Before Peaky Blinders became the benchmark for stylish British crime drama, Tom Hardy stepped into a world that was considerably stranger, darker and harder to define.
Fog-choked streets. Secret assassinations. Corrupt businessmen. Political conspiracies. Ancient grudges. And at the centre of it all, a man who speaks in a near-whisper and seems to know far more than he ever says.
That man is James Delaney.
Played by Hardy in Taboo, Delaney returns to London in 1814 after more than a decade in Africa, bringing with him a mysterious past, a dangerous reputation and a disturbing collection of secrets.
The result is an eight-episode crime thriller that feels like a period drama dragged through a Gothic nightmare.
When Taboo premiered in 2017, it divided audiences and critics. Some found its grim atmosphere, bizarre mythology and deliberately excessive storytelling too much. Others became fascinated by its fever-dream quality.
Years later, that strange identity may be exactly what makes the series so compelling.
A Mysterious Inheritance Changes Everything
James Delaney returns to London following the death of his father, Horace, expecting to inherit what remains of the family fortune.
Instead, he receives a seemingly worthless piece of land on the North American coast.
It quickly becomes clear that the property is anything but worthless.
With the War of 1812 approaching its conclusion, both Britain and the United States have an interest in the strategically important territory. The powerful East India Company wants it too, and its ruthless chairman, Sir Stuart Strange, is determined to get his hands on it.
Delaney refuses to sell.
That single decision places him directly in the path of some of the most powerful people in the world.
Soon, he is caught between the Crown, the East India Company and American interests, while quietly manipulating each side for his own purposes.
But the land is only the beginning.
Assassinations, murders, betrayals, forbidden relationships and Delaney’s unexplained experiences in Africa gradually reveal a much larger and more disturbing story.
And with every revelation, the same question becomes harder to ignore: exactly what kind of man has returned to London?
Tom Hardy Has Rarely Been This Intense
Hardy is the undeniable centre of Taboo.
James Delaney isn’t a conventional hero. He doesn’t explain his motives, rarely shows fear and almost never needs to raise his voice to make a room uncomfortable.
A look from Hardy often says more than an entire conversation.
There are traces of the brutal physical intensity he brought to characters such as Bane, but Delaney is a very different creation. His accent, movements and restrained fury make him feel like someone carrying an entire lifetime of secrets beneath the surface.
Hardy also helped create the series alongside his father, Chips Hardy, and Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.
That gives Taboo a distinctly personal quality. It doesn’t feel like another polished historical production assembled to fit a familiar formula.
It feels stranger than that.
More dangerous, too.
Forget the Polished Version of Regency London
Forget elegant ballrooms and romanticised Regency streets.
The London of Taboo is filthy, crowded and threatening.
Mud covers the streets. Smoke hangs in the air. Disease and poverty sit alongside immense wealth, while corruption reaches into the highest levels of society.
The powerful can be just as monstrous as the criminals they claim to control.
That visual world gives the series its distinctive Gothic atmosphere. It feels closer to a fever dream than a traditional history lesson, mixing crime, revenge, horror and political intrigue into one increasingly chaotic story.
At times, Taboo is deliberately outrageous.
But that unpredictability is also its greatest strength.
The East India Company Becomes a Formidable Enemy
Jonathan Pryce delivers one of the show’s standout performances as Sir Stuart Strange, the calculating chairman of the East India Company.
His obsession with Delaney’s inherited land transforms what initially looks like a simple inheritance dispute into a much larger struggle for power.
Almost everyone around Delaney wants something.
Money. Land. Information. Influence. Revenge.
And almost nobody can be trusted.
As James moves between rival factions, the political intrigue becomes increasingly tangled. Every alliance seems temporary, every conversation carries a hidden threat and every victory appears to come with another price.
The line between revenge and survival becomes increasingly difficult to see.
The Supporting Cast Is Packed With Talent
Hardy may command most of the attention, but the supporting cast gives Taboo much of its bite.
Jessie Buckley plays Lorna Bow, the secret third wife of James’s late father, bringing an unpredictable and fiercely independent presence to the story.
Stephen Graham appears as Atticus, a dangerous underworld figure who becomes an important ally to Delaney.
Jonathan Pryce is deliciously sinister as Sir Stuart Strange, while Tom Hollander plays the eccentric chemist George Cholmondeley.
Mark Gatiss is almost unrecognisable as Prince George, portraying the Prince Regent with a grotesque, unsettling quality.
Oona Chaplin, Franka Potente and Jason Watkins further populate a world where almost every character appears to have an agenda of their own.
Why It Still Feels So Unusual
The most appealing thing about Taboo may be the fact that it refuses to behave like a conventional historical thriller.
It doesn’t give James Delaney an easy backstory.
It doesn’t immediately explain every mystery.
And it certainly doesn’t hurry toward answers.
Instead, the series creates a constant sense of suspicion.
Delaney always appears to be several moves ahead of everyone else, even when the audience has no idea what those moves might be.
That slow-burn uncertainty becomes addictive.
You might not always understand what is happening. You might not even know where the story is going.
But the atmosphere keeps pulling you forward.
And Then There’s the Season 2 Problem
There is one major frustration for anyone discovering Taboo today: the story was never properly completed.
The first season ends with James Delaney’s plans still unfolding and numerous mysteries unresolved.
Fans have spent years waiting for the promised continuation, turning Taboo into one of those cult shows that refuses to disappear from the conversation.
That unfinished story can be frustrating.
At the same time, it has arguably contributed to the show’s enduring mystique.
There is something fitting about a series built around secrets ending with so many of them still hanging in the darkness.
Is Taboo Worth Watching?
If Peaky Blinders, Gothic mysteries, historical crime stories and morally complicated antiheroes are your kind of television, Taboo deserves a place on your watchlist.
It is violent, grimy, strange and unapologetically excessive.
But beneath the blood, fog and conspiracies is a gripping story about empire, greed, power and revenge — centred on one deeply damaged man who refuses to allow powerful forces to dictate his fate.
And Hardy’s performance is the biggest reason it works.
James Delaney doesn’t need to shout to dominate a scene. He simply walks into it, stares across the room and lets the silence do the rest.
Once Taboo pulls you into that fog-covered version of 1814 London, stepping away can be surprisingly difficult.
Because before long, you’re no longer watching simply to understand James Delaney.
You’re watching because you need to know what he does next.