The Gold | |
---|---|
Genre | Crime drama |
Created by | Neil Forsyth |
Written by | Neil Forsyth |
Directed by |
|
Starring | |
Composer | Simon Goff |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 6 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Producer | Charlie Leech |
Running time | 58 minutes |
Production companies | |
Original release | |
Network |
|
Release | 12 February 2023 – present |
The Gold is a British drama television series written by Neil Forsyth and co-produced by his Tannadice Pictures production label. It stars Hugh Bonneville, Dominic Cooper, Charlotte Spencer, Sean Harris, Jack Lowden and Tom Cullen and is a dramatisation of events around the Brink's-Mat robbery in 1983. It is directed by Aneil Karia and Lawrence Gough. The first episode was previewed at the BFI Southbank on 17 January, [1] and aired on BBC One from 12 February 2023, with all episodes simultaneously available on BBC iPlayer. It began streaming on Paramount+ in September 2023. [2] The BBC commissioned a second series in November 2023. [3]
The series covers the 1983 Brink's-Mat robbery in which £26 million (equivalent to £93.3 million in 2021 [4] ) worth of gold bullion, diamonds, and cash was stolen from a warehouse near Heathrow Airport, and the widespread events that followed over the following decade. At the time it was the biggest robbery in history, and led to a number of international criminal investigations. [5]
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Viewers (millions) [lower-alpha 1] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "To Be King" | Aneil Karia | Neil Forsyth | 12 February 2023 | 6.23 | |
A gang led by Micky McAvoy successfully steal gold from the Brinks-Mat warehouse at Heathrow. The gang approach gold dealer Kenneth Noye, who subsequently engages lawyer Edwyn Cooper, a fellow Freemason, to help them fence the gold. DCI Boyce takes the investigation out of the hands of the Flying Squad but reluctantly allows DI Nicki Jennings (Charlotte Spencer) and DI Tony Brightwell to join his team. [6] | ||||||
2 | "There's Something Going on in Kent" | Lawrence Gough | Neil Forsyth | 19 February 2023 | 4.97 | |
The police find intelligence via Customs officers that the gang have purchased a portable smelter. They also use Bristol-based gold dealer John Palmer to melt down the gold with cheap jewellery to disguise its purity. Cooper and gang associate Gordon Perry fence the money. Cooper decides to invest it in property, buying a new flat in Chelsea and a wing of his daughter's school. | ||||||
3 | "The Consequences Are Mine" | Aneil Karia | Neil Forsyth | 26 February 2023 | 4.93 | |
Palmer flees to Tenerife with his family from where he cannot be extradited. The police arrest Noye at his home after he fatally stabs John Fordham, one of the officers involved in his surveillance. | ||||||
4 | "Vengeance Is Easy, Justice Is Hard" | Aneil Karia | Neil Forsyth | 5 March 2023 | 4.92 | |
After a trial including a jury visit to his home to reconstruct the crime scene, Noye is found not guilty of murder. | ||||||
5 | "The Boy You Were" | Lawrence Gough | Neil Forsyth | 12 March 2023 | 5.07 | |
Boyce travels to Switzerland where he bonds with a Swiss policeman over their wartime experiences in the Spanish Civil War and the Cyprus Emergency respectively. The official allows him to attend a court session which reveals the Swiss bank accounts used by the gang. Following a failed attempt by the Spanish police to arrest Palmer in Tenerife, the UK extradites him from Brazil. Cooper returns to Rotherhithe where he is also arrested although Parry escapes in a car. | ||||||
6 | "I'll Be Remembered" | Lawrence Gough | Neil Forsyth | 19 March 2023 | 5.24 | |
Cooper provides information to the police, resulting in the conviction of Noye and the other gang members in relation to the gold theft. McAvoy marries his fiancee in prison and Parry is arrested in Spain. It transpires that the gang only took half of the missing gold. |
The series was commissioned by the BBC in August 2021. [7]
