TV fans are loving the second season of the BBC’s hit crime drama, The Gold, with some fans hooked after just one episode and others binge-watching the entire season in one sitting.
Penned by Neil Forsyth (Guilt, Eric, Ernie & Me), the factual drama is inspired by the infamous Brink’s-Mat robbery of 1983. The new episodes, which come two years after season one, pick up in the 1990s and imagine what happened to half of the missing gold.
It’s safe to say the second series has been well-received by viewers, who have hailed the show as “excellent” on social media.
One person penned: “Looking forward to episode two of #TheGold. Got us hooked at the end there and great characters,” while another added: “Fantastic stuff. Series 2 done in one watch.”
A third viewer wrote: “Brilliant TV – especially #series2 – excellent acting, writing & filming. More! More! More!” while another hailed the show as “excellent”.
What happened in The Gold season one?
Season one dramatised one of the largest robberies in British criminal history, when six armed men broke into a warehouse near Heathrow and stole £26 million worth of gold bullion, sparking a huge manhunt.
Over the course of six episodes, the series tracks the aftermath and focuses on key characters, including Kenneth Noye (Jack Lowden) and Edwyn Cooper (Dominic Cooper), who set up a chain to smelt the gold, sell it back into the market and launder the profits. The episodes also follow a police investigation into the robbery, led by DCS Brian Boyce (Hugh Bonneville).
While the series ends with a number of convictions, the detectives realise that £13 million worth of gold was still unaccounted for.
When Boyce visits Noye in prison to find out where the other half of the gold is, Noye tells the detective that he’ll be “remembered” for what he did, making “one and a half tons of gold” vanish into thin air and the police “run around like clowns”.
All to know about The Gold’s plot
Inspired by the true story and theories of the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery, the series follows the decades-long chain of events that followed.
The new episodes delve into the theories surrounding what happened to half of the stolen gold, which was never found by the police.
The official synopsis for series two reads: “Following multiple court cases and convictions of some of those involved in the theft and handling of the Brink’s-Mat gold, the police realised that they had only ever been on the trail of half of the Brink’s-Mat gold.”
It continues: “Series two is inspired by some of the theories around what happened to the other half. As the police investigation continues, it becomes a tense, high-stakes journey into international money laundering and organised crime. The Brink’s-Mat Task Force embark on a series of dramatic manhunts as they desperately try to solve the longest and most expensive investigation in the history of the Metropolitan Police.”
Who stars in The Gold?
The series boasts a star-studded cast, including Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville, Sanditon actress Charlotte Spencer, Guilt‘s Emun Elliott, Knightfall actor Tom Cullen, The Last Kingdom‘s Stefanie Martini and Fargo star Sam Spruell as Charlie Miller.
Jack Lowden (Slow Horses) also reprises his role as Kenneth Noye from episode three onwards.
Other returning cast members include Peter Davison, Amanda Drew and Silas Carson.
Some new faces have joined the cast for season two, including Victoria actor Tom Hughes, Downton Abbey‘s Stephen Campbell Moore, Cheaters star Joshua McGuire, Saltburn‘s Joshua Samuels and Slow Horses actress Tamsin Topolski are among those who have joined the show.
Other new cast members include Rochelle Neil (Three Little Birds, The Nevers), Antonia Desplat (Shantaram, Modi), Lorna Brown (The Witcher, Vampire Academy), Thomas Coombes (Baby Reindeer, Boiling Point), Sean Teale (Doctor Odyssey, Rosaline) and Olivia Grant (Stardust, All the Money in the World).
The Gold is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.