe and then hand us one good scene of the seven bickering, as if apologising. Fifty-eight minutes is a long time for a sitcom and a short time for a crime drama, and the show is often both and neither at once.

The second series is the weakest, as most critics have said, and we agree; the gang plot swallows it. The third, with one episode fewer, is tighter and gives Rani a proper reckoning, and the show finds its footing again by remembering that the point was always the people and never the bag.

Merchant’s best work, in *The Office* (2001) and [*Extras*](https://film.one/tv/extras) (2005), lived in the small humiliation, the wrong word in the wrong room. He still does that better than almost anyone, and whenever *The Outlaws* trusts it the show is a pleasure. Watch the first series, and decide about the rest by how much you missed Walken when it ended.

*Fi1m score 67, published 1 October 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is The Outlaws worth watching?**

*The Outlaws* is worth watching for the cast, Christopher Walken above all, and we scored it 67. Stephen Merchant's comedy about strangers on community payback is warm and funny when the seven are bickering over a paint roller, and much weaker when the gang plot takes over. Watch the first series and decide about the rest afterwards.

**How long is The Outlaws, and what is it rated?**

*The Outlaws* has episodes of about 58m. It is a comedy and crime series.

**Where can I watch The Outlaws in Ecuador?**

*The Outlaws* is not on any streaming or rental service in Ecuador at the moment. It is available in 28 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is The Outlaws, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Outlaws* has no UK certificate and carries a TV-MA rating in the US, which puts it firmly in adult territory. The comedy is gentle, but the crime plot brings real menace: a Bristol gang threatening a young man and his sister, with scenes in night-time car parks and stairwells. It is for adults and older teenagers, not children.

**How does The Outlaws compare to The Lavender Hill Mob?**

*The Outlaws* and [*The Lavender Hill Mob*](https://film.one/film/the-lavender-hill-mob) share a premise, ordinary people stumbling into crime and staying polite about it, but the earlier film is the tighter of the two. Charles Crichton tells his story in 78 minutes; Merchant's series runs to three seasons and keeps drifting into a gang thriller it handles less well than the jokes. Choose the film for precision, the series for Walken.

**What should I watch after The Outlaws?**

After *The Outlaws*, try [*The Lavender Hill Mob*](https://film.one/film/the-lavender-hill-mob) (1951, Fi1m 82): Ordinary people fall into crime and are far too polite about it. Then [*Shoplifters*](https://film.one/film/shoplifters) (2018, Fi1m 89): A makeshift family of petty thieves in Tokyo, tender and quietly devastating; and [*Detectorists*](https://film.one/tv/detectorists) (2014, Fi1m 87): Two men, two fields and a metal detector; the gentlest comedy about wanting.

### Reviews we read (5)

- **The Guardian**, Rebecca Nicholson (75/100, inferred): Nicholson finds the series warm, witty and surprisingly gritty, and believes it settles into a successful balance of comedy and thriller. She praises its ability to give its broadly drawn characters emotional depth and make their choices matter. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/oct/25/the-outlaws-review-stephen-merchant-resorts-to-types-but-with-solid-foundations)
- **Radio Times**, David Craig (70/100, inferred): The review calls season 3 a welcome return to form after a disappointing second outing. It singles out the redemption of Rani and the show itself. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/comedy/outlaws-season-3-redemption-rani-ending-comment/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Angie Han (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the series flawed but generally pleasant, thanks to its likable cast and genial humor. She praises the warmth and affection in the characters’ relationships, especially the bond between Gabby and Greg. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/the-outlaws-1235123036/)
- **The i Paper**, Ed Power (35/100, inferred): The critic finds the series entertaining but tonally messy, arguing that it struggles to settle on what it wants to be. The character banter earns praise, while the late shift into a gritty thriller is singled out as a weakness. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/the-outlaws-bbc1-review-stephen-merchants-sitcom-tries-too-hard-not-to-be-the-office-1267392)
- **Paste**, Allison Keene (8.0/10): Keene finds the series surprisingly heartwarming and praises its character connections and playful handling of familiar tropes. She notes that some episodes feel long and some plot threads and plotting are tenuous. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/the-outlaws/the-outlaws-review)

## Details

- **Created by:** Stephen Merchant, Elgin James
- **Creator:** Stephen Merchant, Elgin James
- **Director:** John Butler, Alicia MacDonald, Curtis Vowell, Stephen Merchant
- **Writer:** Stephen Merchant, John Butler, Nikita Lalwani, Nathaniel Price, Elgin James, Emma Jane Unsworth, Jess Bray, Claire Downes, Jessica Gunning
- **Cinematography:** Nick Martin
- **Music:** Dan Jones, Stew Jackson
- **Producer:** Nickie Sault, Frances du Pille
- **Cast:** Christopher Walken as Frank; Rhianne Barreto as Rani; Darren Boyd as John; Gamba Cole as Christian; Jessica Gunning as Diane; Clare Perkins as Myrna; Eleanor Tomlinson as Gabby; Grace Calder as Sgt Haines
- **Runtime:** 58m
- **Release (Ecuador):** 25 October 2021
- **Genres:** Comedy, Crime, Drama
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hxqPxXV27E

## Where to watch in Ecuador

Not streaming, renting or buying in Ecuador at the last check.

Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BG, CA, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, HR, HU, IE, IS, LT, NL, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SI, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Misfits* (2009): Community service, a storm and superpowers; the same hi-vis tabards, much ruder.
- *The Lavender Hill Mob* (1951), Fi1m 82: Ordinary people fall into crime and are far too polite about it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-lavender-hill-mob.md)
- *Shoplifters* (2018), Fi1m 89: A makeshift family of petty thieves in Tokyo, tender and quietly devastating. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/shoplifters.md)
- *Detectorists* (2014), Fi1m 87: Two men, two fields and a metal detector; the gentlest comedy about wanting. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/detectorists.md)
- *Good Girls* (2018): Three suburban mothers rob a supermarket and cannot stop; warm until it isn’t.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/the-outlaws