Turning the Brink's-Mat heist into dramatic gold

BBC News

13-06-2025

How do you tell a story involving dozens of people and an international conspiracy in just 12 episodes?That was the challenge writer Neil Forsyth faced when adapting the story of the Brink's-Mat heist - one of Britain's biggest robberies when £26 million worth of gold, diamonds and cash was stolen.On 26 November 1983, a group of men dressed in security uniforms broke into a warehouse just outside of London's Heathrow Airport, hoping to find large sums of foreign currency. Instead, they found 6,800 gold bars.Forsyth sees Brink's-Mat as "the peak of traditional British crime - a bunch of South London robbers pulling off the biggest heist in [British] history.""Equally, it was the end of an era. The original robbers lacked the means to manage the proceeds, so a new breed of criminals took over" - those who could turn stolen cash into "vast criminal enterprises."The story of the aftermath, along with a few theories, is told in the second series of The Gold, airing now on BBC One and iPlayer.Here the writer and actors in the series speak about what to expect, the importance of dramatic licence and the intriguing parts of the story that didn't make it to screen.
Creative licence
For Forsyth, a story of this scale required creative license - something that has been hotly debated in recent years with dramas like The Crown."People talk about creative licence in a pejorative way," he says, "and I think that's frankly bizarre. You're making a dramatisation – otherwise, why not make a documentary?"In dramatising the story, Forsyth streamlined timelines, combined real-life figures and adjusted events to fit the drama.One example of compositing characters is Nicki Jennings (played by Charlotte Spencer), a blend of three female detectives who worked on the real case. This is key for Forsyth, who says: "Otherwise, you end up with two weak characters instead of one strong one."Forsyth's research uncovered that female detectives in the 1980s were often assigned surveillance roles because criminals didn't see them as a threat. "If they see a female walking down the road, they're less interested," he says.Spencer found the era's sexism key to crafting Jennings, giving her a relentless determination to prove herself. "Women of that time had a 'water off a duck's back' mentality," she says.
'People would think it was a terrible accent'
Jennings's police partner, based on real officer Tony Brightwell, is played by Emun Elliott, who was encouraged to use his own Scottish accent rather than adopt Brightwell's English one."I'd rather actors concentrate on getting a great performance," says Forsyth, "and I think that 99% of the time that means trying to help the actor play it in their natural accent."Forsyth gave similar advice to Tom Cullen, who plays notorious conman John Palmer, transformed from a scrap metal dealer to one of Britain's most prolific criminals.One surreal, real-life moment appears in series two: Palmer lands on The Sunday Times Rich List, with an equal wealth to Queen Elizabeth II. His wealth, however, draws the attention of dangerous figures in global organised crime."He had a very strange accent," Cullen says. "He grew up in Solihull in the West Midlands but lived most of his life in the West Country. If I did John's real accent, people would think it was a terrible Birmingham accent!"
'He talks about himself as the Lone Ranger'
While series two continues following Palmer, Jennings and Brightwell, it also introduces detective Tony Lundy (Stephen Campbell Moore), Forsyth describes Lundy as a "brilliant thief-catcher" in his book on the case.While the idea of the loose cannon cop might be a cliché in crime dramas, Campbell Moore believes Lundy actively modelled himself after fictional detectives. "He talks about himself as the Lone Ranger," he says. "He's a self-referring guy that watches cop shows on TV."If Forsyth had more episodes, he says he would have loved to explore other fascinating aspects of the story, like the insurance company's relentless pursuit of stolen funds, Palmer's infamous death and the time the lead investigator on the case, Brian Boyce (Hugh Bonneville), spent in Cyprus. "There's another 10 countries you could have gone to," Forsyth says. "Some incredible parts of the story just couldn't fit into six hours of television."