Overall not a bad drama except for some very clear facts. Kenny Noye was not a slick 'business' type. He was a rough villain, successful yes, but not the slick geezer they portray he was an hard man. John Palmer, who I met once had a high pitched, soft Birmingham accent, not the West Country twang portrayed here (just view the UA-cam videos). Marnie was a Bristol girl an did have a Bristol accent. A couple of parts of the story could have been highlighted that are missed, the van that the bullion was stolen in could hardly move because of the weight of gold. Noye did fly to Jersey to buy a gold bullion bar to get a receipt to cover his tracks but he was already under surveillance. John Palmer two Rotwieller dogs that guarded the 'Battlefields' Coachhouse were named 'Brinks and Mat' they were not friendly. The money from the Brinks Mat robbery coincided with the new prediction of Ecstasy coming from Amsterdam, new music from Manchester and Ectstasy created a huge influx in drugs into the UK. The Leah Betts death and the Essex Boys murders are all connected to the Brinks Matt money in a linear way.
I remember from the time what a sensational crime the Brink's-Mat robbery of 1983 was. This is an intelligent deconstruction of the aftermath of the crime from the viewpoints of the robbers themselves and the cops that hunted them down. Its very well scripted by the writer of the excellent 'Guilt' and as well as detailing the events looks at the themes behind the story in the heyday of Thatcherism. We see how the gold was made to disappear and how tthe money was cleaned. Production values were good, there was an authentic period feel and a strong convincing cast all round. My only criticism would be that it goes a bit 'Italian Job' in its treatment of some of the criminals as working class folk heroes taking on the establishment. They were criminals simple as. I did enjoy it though and look forward to savouring the coming episodes. Recommended.
As a television drama series, The Gold was very well done, well-acted, and a reasonable story line, but this is a fictional story, very loosely based on fact. These are not nice, warm-hearted criminals, who would never hurt anyone outside their community, they are hardened, vicious and violent career criminals, who will stop at nothing in their way, it is very important to remember that. The series makes compulsive viewing, but it is wrong to convey them as nice people, they are simply horrible people, who should not have publicity, it is a pity that the series did not portray them as such, and a pity it is not so factual. However, despite all this, it is worth watching.
Gave the first episode a try but after twenty minutes of multiple laboured, tiresome and leaden scenes I realised that the prospect of sitting through another five hours and forty minutes was not enticing. It has a good cast led by the always dependable Hugh Bonneville but the actors have to deliver lines which are both cliched and laughable. It reminded me of a below par EastEnders 'flashback' episode, where we get to see how the Mitchell family turned to crime in the early 1980s. The actors playing the criminals came off worst, all speaking very slowly and menacingly and incomprehensibly. I did stay watching until the closing credits but won't be returning for the rest of the series - it was simply too dull to be of interest. A more down to earth script and empathetic characters would have helped.
I don't know how, when taking artistic liberty, they have made it less interesting than the actual events. It's unauthentic. The language, the clothing, the character representation are all off. This was a fascinating and revolutionary period in England which they've failed to reflect... Thatcherism was at its peak following The Falklands War; so was resistance due to the country being in economic turmoil. The working class was on its knees as the Tories took on the Unions. National privatisation was underway. The Cold War with its nuclear kiss, still gripped (If you heard an Eastern European accent you'd call the police). "The English disease" ruled the terraces. The MET ruled with instant retribution & zero accountability; if you think it's curupt now... yikes! They didn't have to mess with the story as the reality, the time, was far more exciting, cruel & funny then this sanitised portrayal. A sanitised portrayal for a pseudo audience.
Very sadly I have to rate this not highly, mainly due to so much dialogue being incomprehensible due to mumbling! Whilst I was very interested in the subject and the dramatisation of the robbery and subsequent investigation and disposal of the gold this so far has not delivered. It was confusing and there seemed to be so much jumping about introducing characters that we hadn't a clue who or what they were or where they fitted in. It is very unlikely that I will bother to return to watch episode 2, after watching what felt like about 2 hours of episode 1. Sad as the subject was great but the delivery was poor and I'm so annoyed that much of the dialogue was not audible or understandable. And I'm not talking about the south London accents, I'm fine with those! I should mention that it was not our sound system as we have 7.2.2 Dolby Atmos etc..
If I hadn't known the real event this would not have conveyed it. Disjointed, low budget, hardly any cops, seems made on a she string budget. Where did they find such poor actors playing the criminals and could not understand anything they said. There was no build up for the planning or execution of the robbery with just a few minutes with close ups of guards pressing codes to vaults but we did not see inside or how the crooks transported all the heavy weight of the gold bullion and how they transported it in such a small vehicle. Who were these villains? We hardly knew anything about them, or indeed the three main cops. That's the best The Flying Squad to put together for their top team......Bring back The Sweeney. Waste of an evening viewing.
Yes, The Sweeney was raw and honest. I think the acting was very hollow and the fashions did not reflect the times at all. Very bad planning. Savage was good though. Watch Fools Gold with Sean Bean.
