TV Pick of the Week: The Gold - Review by Yvette Huddleston

expecting to find cash in the vaults amounting to around £3million and instead found 3,000kg of 24 carat pure gold bullion bars worth £26 million. This accomplished six-part dramatization by Neil Forsyth tells the story of what happened next.

Actually making money out of this unexpected haul is a bit of a headache for the gang of south London crooks but with the help of an intricate network of greedy, shady types throughout the criminal underworld and beyond, they give it their best shot. First off, they recruit cocky career criminal Kenneth Noye (Jack Lowden) who lives in a big, fancy house, styles himself as a legitimate businessman and is used to handling stolen goods, though not on this scale. Noye then approaches dodgy jeweller John Palmer (Tom Cullen) who has a smelting shed at his well-appointed home near Bath and who takes on the task of melting down the gold, tossing in a few trinkets to ensure it is less pure, therefore less traceable and easier to sell. Money laundering is the next stage, for which they hire the services of corrupt lawyer-come-property developer Edwyn Cooper (Dominic Cooper) who comes from humble beginnings but now operates within the heart of the establishment.

Meanwhile the police investigation, headed by straight-as-a-die DCI Brian Boyce (Hugh Bonneville), is on the case. Keen detectives Tony Brightwell (Emun Elliott) and Nicki Jennings (Charlotte Spencer), who grew up on the same Rotherhithe estate as some of those involved in the heist, are recruited from the Flying Squad and the pair’s dogged determination eventually pays dividends.

Forsyth’s script has some pertinent things to say about the English class system and the way in which the establishment protects its own. It doesn’t shy away from the issue of police corruption either – Boyce is well aware that senior officers involved in the freemasons are making deals behind the scenes that threaten to compromise his investigation. Pacily directed and with excellent performances all round from a classy ensemble cast, this is first-rate entertainment.