BBC One’s The Gold is set to be renewed for a second season – after the debut series ended on a shocking plot twist.
Fans are set to be handed a huge surprise as the finale airs this Sunday, delivering a huge twist that paves the way for a sequel.
The crime series is based on the infamous £26 million Brink’s-Mat heist in 1983 and stars Jack Lowden and Hugh Bonneville.
Jack plays Kenneth Noye, the ambitious crook who arranged for most of the £26million in gold bars to be melted down and sold.
Now, according to The Sun, the next season is now set to explore in further detail the stories of other figures in the crime like Charlie Wilson, the Great Train Robber who attempted to launder money via Pablo Escobar’s drug ring.
Big return: BBC One’s The Gold is set to be renewed for a second season – after the debut series ended on a shocking plot twist
A TV insider told publication: ‘This will be music to the ears of fans, some of whom have already seen all the episodes on iPlayer.
‘Although every channel and streamer likes to revisit true crime stories, The Gold is one which seems to have captured people’s imagination.
‘Not only is it a nostalgia trip filled with Eighties cars, clothes and music, it provides a more in-depth look at the background of the criminals involved.
‘Now they’re going to explore even more characters involved in the original crime.’
Building on the success of the true-crime adaptation – which sees the ‘Paddington’ star, 59, play Detective Superintendent Brian Boyce and the ‘Slow Horses’ star, 32, take on the real-life crook Kenneth Noye – the BBC has also commissioned a one-off hour-long documentary exploring the investigation, ‘The Gold: The Inside Story’.
Speaking publicly for the first time in nearly 40 years about the case, Brian says in the programme: ‘Our task was far greater than just arresting the robbers, we hadn’t even recovered the dust of the gold. We had to work extremely hard, follow the trail and recover as much of the gold as possible.’
Simon Young, the BBC’s Head of History, added: ‘Few robberies are as iconic as Brink’s-Mat or have had such a profound effect on the country.
‘That’s why it’s so fascinating to hear Brian Boyce and his colleagues give such a frank and unvarnished account of the challenges the police faced in attempting to solve such a colossal crime.’
Unexpected: Fans are set to be handed a huge surprise as the finale airs this Sunday, delivering a huge twist that paves the way for a sequel
True story: The crime series is based on the infamous £26 million Brink’s-Mat heist in 1983 and stars Jack Lowden and Hugh Bonneville
The Brink’s-Mat robbery, which netted the gang a haul of pure gold, diamonds and cash worth £26 million (about £100 million today), has previously been called the crime of the century.
London’s Docklands was built partly on its ill-gotten gains, and the party drug ecstasy was first brought into the UK with Brink’s-Mat money.
It has been claimed that anyone wearing gold jewellery bought in the UK after 1983 is probably wearing Brink’s Mat, while in what’s become known as the ‘Curse of Brink’s-Mat’, around 20 people linked to the crime have been murdered.
It’s estimated that up to 50 per cent of the gold has still not been recovered.
Shortly after 6.40am on November 26, 1983, six armed men in balaclavas – including one wearing a Trilby – entered a warehouse at Heathrow airport.
The property belonged to security company Brink’s Mat and the robbers were there because they knew there was £3million in cash in the vault. They knew because their inside man, security guard Anthony Black, had told them. He even opened the door of the warehouse to let them in.
Led by Black’s brother-in-law, Brian Robinson, and Trilby-clad Michael ‘Micky’ McAvoy, the gang tied up the guards and poured petrol over them, threatening to light it if they didn’t comply.
Thanks to Black, they were able to identify the two most senior guards who, between them, held the keys and combination numbers for the vault where three safes were located.
Inside was more than three tonnes of gold bullion. Packed into more than 70 cardboard boxes were almost 7,000 gold bars. Someone had to fetch the van.
Intense: Jack (pictured) plays Kenneth Noye, the ambitious crook who arranged for most of the £26million in gold bars to be melted down and sold
Upcoming: The next season is now set to explore in further detail the stories of other figures in the crime like Charlie Wilson, the Great Train Robber who attempted to launder money via Pablo Escobar’s drug ring
Weighed down by a heap of gold, the van idled its way out of Heathrow after one of the robbers wished the security guards a merry Christmas.
It didn’t take the police long to connect Black to the raid and he soon implicated Robinson and McAvoy (who punched Black when he went to identify him in a police line-up).
The pair hadn’t exactly laid low after the robbery, spending cash on property in Kent. It was rumoured McAvoy had bought two rottweilers to protect his new home and named them Brinks and Mat.
The two were later sentenced to 25 years in prison. Black was sentenced to six years. Stealing the gold had been relatively easy. The bigger challenge was selling it.
The robbers turned to crime boss Kenneth Noye, who, along with another criminal, Brian Reader, handled the gold. It was regularly taken to a smelting company near Bristol where it was mixed with copper and brass to look like scrap gold.
About £13millon-worth was disposed of in this way. The movement of cash through a local bank soon aroused the suspicion of the Bank of England and surveillance operations of known villains began.
Noye appeared in court in 1986 after police found 11 gold bars worth £100,000 on his premises. He was found guilty of handling the Brink’s Mat gold and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Meanwhile the drama, which stars Hugh Bonneville, Jack Lowden, Dominic Cooper and Charlotte Spencer, tells the story of the aftermath of the audacious robbery, and reveals how the eyepopping haul became as big a problem for the gang as it was a jackpot.
The series shows career criminal Noye trying to stay one step ahead of the police.
DailyMail
