Viewers slam 'boring' BBC drama The Gold

‘They’ve made him into a class warrior!’ Viewers slam ‘slow and boring’ BBC drama The Gold for portraying murderous thug Kenneth Noye as ‘Robin Hood’

• Drama about the 1983 Brink’s-Mat gold bullion robbery aired on BBC1 last night
• Read more: Tarnished tale turns thug Noye into BBC’s latest working class hero

Viewers of The Gold slammed the BBC1 programme last night as they criticised producers for changing the criminals involved in the Brink’s-Matt robbery into ‘class warriors.’

The first episode of the crime drama follows the aftermath of the biggest armed heist in British history – the Brink’s-Mat gold bullion robbery in November 1983. 

Jack Lowden plays Kenneth Noye, the ambitious crook who arranged for most of the £26million in gold bars to be melted down and sold.

However far from presenting the character as a dangerous, brutal criminal, many of those watching felt producers of the series had been too sympathetic towards Noye.

One person wrote: ‘I don’t know what was more irritating: the more wobbling camera work, the dialogue or attempts to show Kenneth Noye as some sort of class warrior.’

Viewers of The Gold slammed the BBC1 programme last night as they criticised producers for changing the criminals involved in the Brink’s-Matt robbery into ‘class warriors’

Another added: ‘Not sure making Kenneth Noye some kind of philosopher-thief Robin Hood, is really as wise a choice as the producers think it is.’

A third commented: ‘Had some good acting but the handheld camera technique made me feel sea sick. I thought that way of directing and filming was a bit dated.’

A fourth penned: ‘I know there’s creative license in the backstory of the #Brinksmat robbery in #TheGold  but trying to make out headcase Kenneth Noye is some sort of class warrior (who listens to New Order) really is weak.’

The Brink’s-Mat robbery, which netted the gang a haul of pure gold, diamonds and cash worth £26 million (about £100 million today), has been called the crime of the century and, 40 years on, we still feel its repercussions.

London’s Docklands was built partly on its ill-gotten gains, and the party drug ecstasy was first brought into the UK with Brink’s-Mat money. 

It has been claimed that anyone wearing gold jewellery bought in the UK after 1983 is probably wearing Brink’s Mat, while in what’s become known as the ‘Curse of Brink’s-Mat’, around 20 people linked to the crime have been murdered.

It’s estimated that up to 50 per cent of the gold has still not been recovered. 

Shortly after 6.40am on November 26, 1983, six armed men in balaclavas – including one wearing a Trilby – entered a warehouse at Heathrow airport.

Many of those watching declared the drama was ‘rubbish’, criticising the producers for the changing gangster Kenneth Noye into a ‘class warrior’ 

The property belonged to security company Brink’s Mat and the robbers were there because they knew there was £3million in cash in the vault. They knew because their inside man, security guard Anthony Black, had told them. He even opened the door of the warehouse to let them in.

Former gangster Kenneth Noye’s life of crime 

1947: Kenneth Noye is born in Bexleyheath, south east London

1977: Falls into crime and gets an 18-month suspended sentence for having a shotgun.

November 1983: The Brink’s Mat robbery took place where six gunman burst into the warehouse near Heathrow and escaped with £26.3million.

January 1985: Stabbed police officer John Fordham, who was investigating the robbery, to death in grounds of his home in West Kingsdown, Kent. He was under surveillance at the time.

December 1985: Jury clear Noye of murder after agreeing he acted in self-defence

July 1986: Jailed for 14 years for conspiring to handle Brinks Mat gold and evade VAT payments.

1994: He is released from prison.

May 1996: Stabbed Stephen Cameron, 21, to death in a road rage attack on the M25 near Swnaley, Kent

August 1998: Noye arrested in Barbate, Spain.

April 2000: Noye convicted of murder and given a life sentence

2017: Authorised for move to open prison. He is seen on day release from Standford Hill prison a year later.

May 2019: Parole Board announced decision to free him.

June 2019: Kenny Noye is released

Led by Black’s brother-in-law, Brian Robinson, and Trilby-clad Michael ‘Micky’ McAvoy, the gang tied up the guards and poured petrol over them, threatening to light it if they didn’t comply.

Thanks to Black, they were able to identify the two most senior guards who, between them, held the keys and combination numbers for the vault where three safes were located.

