The Gold TV series: Cast and is it based on a true story? As the release date is announced

New first-look images of the cast and TX date announced as fans wonder if it's based on a true story...

The Gold promo image of the cast with some gold bars to illustrate
(Image credit: BBC)

An all-star cast are lined up to bring one of the most infamous robberies in British history to life, as crime fans ask who is in The Gold TV series cast and is it based on a true story?

Written by Neil Forsyth (Guilt, Eric, Ernie & Me) and directed by Academy Award-winning Aneil Karia (The Long Goodbye) along with Lawrence Gough (The Last Bus, Snatch, Misfits), The Gold is a six-part series coming to BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday 12th February at 9pm.

If you're a fan of real-life dramas such as Jeffrey Dahmer, or Bank of Dave and you're wondering who's going to be starring in this new drama and whether there's a real-life story to read up on before it airs, we have all you need to know...

The Gold TV series cast

The Gold has a star-studded cast line up, many of whom you will recognise from other shows, featuring the likes of Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Paddington 1 and 2) 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). 

Further cast announcements were made this week with Daniel Ings (I Hate Suzi, Lovesick) joining the cast alongside James Nelson-Joyce (Time, The Outlaws), Sophia La Porta (Four Weddings And A Funeral, Ripper Street), Dorothy Atkinson (Call The Midwife, Stonehouse), Adam Nagaitis (Red Rose, Chernobyl), Hadley Fraser (Gentleman Jack, Endeavour), Silas Carson (Dr Who, Strike), Sean Gilder (Sherwood, His Dark Materials), Nichola Burley (Behind Her Eyes, Lynn + Lucy), Amanda Drew (A Very British Scandal, Wednesday), Sam Spruell (Small Axe: Mangrove, the North Water), Frankie Wilson (Call The Midwife, House of the Dragon), Paul Thornley (Treadstone, Silent Witness), Dan Li (Vigil, The Girl Before), Chris Coghill (Slow Horses, The Bay), Micah Balfour (The Trial of Christine Keeler, Whitehouse Farm), Ruth Bradley (Ted Lasso, Guilt), and Peter Davison (All Creatures Great and Small, Doctor Who).

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.”

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Is The Gold based on a true story?

Yes, The Gold is based on a true story of the Brink's-Mat robbery of 1983 and the decades long chain of events that followed. It's a dramatisation inspired by extensive research and interviews with some of those involved in the events that took place on 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.

The pulsating dramatisation takes viewers on 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. 

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 global 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.   

You can watch a documentary based on the Brink's-Mat robbery below...

The Gold will air on BBC One and iPlayer at 9pm on Sunday 12th February, with all episodes available as a boxset on iPlayer from launch.

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Selina Maycock
Senior Family Writer

Selina is a Senior Family Writer for GoodtoKnow and has more than 16 years years of experience. She specialises in royal family news, including the latest activities of Prince George, Charlotte, Louis, Archie and Lilibet. She also covers the latest government, health and charity advice for families. Selina graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2006 with a degree in Journalism, and gained her NCTJ and NCE qualifications. During her career, she’s also written for Woman, Woman's Own, Woman&Home, and Woman's Weekly as well as Heat magazine, Bang Showbiz - and the Scunthorpe Telegraph. When she's not covering family news, you can find her exploring new countryside walking routes, catching up with friends over good food, or making memories (including award-winning scarecrows!)