The project was announced to have started principal photography in April 2022 with Bonneville, Lowden, Spencer, Cooper and Harris all revealed to be cast and Karia announced as director and Forsyth's Tannadice Pictures producing. [8] Filming took place in the UK and Spain and locations included Dorchester Prison in July 2022. [9]
The show was renewed for a second series in November 2023 with filming scheduled to start in January 2024. Returning cast members include Hugh Bonneville, Charlotte Spencer, Emun Elliott, Tom Cullen, Stefanie Martini and Sam Spruell. [10]
The BBC released the first trailer for the show in on 20 January 2023. [11] The first episode aired in the UK on BBC One on 12 February 2023 with all episodes immediately available on BBC iPlayer in UHD picture quality. [12]
Hugo Rifkind of The Times remarked of the series, "it's tremendous. I'm not sure there's been a drama like it in years". [13]
In the Sunday Times, Camilla Long said The Gold was “astonishingly, lavishly, well realised”, [14] while Esquire said that The Gold was “British TV at its best” and had “all the hallmarks of a crime classic”. [15]
Radio Times said it was "an intricately crafted crime drama". [16] Euan Franklin of Culture Whisper said The Gold "proves that shows dealing in largely British matters are just as ambitious as prestige American television". [17]
The New Statesman called it "outstandingly enjoyable TV", [18] with the Evening Standard calling it "a truly smart British crime drama with a classic feel and a knockout cast". [19]
Ellen E. Jones of The Guardian dubbed it an "ever-enjoyable ride". [20] Nick Hilton of The Independent gave it four stars and remarked the show was "a lively, creative piece of work from writer-creator Neil Forsyth, which bubbles away with the vigour of a red-hot crucible". [21]
There was some criticism of the perceived sympathetic portrayal of Kenneth Noye from the family of the man he murdered and one of the police officers involved in his conviction. [22] [23]
The series was nominated for Best Drama Series at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards. [24] In March 2024, the series was nominated in the Best Drama category at the 2024 British Academy Television Awards. [25]
Screenwriter Neil Forsyth co-wrote a book with Thomas Turner entitled The Gold: The real story behind Brink's-Mat: Britain's biggest heist and published by Penguin Random House, which had involved extensive interviews with some of the major characters involved. [26] Forsyth commented on the morality of the story, saying they were not seeking "a black-and-white reading of it. No-one in the show is an out-and-out criminal living in a world dictated by criminality. They've got families and lives". Forsyth gives historical context and says, "Social mobility is an interesting aspect, because it was obviously a theme of the time in the 1980s. I think we examine that...Criminality is a tool which they're trying to use to achieve something". [27]
The Flying Squad is a branch of the Serious and Organised Crime Command within London's Metropolitan Police Service. It is also known as the Robbery Squad, Specialist Crime Directorate 7, SC&O7 and SO7. It is nicknamed The Sweeney, an abbreviation of the Cockney rhyming slang "Sweeney Todd".
The Brink's-Mat robbery was one of the largest robberies in British history, with £26 million worth of gold bullion, diamonds, and cash stolen. It occurred at the Heathrow International Trading Estate, London, on 26 November 1983, from a warehouse operated by Brink's-Mat, a former joint venture between US security company Brink's and London-based company MAT Transport. The bullion was the property of Johnson Matthey Bankers Ltd. Micky McAvoy and Brian Robinson were convicted of armed robbery. Most of the gold has never been recovered. Lloyd's of London paid out for the losses, and several shooting deaths have been linked to the case.
Kenneth James Noye is an English criminal most recently on licence from a sentence of life imprisonment for the murder of Stephen Cameron during a road rage incident while on licence from prison in 1996. He was arrested in Spain two years after the crime and convicted four years later.
