By James Whittington, 29th March 2026
It's action, suspense and high-stakes drama all the way as LEGEND presents eleven star-studded Channel premieres in April, spearheaded by Brian De Palma's brutal crime classic CARLITO'S WAY, starring Al Paciino, high octane action comedy MR. AND MRS. SMITH, starring Bratt Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Spike Lee's critically acclaimed heist thriller INSIDE MAN, and Timor Bekmambetov's all guns-blazing WANTED, starring James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman and Terence Stamp.
Then there is the cold war spy thriller BULLET TO BEIJING, starring Michael Caine as a retired Harry Palmer, buddy-cop film MONEY TRAIN, starring Wesley Snipes, and Jennifer Lopez, and two murderous action thrillers directed by Peter Hyams - THE PRESIDIO, starring Sean Connery, and SUDDEN DEATH, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Further Channel premieres include revenge-driven Western SHOOT OUT, starring Gregory Peck, science fiction action-adventure film CONGO, based on the 1980 novel by Michael Crichton and gangster thriller MOBSTERS, inspired by the rise of notorious New York City mobsters during the 1920s, starring Christian Slater as Charlie "Lucky" Luciano.
Here's everything you need to know:
Let's start on the 2nd where a classic cinema character returns to the big screen in BULLET TO BEIJING. When long-time British agent Harry Palmer (Caine) loses his job because the Cold War is over, a Russian agent promptly approaches him, telling him that Russia's future is threatened because a deadly biochemical weapon has been stolen. He'll pay Harry to retrieve it. Then Harry gets a tip that it's being sent to Beijing by train. We get onboard THE MONEY TRAIN on the 4th where John (Wesley Snipes) and Charlie (Woody Harrelson) are foster brothers and NYC transit cops. When gambling-addicted Charlie is fired and threatened by a loan shark, he plots to rob the "money train," a heavily armoured train collecting millions in subway fares. John must decide whether to stop him or join the dangerous heist. Star-studded drama on the 5th where we meet the INSIDE MAN. Tough cop, Detective Frazier (Denzel Washington) matches wits with a clever bank robber, Dalton Russell (Clive Owen). As the dangerous cat-and-mouse game unfolds, a wild card emerges: Madaline White (Jodie Foster), a power broker with a hidden agenda, who injects even more instability into an already volatile situation.
We've classic cinema on the 9th and ride to the wild west for a SHOOT OUT. Clay Lomax (Gregory Peck), a bank robber released from prison, seeks revenge on his partner, Sam Foley (James Gregory), who betrayed him. During his quest, Lomax is reluctantly saddled with his daughter, 6-year-old girl named Decky (Dawn Lyn). We're off to the CONGO on the 11th where Scientist Karen Ross (Laura Linney) is sent by her father-in-law, mogul R.B. Travis to the infamous jungle to determine the whereabouts of a missing diamond-hunting team. Led by expert guides, treasure hunter Herkermer Homolka (Tim Curry) and a gorilla, she discovers a danger far more sinister than anything they expected to find. Gangster drama arrive on the next evening, get ready to meet MOBSTERS. This historical crime drama charts the rise of four legendary gangsters - Lucky Luciano (Christian Slater), Meyer Lansky (Patrick Dempsey), Bugsy Siegel (Richard Grieco), and Frank Costello (Costas Mandylor) in New York City between 1917 and 1931. Starting as street thugs, they exploit Prohibition to build an empire.
A movie which became infamous when first released in 2005, MR. & MRS. SMITH blasts onto your screens on the 18th.. A bored, suburban married couple, John (Brad Pitt) and Jane (Angelina Jolie), secretly work as elite assassins for competing agencies. When they are assigned to kill each other, their mundane lives explode into a high stakes battle that reignites their relationship, forcing them to choose between their careers and their love. Crime drama of a very different kind the following evening, THE PRESIDIO. Lt. Col. Caldwell (Sean Connery) and Police Inspector Jay Austin (Mark Harmon) don’t like each other. Not even a little bit. That’s because Caldwell helped run Austin out of the military police a few years back. But now, they are forced to team up to solve a brutal murder. Ad to complicate matters Austin falls for Caldwell's daughter, Donna (Meg Ryan). This is followed by on of Al Pacino's finest, CARLITO'S WAY. Al Pacino stars as Carlito Brigante, a Puerto Rican ex-con released early from a 30-year sentence in 1975 New York. Vowing to go straight, Carlito manages a nightclub to save money for retirement. Despite his efforts, he is dragged back into the underworld by his cocaine-addicted lawyer, Dave Kleinfeld (Sean Penn), setting him on a dangerously violent path.
