CULPRITS SOUNDTRACK & REVIEW

Do you love a TV show featuring a gang of improbably put-together misfits, wielding guns and with a devilishly devious plan of how to remove money/jewels/tech/a McGuffin from bad people? Then the new Disney+ stand-alone eight-part series Culprits is for you. Let’s see who’s who – and what they’re stealing…

Culprits is ideal if you’re a fan of Netflix’s international hits Money Heist, Kaleidoscope and Lupin or the kind of twisty-turny, back-and-forth-in-time storytelling that Sky Atlantic’s The Lazarus Project does so brilliantly. The series is divided up into three timelines: Before focuses on planning the heist; Then is set during the heist and Now takes us through the aftermath.

Culprits’ USP is that, unlike most heist dramas or films like Ocean’s Eleven, you know from the start that the heist has been successful. What you don’t know is who might be tracking down the members of the crew and dispatching them in increasingly horrific ways, a good three years after they’ve got away with it.

The all-star cast is headed up by Gemma Arterton, who’s playing villainous heist mastermind Dianne Harewood, with great élan. She’s got incredible lipstick that never budges, a bomb-proof bob and is, like all great villains, prone to setting up secretive meets in the middle of art galleries. She’s assembled a gang of elite criminals to crack an impenetrable vault in London and make off with £30 million, which they’ll all share equally before disappearing entirely and leaving their old lives behind.

Money Heist’s members were named after cities; Culprits’ monikers are just straight-up job descriptions. Hence, our main protagonist, David (aka ‘Joe’ in the ‘Now’ sections, where he’s living a nice life in Oregon with his partner and two step-kids), played by Misfits’ star Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, is known as ‘Muscle’. He’s joined by Brain (Dianne), Soldier, Driver, Right Hand, Fixer, trigger-happy assassin Specialist (played by Niamh Algar – giving what should be a very successful audition for the next Bond film) – you get the picture.

But who exactly is ‘Devil’ – the platinum blonde, shell-suited man in a horror-style white mask who’s now tracking down the heist members and killing them, despite their supposedly untraceable new personas and lives? And more to the point, why and on behalf of whom? Is it an inside job? Well, that would be telling, but when you know that character’s played by Peaky Blinders’ Ned Dennehy, then suffice to say you’re terrified of him even before he removes the mask; he's got a thousand-yard stare that inherently makes you want to agree to whatever he’s demanded.

Blood Is Slicker Than Water

Culprits is highly stylised and whips along at a furious pace – taking in locations across seven different countries from London to Norway, Barcelona to Paris, Morocco and more. There’s also some off-kilter humour mixed in with the gory killings – co-director and writer J Blakeson also wrote Prime Video’s dark comedy thrller I Care a Lot, starring Rosamund Pike, another story that took on the theme of duplicity with some uncomfortable humour. The show is based on a story anthology, Culprits: The Heist was Only the Beginning, which was snapped up by The Night Manager and The Undoing’s producer Stephen Garrett for its screen outing.

The way the show gradually unfurls its different timelines keeps you binge-watching, without having to resort to cheap end-of-episode cliffhangers. It’s a tangled knot of secrets, lies, double-crosses, paranoia, hidden motivations and a desperate desire for the members of the gang to trust someone – anyone. Plus, some tremendous set-pieces, bold visuals and great performances, particularly Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, holding the whole thing together as David/Joe, and a raft of strong women, including Algar’s Specialist (aka ‘Psycho’), Sandman’s Kirby Howell-Baptiste as ‘Officer’ and newcomer Tara Aboud playing young safe-cracker Azar.

The Soundtrack

Culprits’ original soundtrack has been written by Marc Canham, who collaborated with J Blakeson on I Care a Lot. He’s also worked on the Gemma Arterton project The Disappearance of Alice Creed, and Deceit for Channel 4, a drama with fellow Culprits star Niamh Algar.

The series’ music supervisor is Ian Neil, whose extensive career covers everything from Elton John biopic Rocketman to Kingsman: The Secret Service, Tetris, Luther: The Fallen Sun, Lockwood & Co and 1899.

Before becoming an independent music supervisor, Ian Neil was Head of Film and TV for Polygram Records, and during his tenure there, one of his first big films, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, resulted in a double platinum soundtrack.

His needledrop choices for Culprits are definitely underpinned by an expansive knowledge of the music industry, covering 80s classics by Fun Boy Three and The Cure, dance tracks from Basement Jaxx and Robin S., together with genres spanning everything from Afrobeat to rap, psychedelic and alt-rock, with even a dash of classical orchestral to reflect not only the characters but also the locations they find themselves in.

Here’s the full rundown of all the tracks used on the Culprits soundtrack:

Episode 1

• ‘Move Your Feet’ – Junior Senior
• ‘Hot Topic’ – Le Tigre
• ‘The Traitor’ – Menahan Street Band
• ‘Our Lips are Sealed’ – Fun Boy Three
• ‘Stitches’ – Allele
• ‘Politicians in My Eyes’ – Death
• ‘Show Me Love’ – Robin S.
• ‘Romeo’ – Basement Jaxx
• ‘Kulture’ – Ketso SA

Episode 2

• ‘Water No Get Enemy’ – Fela Kuti
• ‘Kimbo’ – Sticky Noodles
• ‘Trick Me’ – Kelis
• ‘The Four Seasons – Spring’ – Vivaldi, performed by Anthony Newman, Cho-Liang and Sejong
• ‘Ain’t that Close to Me’ – Night Fevers
• ‘Got’ – Mos Def
• ‘Keep on Movin’ – Soul II Soul

Episode 3

• ‘Got to Be Real’ - Cheryl Lynn
• ‘Sing it Back’ - Moloko
• ‘The Less I Know the Better’ – Tame Impala
• ‘I am the Black Gold of the Sun’ – Rotary Connection and Minnie Riperton
• ‘Burn in Hell’ – Twisted Sister
• ‘Mr Sandman’ – The Chordettes

Episode 4

• ‘3am 7arib (I am Fighting)’ – Malikah
• ‘I Changed My Mind’ – Lyrics Born & The Poets of Rhythm
• ‘Im-Bim-Billilah’ – Mashrou’Leila
• ‘Girlfriend’ – Christine and the Queens
• ‘Marie Moi’ – Agathe & Regrets

Episode 5

• ’88 aka Come Down on Me’ – Lemon Jelly
• ‘La belle et le bad boy’ – MC Solaar
• ‘Do you Mind?’ – Temzii
• ‘Love Me or Leave Me’ – Band of Thieves
• ‘Nowhere to Hide Now’ – Ghostpoet
• ‘E Talking’ – Soulwax

Episode 7

• ‘Protein’ - Jeshi (feat. Obongjayar)

Episode 8

• ‘I am the Black Gold of the Sun’ – Rotary Connection and Minnie Riperton
• ‘Ever Fallen in Love’ – Buzzcocks
• ‘Closer to the Stars’ – Geneva
• ‘Lovesong’ – The Cure

For more behind the scenes insight into the show, watch this interview with Culprits creator J Blakeson and Alex Zane, covering Stephen Garrett’s early career on Spooks and Hustle, the cast, the challenges of securing your dream location and how shot selection can be crucial in building tension.

Cool & the Gang

Can’t get enough of shows featuring gangs? Read our review of Yellowjackets, or if literary adaptations are more your thing, then of course there’s The Fall of the House of Usher.

And if you need music to license for your TV show, then look no further than our hand-picked kick-ass women playlist to channel Dianne, The Officer, The Specialist, and safe-cracker Azar, or our drama, comedy or dramedy playlists for more small-screen tracks.