Fans of Happy Valley have probably been wondering what to do to fill the void when Sunday nights come around. But fear not, as the BBC has a brand new drama up its sleeve to replace the gritty police show starring Sarah Lancashire and James Norton.
The Gold will replace Sally Wainwright's drama in the schedule, airing Sunday nights on BBC One at 9pm, starting on February 12. It is the broadcaster's new gripping real-life drama with actor Hugh Bonneville leading the cast.
It follows the story of six armed men who steal £26m worth of gold from the Brink’s-Mat security depot and set about trying to dispose of the bullion. Meanwhile, South London wheeler-dealer Gordon Parry and the respected establishment solicitor Edwyn Cooper set about laundering the proceeds from the stolen gold.
The new six-part series is inspired by extensive research and interviews with some of those involved in the real-life event, as it goes back in time to the 1980s.
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.
According to the BBC: "The Gold is a pulsating dramatisation 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."
Hugh will play DCI Brian Boyce in The Gold, the man who sets up a police Task Force to investigate after arriving from counter-terrorism to take charge of the investigation. The actor is, of course, no stranger to the big and small screen with many most likely to recognise him from roles in Downton Abbey, and the Paddington films.
Small Axe: Mangrove actor Jack Lowden, whose first major international onscreen success was in the 2016 BBC miniseries War & Peace, also stars as Kenneth Noye while Dominic Cooper, who is known for his portrayal of comic book characters Jesse Custer on the AMC show Preacher and young Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will play Edwyn Cooper.
Charlotte Spencer, who is known for roles in The Living and the Dead and The Duke, will portray Nicki Jennings, while Downton Abbey and Knightfall actor Tom Cullen will take on the role of John Palmer and Guilt and The Rig actor Emun Elliott, will star as Tony Brightwell.
The cast also includes Southcliffe actor Sean Harris, Ali and Ava actress Ellora Torchia and Prime Suspect and The Last Kingdom star Stefanie Martini.
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