Action all the way with JCVD on the 23rd, SUDDEN DEATH. Ex-fireman Darren McCord (Jean-Claude Van Damme) has a new job working security at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena. Hoping to impress his kids, he's scored tickets to the Stanley Cup Finals, unaware that Ex-CIA agent Joshua Foss (Powers Boothe) is holding the vice president hostage and plans to blow up the building if he doesn't pay the ransom. Cue for Darren he jumps into action. We end with WANTED on the 25th where Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is an office worker whose life is going nowhere. After his estranged father is murdered, he meets Fox (Angelina Jolie), who recruits him into the Fraternity, a secret society of assassins. Fox and Sloan (Morgan Freeman), the Fraternity's leader, teach Wesley to tap into dormant powers. Though he enjoys his newfound abilities, he begins to suspect that there is more to the Fraternity than meets the eye.
Related show tags: CARLITO'S WAY, MR. AND MRS. SMITH, INSIDE MAN, WANTED, BULLET TO BEIJING, MONEY TRAIN, THE PRESIDIO, SUDDEN DEATH, SHOOT OUT, CONGO, MOBSTERS MORE FEATURES LEGEND brings out Hackman, Stallone and Willis for August channel premieres Posted on 27th July 2026
Watch out for a sizzling summer line-up on LEGEND this August, headed up the Channel premiere of David Mamet's neo-noir crime thriller HEIST. Starring Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito it remains the highest-grossing film of the writer-director's career in the US. Another stand-out director, Renny Harlin has two Channel premieres – breezy action-heist film THE MISFITS, starring Pierce Brosnan, and DRIVEN, an action sports film set in the world of cart open-wheel racing, written by and starring Sylvester Stallone.
Other Channel premieres include action-thriller TEARS OF THE SUN, starring Bruce Willis and Monica Bellucci, John Lyde's B-movie prison thriller RIOT, st...
Interview with Terry Stone star of Rise of the Footsoldier: Origins Posted on 15th July 2026
Brutal Brit flick RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER: ORIGINS has its channel premiere on Friday at 11:10pm so we chatted to Terry Stone about the challenges of playing Tony Tucker and why he thinks this is the best film in the franchise.
LC: In RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER: ORIGINS, Tucker returns home from the Falklands War with severe PTSD. What was that like to emotionally explore?
TS: As an actor it was an interesting thing to play. It took me on a journey so when you see my character laughing a lot in the film it’s like a mask to hide all the shit that's going on in my head. It also explains how you can go from 1 - 10 in violence. Lots of Footsoldier fans didn’t know that Tony Tuck...
Fairbrass, Diesel and Stallone are ready for action this July on Legend Posted on 30th June 2026
In July LEGEND continues with its broadcast of the RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER franchise, this month covering the third, fourth and fifth films in the brutal British gangster saga that has been engaging its millions of fans since 2007.
First up is RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER 3: THE PAT TATE STORY, which charts the violent rise of ruthless Essex gangster Pat Tate (Craig Fairbass). Then comes RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER 4: MARBELLA, where we follow Pat Tate (Craig Fairbrass) to Spain with his henchmen, Tony (Terry Stone) and Craig (Ronald Manookian) to seek vengeance on those who double-crossed him. Finally, in RISE OF THE FOORSOLDIER: ORIGINS, we follow the story of how Pat, Tony and Craig unite to form their o...
Babylon 5 lands on LEGEND from Monday 8 June Posted on 2nd June 2026
LEGEND, the TV destination for fans of action, sci-fi, and thrillers, rides the nostalgia wave with the channel premiere of all five seasons of the classic '90s series BABYLON 5, which will air weeknights at 7pm from Monday 8 June.