Overall not a bad drama except for some very clear facts. Kenny Noye was not a slick 'business' type. He was a rough villain, successful yes, but not the slick geezer they portray he was an hard man. John Palmer, who I met once had a high pitched, soft Birmingham accent, not the West Country twang portrayed here (just view the UA-cam videos). Marnie was a Bristol girl an did have a Bristol accent. A couple of parts of the story could have been highlighted that are missed, the van that the bullion was stolen in could hardly move because of the weight of gold. Noye did fly to Jersey to buy a gold bullion bar to get a receipt to cover his tracks but he was already under surveillance. John Palmer two Rotwieller dogs that guarded the 'Battlefields' Coachhouse were named 'Brinks and Mat' they were not friendly. The money from the Brinks Mat robbery coincided with the new prediction of Ecstasy coming from Amsterdam, new music from Manchester and Ectstasy created a huge influx in drugs into the UK. The Leah Betts death and the Essex Boys murders are all connected to the Brinks Matt money in a linear way.
I remember from the time what a sensational crime the Brink's-Mat robbery of 1983 was. This is an intelligent deconstruction of the aftermath of the crime from the viewpoints of the robbers themselves and the cops that hunted them down.
Its very well scripted by the writer of the excellent 'Guilt' and as well as detailing the events looks at the themes behind the story in the heyday of Thatcherism. We see how the gold was made to disappear and how tthe money was cleaned.
Production values were good, there was an authentic period feel and a strong convincing cast all round. My only criticism would be that it goes a bit 'Italian Job' in its treatment of some of the criminals as working class folk heroes taking on the establishment. They were criminals simple as.
I did enjoy it though and look forward to savouring the coming episodes. Recommended.
As a television drama series, The Gold was very well done, well-acted, and a reasonable story line, but this is a fictional story, very loosely based on fact.
These are not nice, warm-hearted criminals, who would never hurt anyone outside their community, they are hardened, vicious and violent career criminals, who will stop at nothing in their way, it is very important to remember that.
The series makes compulsive viewing, but it is wrong to convey them as nice people, they are simply horrible people, who should not have publicity, it is a pity that the series did not portray them as such, and a pity it is not so factual.
However, despite all this, it is worth watching.
Gave the first episode a try but after twenty minutes of multiple laboured, tiresome and leaden scenes I realised that the prospect of sitting through another five hours and forty minutes was not enticing.
It has a good cast led by the always dependable Hugh Bonneville but the actors have to deliver lines which are both cliched and laughable. It reminded me of a below par EastEnders 'flashback' episode, where we get to see how the Mitchell family turned to crime in the early 1980s. The actors playing the criminals came off worst, all speaking very slowly and menacingly and incomprehensibly.
I did stay watching until the closing credits but won't be returning for the rest of the series - it was simply too dull to be of interest. A more down to earth script and empathetic characters would have helped.
I don't know how, when taking artistic liberty, they have made it less interesting than the actual events.
It's unauthentic. The language, the clothing, the character representation are all off.
This was a fascinating and revolutionary period in England which they've failed to reflect...
Thatcherism was at its peak following The Falklands War; so was resistance due to the country being in economic turmoil.
The working class was on its knees as the Tories took on the Unions.
National privatisation was underway.
The Cold War with its nuclear kiss, still gripped (If you heard an Eastern European accent you'd call the police).
"The English disease" ruled the terraces.
The MET ruled with instant retribution & zero accountability; if you think it's curupt now... yikes!
They didn't have to mess with the story as the reality, the time, was far more exciting, cruel & funny then this sanitised portrayal.
A sanitised portrayal for a pseudo audience.
Very sadly I have to rate this not highly, mainly due to so much dialogue being incomprehensible due to mumbling!
Whilst I was very interested in the subject and the dramatisation of the robbery and subsequent investigation and disposal of the gold this so far has not delivered. It was confusing and there seemed to be so much jumping about introducing characters that we hadn't a clue who or what they were or where they fitted in.
It is very unlikely that I will bother to return to watch episode 2, after watching what felt like about 2 hours of episode 1.
Sad as the subject was great but the delivery was poor and I'm so annoyed that much of the dialogue was not audible or understandable. And I'm not talking about the south London accents, I'm fine with those!
I should mention that it was not our sound system as we have 7.2.2 Dolby Atmos etc..
PIGS GET MURDERD LOL A C A B
Taken Too Far From Source; Unnecessary So.
Fragmented, messy and incoherent
A C A B
A Criminals A B
Not bad on detail but.....
The Gold glorified Noye.
Should be ashamed of themselves tbh.
Every character? GTFOH bot bot 🤖
If I hadn't known the real event this would not have conveyed it. Disjointed, low budget, hardly any cops, seems made on a she string budget. Where did they find such poor actors playing the criminals and could not understand anything they said. There was no build up for the planning or execution of the robbery with just a few minutes with close ups of guards pressing codes to vaults but we did not see inside or how the crooks transported all the heavy weight of the gold bullion and how they transported it in such a small vehicle. Who were these villains? We hardly knew anything about them, or indeed the three main cops. That's the best The Flying Squad to put together for their top team......Bring back The Sweeney. Waste of an evening viewing.
Yes, The Sweeney was raw and honest.
I think the acting was very hollow and the fashions did not reflect the times at all.
Very bad planning.
Savage was good though.
Watch Fools Gold with Sean Bean.