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The Last Panthers

When a jewellery heist leaves a 6 year old dead a chase for a killer ensues across Europe, in this new SBS drama.

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While Europe is reeling from terrorism crossing its borders, there’s almost something ‘old-fashioned’ about the robbery in a new 6 part drama from Jack Thorne (This is England, Skins, Cast Offs), coming to SBS.

The Last Panthers opens with a brazen daylight jewellery heist in Marseille, when three Balkan thieves dressed as painters stride into a store and hold up staff at gunpoint. There are explosions, cops, and a carefully-planned getaway that isn’t quite up to the brilliance of The Italian Job.

But in the daring escape a 6 year old girl is accidentally shot, turning a brash diamond robbery into a bungled murder.

€15million in stolen diamonds are thought to be the work of the Panthers, a group of thieves known for taking from the rich and giving to the poor, but which has been laying low for a decade.

They come to the attention of French-Algerian policeman (Khalil Rachedi, pictured) who is paired with Interpol expert (Natasha O’Keeffe), but they differ on the best methods to find the culprits.

Also on the trail is British loss adjuster Naomi Franckom (Samantha Morton) who tries to convince her boss Tom Kendle (John Hurt) that she isn’t the right person to pursue the thieves into Belgrade -she has Balkan war history.

“We had a deal. I don’t do the Balkan work,” she reminds him.

But the baddies find they are having trouble off-loading the jewels, due to the death of the young girl.

“Bad diamonds at bad prices,” they are told.

The central character amongst the thieves is Milan Celik (Goran Bogdan) whose family history will bear upon his decisions and actions, as the plot moves to Eastern Europe.

The series, based across London, Marseille, Belgrade and Montenegro, is grim and drawn, with dialogue in both French and English at varying times. It’s hard to ignore the destruction a war has placed upon some of the locations, where gangsters and crime are now burgeoning. One war replaced by another….

After its active opening, The Last Panthers drops a notch in energy levels but crafts some dark characters that make this a promising arthouse saga.

The Last Panthers airs 9:30pm Thursday on SBS.

 

One Response

  1. The Balkans didn’t need the recent wars to be a paradise for organised crime-has always been that way, with weak central govts and large ‘Wild West’ areas rife with inter clan warfare-half of the old Yugoslav films SBS used to show covered this aspect of the history of the region.

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