First cast confirmed for Tannadice Pictures' The Gold

HUGH BONNEVILLE, JACK LOWDEN, DOMINIC COOPER AND CHARLOTTE SPENCER CONFIRMED TO LEAD AN ALL STAR CAST IN MAJOR NEW BBC ONE DRAMA, THE GOLD

Inspired by the iconic true story of the Brink’s-Mat robbery and the decades-long chain of events that followed, The Gold dramatizes the ‘crime of the Century’ across six episodes for BBC One and iPlayer, and Paramount+ globally.

The BBC and Paramount+ have today announced an all-star cast for new drama, The Gold, which has recently started filming. Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Paddington 1 and 2) will star alongside Jack Lowden (Small Axe: Mangrove, Slow Horses), Dominic Cooper (The Preacher, The Devil’s Double), Charlotte Spencer (The Duke, Cinderella), Tom Cullen (Becoming Elizabeth, Black Mirror), Emun Elliott (Guilt, Old), Sean Harris (Southcliffe, Mission: Impossible), Ellora Torchia (Ali and Ava, Midsommar) and Stefanie Martini (Prime Suspect, The Last Kingdom) in the gripping new real-life drama for BBC One and iPlayer. The Gold is written by Neil Forsyth (Guilt, Eric, Ernie & Me) and directed by Oscar-winning Aneil Karia (The Long Goodbye) along with Lawrence Gough (The Last Bus, Snatch, Misfits).

On the 26th November 1983, six armed men broke into the Brink’s-Mat security depot near London’s Heathrow Airport, and inadvertently stumbled across gold bullion worth £26m. What started as 'a typical Old Kent Road armed robbery' according to detectives at the time, became a seminal event in British criminal history, remarkable not only for the scale of the theft, at the time the biggest in world history, but for its wider legacy.

The disposal of the bullion caused the birth of large-scale international money laundering, provided the dirty money that helped fuel the London Docklands property boom, united blue and white collar criminals and left controversy and murder in its wake. Inspired by extensive research and interviews with some of those involved in the events, The Gold is a pulsating dramatization which takes a journey into a 1980s world awash with cheap money and loosened morals to tell this extraordinary and epic story for the first time in its entirety.

Tommy Bulfin, BBC Commissioning Editor, said: “The fact that we have assembled such a talented and exciting ensemble cast is testament to Neil’s incisive interrogation of one of the most infamous robberies in British history and the remarkable events which came in its wake. And to have the brilliant Aneil Karia join fresh from his Oscar win is the icing on the cake. The BBC One audience are in for a real treat when this hits the screen.”

Ben Farrell, Executive Producer, said “Tannadice Pictures are excited to be working on their debut drama with such an incredible ensemble cast alongside the BBC and Paramount+ to tell, for the first time, the full, immersive, thrilling story of the Brink’s-Mat gold crime.”

Kate Laffey, Co-Managing Director of VIS, said, “The Gold is a captivating story of one of the most remarkable events in British Criminal history, and we look forward to bringing this story to life for Paramount+ and BBC audiences around the world.”

The Gold (6x60’) was commissioned by Piers Wenger, Director of BBC Drama and Charlotte Moore, Chief Content Officer, and written by Neil Forsyth (Guilt, Eric, Ernie & Me). It is co-production between Tannadice Pictures, an Objective Fiction partner, and VIS, Paramount’s international studio division. The series will premiere in the UK on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, and then be made available on Paramount+ in the US and all international markets where the service is available.

The Gold is the first commission from Tannadice Pictures, the joint venture set up by Neil Forsyth and Objective Fiction, part of Objective Media Group, an All3Media Company. Tommy Bulfin will executive produce for the BBC; Neil Forsyth and Ben Farrell for Tannadice Pictures; and Kate Laffey and Claire Sowerby-Sheppard for VIS. Charlie Leech (The Aliens, Lovesick) will produce.