BBC’s Mint: Everything We Know About This Upcoming Gang Romance

Following in the footsteps of fellow musicians-turned-actors The Weeknd, Dominic Fike and Childish Gambino/Donald Glover, British hip-hop musician Loyle Carner – real name Ben Coyle-Larner – is set to star in a BBC drama later this month.

Here’s everything we know so far about Mint, penned by filmmaker Charlotte Regan in her own television debut and dubbed ‘an unconventional story’ – though we are sensing some serious Romeo & Juliet tones.

Arran (BENJAMIN COYLE-LARNER) & Shannon (EMMA LAIRD) in Mint. (House/Fearless Minds/BBC)

BBC’s Mint: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

The BBC first revealed it had commissioned Mint back in February 2024, teasing writer and BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Charlotte Regan’s television debut promises ‘a crime drama like no other’. Best known for her work directing short films and music videos, Regan rose to prominence with her 2023 film Scrapper, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival and bagged the Grand Jury Prize for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

Now turning to TV, the BBC’s director of drama Lindsay Salt describes Regan’s series Mint as ‘championing the females in the family’ and illustrating ‘a very different side to what a life of crime is really like for those who live alongside that world’. It’s a slight divergence from – while still honouring – the working class themes threaded through her oeuvre to date, with the gang crime slant raising the stakes.

‘Mint is a world I’ve been thinking about for such a long time,’ Regan said back in February 2024. ‘It’s the project that’s stuck with me endlessly and I could never get it out of my head. I’m so excited to be making it with the legends at the BBC. I can’t wait to meet some magical humans and make some magical TV.’

Shannon (Emma Laird) in Mint. (© House/Fearless Minds/BBC/Christopher Sabogal)

What Will Happen?

Made up of eight episodes, Mint is a crime-family drama that skirts the typical protagonists like the godfather, the mob boss or the heavy and centralises the children, the mother, the grandmother. We’re told to expect a darkly comic story about love, heartbreak and frankly the weirdness of being born into and living alongside the criminal underworld – and what happens when you’re forced to take a hold of it.

Filmed in and around Glasgow in 2025, the series centres on Shannon (Emma Laird), daughter of the area’s dominant crime family – who also happens to be naive and a hopeless romantic. Shannon is desperately searching for love, but she lives in the shadow of her gangster father Dylan (Sam Riley).

Cat (LAURA FRASER) & Ollie (LINDSAY DUNCAN) in Mint. (House/Fearless Minds/BBC)

It’s a surreal and violent yet very protected family confinement, this family business. How could Shannon ever find love inside of it? But when Arran (Ben Coyle-Larner) arrives on the scene, everything starts to change.

The series has a unique visual language, including sparks flying and the duo literally floating on air, wrapped up in their love. Watch the trailer below for a taste.

Mint comes on the heels of This City is Ours, a hugely successful original BBC series which launched in 2025 and was quickly renewed for series 2. Led by James Nelson-Joyce as Michael, the Liverpool-set drama traces the fallout of a life-long gang member falling in love with Diana (Hannah Onslow), a woman on the outside, and contemplating what a life without crime might look like. There’s also a murder mystery thrown in for good measure.

Who Stars?

Coyle-Larner is our romantic lead Arran, starring in Mint opposite The Brutalist star Emma Laird as Shannon, our protagonist. They’ll be joined by: Sam Riley as Shannon’s gangster father Dylan; Laura Fraser as Shannon’s devoted mum Cat; Lewis Gribben as Shannon’s older brother Luke; and Lindsay Duncan as the indomitable family matriarch, grandma Ollie.

Series creator Regan tells the BBC she ‘had a little cry the other day thinking about how incredible this cast is,’ describing herself as an ‘absolute emotional wreck’.

Regan adds: ‘I honestly can’t imagine these characters being brought into the world by better human beings. Every single one of them is going to smash it and I feel so grateful to have them all onboard.’

Arran (BENJAMIN COYLE-LARNER) in Mint. (House/Fearless Minds/BBC)

Who Is Ben Coyle-Larner?

Best known by his stage name Loyle Carner, Ben Coyle-Larner is a jazzy, hip-hoppy spoken word musician soon to make his acting debut in the BBC’s upcoming drama Mint.

Born in London in 1994, Coyle-Larner rose to fame with his debut album Yesterday’s Gone in 2017, earning a Mercury Prize nomination. His second album Not Waving, But Drowning followed in 2019, with his third, hugo, released in 2022 and his fourth album, Hopefully!, following in 2025.

Coyle-Larner’s spoonerism stage name Loyle Carner is a reference to the artist’s dyslexia.

Ollie (LINDSAY DUNCAN) in Mint. (House/Fearless Minds/BBC)

Release Date

All eight episodes of Mint will be available on BBC iPlayer from 6am, Monday 20 April 2026.

The series will premiere with a double bill on BBC One at 9pm, Monday 20 April 2026.