New BBC drama McMafia will delve into the murky depths of global crime when it airs in January of 2018, exploring the ties between the corporate world and mobsters.
"The gangsters have changed, they are not in the shadows anymore. They can be bankers, lawyers, government ministers," said Hossein Amini, co-creator of the series with director James Watkins.
Based in London but taking place in cities including Moscow and Tel Aviv, McMafia follows the criminal classes who appear far from mobster stereotypes.
The luxurious lifestyles of the well-dressed polyglots are on show, complete with champagne and caviar.
"The line between the underworld and the overworld does not exist any longer," Amini said at a London screening, noting that these days it was possible to sit next to someone at a restaurant with no idea of their criminal ties.
The eight-part series centers around Alex Goldman, played by British actor James Norton (War & Peace, Happy Valley), brought up in England by Russian exiles with mafia ties.
"The whole point of the show is that the corruption is global... It's by no means limited to Russia, it's very much in London as well," Norton said.
The drama is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by British journalist Misha Glenny.
He chose London as the novel's focal point in part due to the British capital's reputation among anti-corruption campaigners as a magnet for questionable wealth, much of which is invested in the luxury property market.