The Gold, a BBC crime thriller, portrays the shocking real story of how £26 million was taken in the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery, but one of the show’s stars has disclosed a link to one of the protagonists.
The series, written by Neil Forsyth, follows the historic heist of gold bullion, gems, and cash from a warehouse near Heathrow Airport.
The drama tells the tales of numerous real-life characters, including Brian Boyce (Hugh Bonneville), Kenneth Noye (Jack Lowden), and John Palmer (Tom Cullen).
Charlotte Spencer plays Nikki Jennings, a police detective who works in the flying squad and is entrusted with assisting in the capture of criminals.
The actor, who has also acted in Sanditon, The Duke, and Les Misérables, has now revealed that she discovered a personal link when reading the screenplay.
‘My dad actually, when I was reading the script, said he knew one of the policemen involved in this,’ she said while appearing alongside Hugh on The One Show on Thursday.
‘He knew Murphy from years ago,’ she told hosts Ronan Keating and Alex Jones.
‘They don’t speak now, but it felt very personal, and I really wanted the part,’ she added.
Chris Coghill plays officer Neil Murphy in the series.
Hugh also mentioned meeting the real-life cop he played, Brian, who handled the investigation, during the interview.
‘He is now retired but I had the great privilege of meeting him and learning a little bit about how he ran his team and how the operation went, and it was not easy, it was really complicated as the show unfolds.’
He added it had been invaluable to speak to the retired police officer.
The Gold also stars Dominic Cooper, Sean Harris and Stefanie Martini.
The Gold is streaming on BBC iPlayer.