Hugh Richard Bonniwell Williams, known professionally as Hugh Bonneville, is an English actor. He is best known for portraying Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in the ITV historical drama series Downton Abbey from 2010 to 2015. His performance on the show earned him a nomination at the Golden Globes and two consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations, as well as three Screen Actors Guild Awards. He reprised his role in the feature films, Downton Abbey (2019), and Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022). He also appeared in the films Notting Hill (1999), Iris (2001), The Monuments Men (2014), and the Paddington films (2014–present).
The Brink's Company is an American cash handling company, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Its operations include cash-in-transit, ATM replenishment & maintenance, and cash management & payment services, such as vault outsourcing, money processing, intelligent safe services, and international transportation of valuables.
Douglas “Dougie” James Henshall is a Scottish television, film and stage actor. He is best known for his roles as Professor Nick Cutter in the science fiction series Primeval (2007–2011) and Detective Inspector Jimmy Pérez in the crime drama Shetland (2013–2022).
Heist is an American crime drama television series created by Mark and Robb Cullen that premiered on NBC on March 22, 2006, but was almost immediately canceled on April 19, 2006, due to low ratings. The series revolves around professional thief Mickey O' Neil, who creates a team of experts to try to pull off the biggest heist in history — to simultaneously rob three jewelry stores on Rodeo Drive during Academy Awards week. Meanwhile, Amy Sykes, lead detective for LAPD's Robbery Division, leads the task force investigating a series of thefts committed by this new crew. Under high pressure from her superiors, she has to figure out not only who was behind the crimes, but also what larger job they are leading up to.
The Clerkenwell Crime Syndicate, also known as the Adams Family or the A-team, is an English criminal organisation, allegedly one of the most powerful in the United Kingdom. Media reports have credited them with wealth of up to £200 million.
A tiger kidnapping or tiger robbery involves two separate crimes. The first crime usually involves an abduction of a person or something someone highly values. Instead of demanding money, the captors demand that a second crime be committed on their behalf. The second crime could be anything from robbery, murder, to planting a bomb. A person or item held hostage is kept by the captors until their demands are met. The goal of the captors is to have their risky/dirty work performed by another person. The victims of a crime like this are less likely to report to authorities since they just committed a crime themselves.
John Edward Palmer was an English criminal, former market trader and gold dealer, involved in various criminal activities including mortgage and timeshare fraud.
Jeff Pope is a British television producer and screenwriter who co-wrote the film Pierrepoint and the television drama The Fattest Man in Britain and who won a BAFTA in 2006 for the drama See No Evil: The Moors Murders. He is also the Head of ITV Productions Factual Drama. Pope wrote the screenplay for the 2018 film Stan & Ollie, and co-wrote the 2022 film The Lost King.
Neil Forsyth is a Scottish author, television writer and journalist. He has written and created a number of British television shows including The Gold, Guilt, and Bob Servant Independent, and has won numerous television awards.
In April 2015, an underground safe deposit facility in Hatton Garden, London, owned by Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd., was burgled.
The City bonds robbery of 1990 was a heist in which £291.9 million was stolen in London, England. The carefully planned operation made it seem at first as if a courier had been mugged on 2 May, yet the City of London Police soon realised that it was a sophisticated global venture which ended up involving participants such as the New York mafia, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), and Colombian drug barons. The robbery was one of the largest in world history.
The Curse is a British comedy crime drama series which is broadcast on Channel 4. Series 1 was broadcast in early 2022. Series 2 began broadcasting on 27 April 2023.
Hatton Garden: the Heist is a British action film of 2016, based on the true story of the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary in Hatton Garden, London, in April 2015, carried out by a group of elderly career criminals.
James Nelson-Joyce is an English actor, known for playing the tough guy or villainous characters, who has had roles in Mount Pleasant (2016), Little Boy Blue (2017), The Trap (2019), The Nest (2020, Time, The Outlaws, Industry, The Gold, A Town Called Malice, and Guy Ritchie's The Covenant.
Brian Henry Reader was a British gangster and villain, who has been described as "one of the busiest crooks in the British underworld", and a "ringleader" of the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary in 2015.