Once Upon a Time in London

Once Upon a Time in London dramatises the criminal careers of Billy Hill and Jack "Spot" Comer, two figures who came to dominate organised crime in London. Their partnership and rivalry unfold against the city's underworld from the 1930s through the mid-1950s, a period that saw the two men build a nationwide criminal empire and, in time, turn against each other. The story traces how that world was shaped before the rise of the Kray twins and the Richardsons, who followed in its wake.

Simon Rumley directed the film, which sits between The ABCs of Death (2013) and Crushed (2025) in his filmography. He wrote the screenplay with Will Gilbey and Terry Stone, and produced it with Richard Turner. Terry Stone plays Jack "Spot" Comer, Leo Gregory plays Billy Hill, and Holly Earl, Jamie Foreman, Justin Salinger and Dominic Keating appear among the large credited cast of fifty, supported by seventy-five credited crew members. Gateway Films and Ratio Film produced the 111-minute crime drama, released in April 2019.

On IMDb, the film holds a rating of 5.2 out of 10 from around 8,500 votes. On TMDB it stands at 5.3 out of 10 from a much smaller pool of 56 votes. The two audience scores are closely aligned and modest, indicating a film that drew a limited but reasonably consistent response from viewers.