Gangster: The Story of the Burger Bar Boys
5.0/5
Critic Rating
A brand new series of Gangster tells the story of Birmingham’s notorious Burger Bar Boys - a gang born out of the Handsworth riots in 1985. Named after the fast food joint where they met, they were described as more ruthless than the Jamaican Yardies. They fought a bitter and bloody war with their rivals the Johnson Crew for control of the crack cocaine trade in the West Midlands. They controlled their turf in the suburb of Handsworth with threats, intimidation and sub machine guns. But when they killed two innocent girls in a drive-by shooting, they were brought down by their own community and a team of fearless detectives determined to stem the body count.
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Peter Williams • New Statesman • Nov 29, 2023
"Here is a better way to do “true crime”...Haydock goes wherever the trail takes her, from Spaghetti Junction to Kingston, Jamaica, and hundreds of years into colonial history, without preconception and deploying relatively few clichés. The violence is related plainly. We see its studied casualness..."
Score: 5
Miranda Sawyer • The Guardian • Nov 5, 2023
"It’s nicely done...Reporter-presenter Livvy Haydock, who is excellent...There’s a saddening inevitability to it. But the voices of those involved are likable and engaging, and they lift The Story of the Burger Bar Boys far above the usual gangster cliches. Recommended."
