Hugh Bonneville is part of an all-star cast set to appear in the new drama series The Gold, which centers around the largest gold heist in British history — the Brink’s-Mat robbery.
Starring alongside Hugh, who's soon to be seen in Downton: A New Era, is Jack Lowden, Dominic Cooper, Charlotte Spencer, Tom Cullen, Emun Elliott, Sean Harris, Ellora Torchia and Stefanie Martini.
The series tells the story of the infamous Brink’s-Mat robbery that occurred on the November 26, 1983, when six armed men broke into the Brink’s-Mat security depot near London’s Heathrow Airport and came across gold bullion worth £26 million.
According to detectives at the time, what started as "a typical Old Kent Road armed robbery" soon became a ground-breaking moment in British criminal history and has become notable not only for the sheer scale of the theft, which was the biggest in world history at the time, but for its wider legacy.
The aftermath of the robbery and the disposal of the bullion left a trail of chaos in its wake, including large-scale international money laundering, providing the dirty money that helped fuel the London Docklands property boom, uniting blue and white-collar criminals and a string of controversy.
The BBC has gone on to talk more about the upcoming project, saying: “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.”
Oscar-winning director Aneil Karia, along with Lawrence Gough are bringing the gritty drama to life, a fact which BBC Commissioning Editor Tommy Bulfin is thoroughly excited by.
He revealed, “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.”
A release date has not yet been announced for this series. It promises to be one of the best BBC dramas coming soon.
