8 /10 1 Votes
7.1/10 Top Documentary Films Genre Documentary Country of origin United Kingdom No. of seasons 4 First episode date 21 September 2004 | 8.5/10 IMDb 8.2/10 TV Starring Ross Kemp Original language(s) English No. of episodes 20 (list of episodes) Final episode date 6 January 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Production companies Tiger Aspects Productions, Endemol UK Executive producers Ross Kemp, Clive Tulloh, Amelia Hann Awards British Academy Television Award for Best Factual Series Similar Ross Kemp: Extreme, Ross Kemp in Afghanistan, Paul Merton's Adventures, The Moaning of Life, Paul Merton in India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ross Kemp on Gangs is a documentary series that was broadcast on Sky 1 from 21 September 2004, until 6 January 2009. Hosted by actor Ross Kemp, the series follows Kemp and a film crew around the world as they interview members of "gangs", locals who have been affected by gang violence, and the authorities who are attempting to combat the problem. Kemp then tries to establish contact within the gangs in an attempt to talk to their leader. A total of four series were filmed, three of which have since been released on DVD. On 20 May 2007, the series won a BAFTA award for best factual series.
Production
The first series featured Kemp investigating gangs and police corruption in Brazil, Māori gangs in New Zealand, neo-Nazi skinheads in California and gangsters in London. The second series featured "MS13" from El Salvador, neo-Nazis in Russia, football hooligans in Poland, American "Bloods" and "Crips" gangs in St. Louis, and the "Numbers" gang in South Africa.
In the third series, Kemp travelled to Kingston, Jamaica, where gangs engage in bloody turf war; Poland, where football hooligans have become some of the most feared gangs in Europe; Colombia, where Kemp meets the people involved in bitter guerrilla fighting – including the most secretive of them all, the Sicarios; and travels to East Timor to meet the Sacred Heart and Seven Seven, two gangs in the midst of a deadly conflict.
In the fourth series, Kemp travelled to the Los Angeles district of Compton, to a neighbourhood where a famously hazardous scene was filmed, in which gangland junior Matt 'Malicious' Ward misfired his gun in a rival gang's neighbourhood. Kemp travelled to Bulgaria to investigate Roma gangs and Neo-Nazi Skinheads; Belize, where the focus was cocaine trafficking; and Liverpool, where Kemp met gangs in Norris Green and Croxteth.
In early 2007, Kemp published his experiences from the programme in a book of the same name. A second book was published in April 2009. In early 2009, the series aired in the United States on the Investigation Discovery channel under the title Gang Nation.