Inside was more than three tonnes of gold bullion. Packed into more than 70 cardboard boxes were almost 7,000 gold bars. Someone had to fetch the van.

Weighed down by a heap of gold, the van idled its way out of Heathrow after one of the robbers wished the security guards a merry Christmas.

It didn’t take the police long to connect Black to the raid and he soon implicated Robinson and McAvoy (who punched Black when he went to identify him in a police line-up).

The pair hadn’t exactly laid low after the robbery, spending cash on property in Kent. It was rumoured McAvoy had bought two rottweilers to protect his new home and named them Brinks and Mat.

The two were later sentenced to 25 years in prison. Black was sentenced to six years. Stealing the gold had been relatively easy. The bigger challenge was selling it.

The robbers turned to crime boss Kenneth Noye, who, along with another criminal, Brian Reader, handled the gold. It was regularly taken to a smelting company near Bristol where it was mixed with copper and brass to look like scrap gold.

About £13millon-worth was disposed of in this way. The movement of cash through a local bank soon aroused the suspicion of the Bank of England and surveillance operations of known villains began.

Noye appeared in court in 1986 after police found 11 gold bars worth £100,000 on his premises. He was found guilty of handling the Brink’s Mat gold and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Meanwhile the drama, which stars Hugh Bonneville, Jack Lowden, Dominic Cooper and Charlotte Spencer, tells the story of the aftermath of the audacious robbery, and reveals how the eyepopping haul became as big a problem for the gang as it was a jackpot.

The series shows career criminal Noye trying to stay one step ahead of the police.

The drama tells the story of the aftermath of the audacious robbery, and reveals how the eyepopping haul became as big a problem for the gang as it was a jackpot

The series shows career criminal Noye trying to stay one step ahead of the police (pictured, Hugh Bonneville in the drama) 

‘Greed is universal and this crime showed a sort of classless greed,’ Jack said in an interview.

At the end of the first episode, Noye gives a lengthy speech about how the other side of the country [the rich and the Establishment] get away with crime in a way the working classes don’t. 

He discusses the differences between classes, saying: ‘I do a lot of reading about England, about the way it was. The funny thing is, this country, it wasn’t always like this.

‘It wasn’t always Kings and Queens, because sometimes, for whatever reason, one of our lot got on top for a while and found themselves in charge.

At the end of the first episode, Noye gives a lengthy speech about how the other side of the country [the rich and the Establishment] get away with crime in a way the working classes don’t

‘But it never lasted long. When they got there, they’d panic. They’d think, “hold on, this ain’t me, this ain’t natural, I ain’t no King”. 

‘They’d take off the crown and give it back. That ain’t me.’

He went on to say: ‘Gold like that, you can’t control it. No one can. And if you can’t handle it, then it will find it’s way to someone who can. And I can handle it, I’m ready. I can be a King. 

However many viewers felt the treatment of Noye was too sympathetic in the series, saying the drama made him into a ‘Robin Hood’ style character. 

In real life Noye killed a police officer who was investigating the case but was acquitted of his murder, claiming it was self-defence.

Noye fatally stabbed undercover Met officer John Fordham in 1985. DC Fordham was investigating his involvement in the laundering of £26million of gold bullion from the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery

Noye in custody at Dartford Police Station in 1999 after being found guilty of the murder of Stephen Cameron following a road rage attack

Stephen Lee Cameron (left) was stabbed to death by Noye in 1996 in a road rage attack on the M25. Stephen is pictured right with his  fiancée Danielle Cable

He spent eight years in jail for handling the Brink’s-Mat bullion.

He killed again in 1996, murdering Stephen Cameron, 21, in a road rage attack on the M25 in Kent.

 In 2000 he was convicted of the murder and was released from prison in 2019.

Of the original gang who entered the warehouse only two, Robinson and McAvoy, were ever found guilty and sent to jail, for 25 years each. The security guard Black was sentenced to six years for helping them.

Gordon Parry and Brian Perry were both jailed in 1992 for laundering millions of pounds in proceeds from the robbery. Perry was gunned down in 2001, shortly after his release.

George Francis was shot dead in 2003, and John Palmer was murdered at his gated home in Essex in 2015.

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