Most critics like Legends, and for the same reasons. Seven of eight reviews are positive, and the praise clusters around the performances: Steve Coogan, as the eccentric veteran trainer Don, and Tom Burke are named repeatedly, with Coogan described as squarely in his element. The reviews also agree that the series is brisk and tightly wound, that the undercover operations grip on their own terms, and that the Thatcher-era setting is well evoked. Several are struck simply that the real events happened at all.
The reservations concern tone and density. The Guardian finds a brilliant true story well told that never catches fire because it works so hard to stay serious. NME, the one mixed review, calls the plotting convoluted and misses the lighter touch of the creator’s earlier work, though it finds enough intrigue to persevere. Collider, otherwise warm, also flags the density. The spread is narrow: one five-star notice at Radio Times, one three-star, and the rest close together.