The real Gangs of London – how close to reality did the show's creators go?

I n an age of ultra-violent television fantasy, Gangs of London breaks new ground for unremitting bloodshed. The second season, which just landed on Sky Atlantic and Now, begins with Algerian mobsters picking up a shipment of automatic rifles from a dingy warehouse in the lashing rain. Masked gunmen ambush them, demanding to know where the guns come from – force feeding one young foot soldier to swallow three bullets, causing him excruciating pain. He is then ordered to shoot dead a comrade as a chilling warning about never dealing with Albanian gun-runners again. It's grim stuff, but it's terrifyingly…