The series will kick off with Babylon 5: The Gathering, the test pilot movie, before Season One launches on Tuesday 9 June. The Gathering covers events which take place roughly one year before those of the first-season episode, providing a framework of backstories and personal relationships for some of the series' major characters, which include Captain John Sheridan, (Bruce Boxleitner), Commander Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian), Security Chief M...
Legend brings the heat this June Posted on 27th May 2026
There are ten thrilling channel premieres in June as LEGEND continue to offer a popular mix of nostalgic favourites and modern, star-studded premieres, including Joel Schumacher's gripping legal drama A TIME TO KILL, Jon Amiel's psychological thriller COPYCAT and both RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER and RISE OF THE FOOTSOLDIER: PART II - the first two films in the brutal British gangster saga that has been engaging its millions of fans since 2007.
Then there is Ted Kotcheff's gritty action-drama UNCOMMON VALOR, starring Gene Hackman, Robert Benton's much-praised revisionist Western BAD COMPANY, starring Jeff Bridges and Barry Brown, an...
A line-up not to be missed this May on LEGEND Posted on 28th April 2026
May on LEGEND sees an action-packed mix of classic and contemporary thrillers, headed by Sergio Leone's brilliant ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, starring Robert De Niro and James Woods on top form, Joel Schumacher's tense legal drama THE CLIENT, starring Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones, Spike Lee's Neo-noir remake of Park Chan-wook's 2003 South Korean cult masterpiece OLD BOY, and Sydney Pollack's political spy thriller THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, widely regarded as a quintessential example of the 1970s "paranoia" cinema.
Then there is IMMORTALS, Tarsem Singh's epic, visceral retelling of Greek mythology, starring Henry Cavell and Mickey O'Rourke, Andrew Nicol's IN TIME, a dystopian science ficti...
Reynolds, Washington and Schwarzenegger join the LEGEND line-up for March Posted on 25th February 2026
An action-packed mix of cult classics, popular remakes and contemporary thrillers headline LEGEND's selection of eleven Channel premieres in March, spearheaded by Kathryn Bigelow's gripping, suspenseful, and brilliantly crafted, ZERO DARK THIRTY, which dramatises the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Then there is the 2005 action-packed remake of ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, starring Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne, Clint Eastwood's high-stakes assassination thriller THE EIGER SANCTION. and Frank Mitchell's survival drama ALIVE, the true story of a Uruguayan rugby team forced to eat the flesh of their dead companions following a plane crash.
Further Channel premieres include grindhouse-inspired exploitatio...
De Niro, Pacino and Eastwood are starring on LEGEND in February Posted on 27th January 2026
De Niro, Pacino and Eastwood give us powerhouse performances as LEGEND celebrates the work of legendary directors this month, spearheaded by the Channel premieres of such cult classics as Brian De Palma's SCARFACE, Martin Scorcese's CAPE FEAR, Donald Seigel's THE BEGUILED, and John Frankenheimer's BLACK SUNDAY.
Other notable Channel premieres this February include Keanu Reeves' directorial debut, MAN OF TAI CHI. Leigh Wannel's tech horror thriller UPGRADE, Doug Liman's action comedy, AMERICAN MADE, starring Tom Cruise, Gary Fieder's quirky crime drama THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU'RE DEAD, which stars Andy Garcia, Christopher Walken and Steve Buscemi, and Kevin McDonald's blistering politi...
LEGEND announces January 2026 premiere line-up! Posted on 23rd December 2025
LEGEND ushers in the new year with ten adrenaline-fuelled channel premieres, including Peter Weir's much acclaimed war drama GALLIPOLI, which solidified Mel Gibson’s stature as a leading man. Other well-known directors featured this month are The Fast and Furious helmer Rob Cohen with military science fiction action thriller STEALTH, Mike Figgis, who teams up with an outstanding Richard Gere for psychological crime thriller INTERNAL AFFAIRS, and Saturday Night Fever director John Badham, with American political thriller NICK OF TIME, starring Johnny Depp and Christopher Walken.
Other channel premieres include the box-office smash MECHANIC: RESURRECTION, the sequel...
PICK OF THE WEEK
