The new BBC programme The Gold tells the real tale of the 1983 Brink’s-Mat theft and what happened when six armed men discovered £26 million in gold.
It’s been 40 years since the robbery made headlines throughout the world, not only because of the staggering sum that those involved stole, but also because it was the largest theft in worldwide history at the time.
Detectives at the time described it as a “typical Old Kent Road armed robbery” that turned out to be a watershed moment in British criminal history.
The bullion’s disposal marked the commencement of large-scale international money laundering, generated filthy money that fueled London’s Docklands housing bubble, and also launched a so-called ‘curse,’ which killed many individuals in the decades that followed.
The six-part series begins tonight and introduces the key characters, with all episodes also accessible on iPlayer.
But who exactly are the characters, and who has been cast to play them?
Hugh Bonneville stars as Brian Boyce
Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Paddington) as Chief Superintendent Brian Boyce, the real-life Met investigator in command of the heist investigation.
The actor has defined his role as a ‘man of principle’.
‘Without him (Brian) at the helm, the investigation might have gone in a different direction. He was determined to solve this crime through dogged police work,’ he told The Express.
Hugh also spent a “fascinating couple of hours” with Brian before recording the series, learning about the case’s finer points.
Jack Lowden as Kenneth Noye
Kenneth Noye’s name may already ring a bell, as the criminal is also notorious for murdering a man on the M25 in 1996 following a road rage incident.
Years before, Noye had been one of those engaged in the bullion laundering, and when being probed, he fatally killed Detective Constable John Fordham, who was watching him.
Despite being prosecuted, Noye was acquitted on the basis of self-defense, but convicted of handling part of the stolen gold.
He was sentenced to 14 years in jail and fined £500,000. After eight hours, he was freed.
He was freed from jail in 2019 at the age of 72, after serving 20 years for the M25 murder.
In the series, he is played by Jack Lowden (Slow Horses), who has stated that he was ‘careful’ to approach the part with care and to ‘separate myself from the genuine person’.
‘I was very, very strict on myself that I was basing everything on the script.’
Dominic Cooper as Edwyn Cooper
Sean Harris plays Gordon Parry, the key guy behind the money laundering in the series.
While Parry would eventually serve a decade in prison, Dominic Cooper (Preacher, Mamma Mia) plays Edwyn Cooper, a mash-up of real-life barristers and property developers who assisted the gang by opening hundreds of offshore accounts.
Tom Cullen as John Palmer
Just over 30 years after the Brink’s-Mat heist, John Palmer would be slain, becoming yet another person linked to the crime.
He was shot outside his home in Essex in 2015, and the case remains unsolved.
Once known as Britain’s richest criminal, it was alleged that his £300 million fortune was mostly due to unlawful transactions.
He helped to melt down the gold while running a gold and jewellery selling enterprise in Bristol, but he avoided jail time by convincing a jury that he wasn’t aware it had been stolen.
However, in 2001, he was convicted of masterminding the “biggest timeshare scam on record” and sentenced to eight years in prison.
The Gold was written by Neil Forsyth (Guilt) and directed by Aneil Karia (The Long Goodbye) alongside Lawrence Gough (Misfits).
It also stars Charlotte Spencer as The Duke, Emun Elliott as Guilt, Sean Harris as Southcliffe, Ellora Torchia as Midsommar, and Stefanie Martini as Stefanie Martini (Prime Suspect).
The Gold premieres tonight at 9pm on BBC One.
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