Fightland is lots of people punching each other in the head.
Howard Charles (Liar Series 2) takes the lead role of smug Maduka ‘Duke’ Kilroy, who’s just become heavyweight champion of the world, but thanks to an altercation in a car park, both he and his brother, Calvin (Jurell Carter), will be in need of some hospital attention.
But then that’s just the beginning, as Duke & co. get involved with a lot of bad guys, followed by a whole lotta shootin’ & shoutin’ goin’ on.
There’s a weird moment when Duke spots some bad guys, as if he’s got instant recall computer working in his head, and is more intent on endless revenge, instead of getting back into boxing, and taking down a massive crime gang.
Along the way, there’s talk about planting drugs on Albanians who smuggle cars in and out of the country etc., but rather than be clandestine about it, Duke and his accomplice are screeching round corners with gay abandon, as opposed to stopping at a junction and behaving normally. It’s things like that which get you NOTICED! Just try playing Hitman, runnig around and firing your gun wherever! It’s going to go wrong!
That said, there’s a clichéd moment where they DO get stopped, but the cop recognises Duke, effectively gets bought off with a selfie, then just tells them to get their brake light fixed.
Similarly stupidly, you can’t just randomly kill someone, take your balaclava off and ruffle your hair, dropping DNA all over the place!
And you can’t just set light to a van and casually walk away, not looking at it. You’d film it for a start, and admire your handiwork! Anyway, this isn’t a game of Grand Theft Auto(!)
Fightland features a predominantly black cast, everyone shouting at each other on a reguiar basis instead of acting, but surprisingly, no-one shouts “My nigga“, as they would in Americaland.
It also has 50 Cent‘s name attached to it, but as ‘executive producer’, which is a meaningless phrase, as it could be anything from doing a lot, to simply owning a stake in the production studio. Mr Half-Dollar was actually quite reasonable as an actor in the first Den Of Thieves film, but this time, he’s clearly thrown in the towel.
Fightland is on Sky Atlantic from Friday August 28th.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
However, you can buy the novel in paperback.
Cert: 
Running time: 45 minutes (8 episodes)
Release date: August 28th 2026
Studio: Sky
Format: 2.39:1
Series Directors: Otto Bathurst, Tessa Hoffe, Colm McCarthy, Sebastian Thiel
Producers: Cameron Angeli, Charlotte Surtees
Creators: Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan, Raphael Jackson Jr, Damione Macedon, Marlon Smith
Writers: Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan, Raphael Jackson Jr, Damione Macedon, Marlon Smith, Jessica Sinyard, Charlene James, Elliot Warren
Music: Paul Saunderson, Swindle
Cast:
Maduka ‘Duke’ Kilroy: Howard Charles
Joy Marshall: Deborah Ayorinde
Eric Colman: Clarke Peters
Kingsley Marshall: Nicholas Pinnock
Ezekiel ‘Zeek’ Marshall: Charles Babalola
Cebella ‘Cece’ Marshall: Anita-Joy Uwajeh
Calvin Kilroy: Jurell Carter
Jay: Tyler Conti
Kim Harper: Tahirah Sharif
Lazaro: Sebastián Capitán Viveros
Langston: Max Brown
Joseph ‘The Jackhammer’ Minott: Sylvester Akinrolabu
Rocks: Alix Bailey
Nikolai: Daniel Donskoy
DS Gower: Michael Greco
Jasmine: Erin Austen
Amado Rodriguez: Miguel Álvarez
Scott Morton: Tom Forbes
Gary ‘Gazzer’ Kilroy: Richard Pepple
Kareem Abdullah: Yaser Saidzai
Simeon: Victor Oshin
Marshall Soldier: Luis Donegan-Brown
Nadim: Andreas Karras
Lorik: Florian Rafuna
Corey Taylor: Michael Landes
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.