The Outlaws | Series Preview (BBC One)

The Outlaws is a contemporary British drama about a disparate group of lawbreakers thrown together to complete a community service sentence.

Seven strangers from different walks of life - people who would never normally interact - are forced to work together to renovate a derelict community centre.

They resent the menial physical labour and they resent each other. But when one of their number gets dragged into a dangerous world of organised crime, they unite in ways none of them thought possible.

Seven people from vastly different walks of life commence their Community Payback sentences, cleaning up and renovating a derelict building in Bristol. These ‘Outlaws’ include Oxford-bound Rani, (18, A+ student and kleptomaniac) and Christian (early 20s and in debt to the wrong people) who is doing everything he can to keep his kid sister Esme free of their clutches.

As the group is shown the ropes by their new supervisor, Diane, we also meet John, a middle aged and middle-class white business man forced to share oxygen with criminals while he scrambles to save his family business. We also meet black Bristol civil rights veteran Myrna, (60), whose pursuit of direct action has put her at odds with a newer generation of activists.

Rounding out the group, struggling lawyer and divorcee Greg has found himself on the wrong side of the justice system. And Insta-celebutante Lady Gabriella Penrose-Howe (in her 20s) must learn to survive her sentence without a retinue of hangers-on.

Meanwhile Frank, (70), a twinkly-eyed small-time crook, moves back in with the daughter he abandoned decades prior. Can any of them really reform? With disparate people forced into close proximity, tensions rise, prejudices are tested and lives begin to intertwine, for better and for worse.

The Outlaws begins Monday 25th October at 9pm on BBC One.