The Gold’s second series has been a fascinating depiction of the aftermath of the Brink’s-Mat robbery as detective Brian Boyce (played with upright integrity by Hugh Bonneville) attempted to seize the missing gold and laundered money and bring the perpetrators to justice — most notably John “Goldfinger” Palmer (played with wolfish charm by Tom Cullen).
Each episode starts with a disclaimer that, while inspired by real events, “some characters, elements and chronologies have been created or changed for dramatic purposes”.
The series writer, Neil Forsyth, who also co-wrote a book, The Gold: The Real Story Behind Brink’s Mat, said: “I don’t think it is a more invented story. There are fewer people convicted for the activities we show in this series, so there’s automatically less coverage and you have to be a bit more careful in certain ways how you tell the story. Some people co-operated with the authorities and received anonymity as a result. It’s underpinned by a huge amount of research.”
Here, we try to clear up some of the questions thrown up by the series.
Is Charlie Miller, the criminal played by Sam Spruell, a real person?
There is no Charlie Miller, but according to Forsyth, “He’s a composite character who very much represents south London criminals involved in the crime and the activities they undertook afterwards.”
Charlie Miller, played by Sam Spruell, is a composite of several London criminals
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There seem to be shades of John Fleming, an original Brink’s-Mat robber who lived it up in Spain for two years, before fleeing to the Americas and being arrested in Costa Rica by Tony Lundy. He was deported to Britain for trial, but his case was thrown out of court in 25 seconds due to insufficient evidence. He has since died.
Did Miller really stash one and a half tonnes of gold in a Cornish tin mine, and use a decommissioned ambulance to retrieve it?
Partly true. Forsyth found a story in the Evening Standard while researching. He explains: “The Cornwall police led an extensive search involving a helicopter after credible reports of a significant amount of the Brink’s-Mat gold being hidden down one of the mines. There were criminal links with one of the robbers to the southwest of England.” However, there is no record of the gold being craftily whisked away in an ambulance, just before the police arrived, by a grinning Miller.
Did Mrs Thatcher really demand Met action after seeing John Palmer above the Queen in The Sunday Times Rich List?
That never happened, although it’s true that in 1996, he was ranked on The Sunday Times Rich List in 1996 at No 51, equal to Queen Elizabeth II. The list estimated his fortune at £300 million from his Tenerife timeshare business and other interests. Around the same time Scotland Yard’s organised crime squad were interviewing him over allegations that his timeshare empire was a fraud involving as many as 20,000 victims.
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Was Palmer lured to the Ritz and secretly filmed with a camera hidden in a bunch of flowers?
Not quite. Actually it was Roger Cook, fearless investigator of The Cook Report fame, who should get the credit. In 1994 he created a sting — similar to that depicted in the episode, involving a Burma warlord needing drug money cleaned — that lured Palmer to the Ritz. Palmer was then secretly recorded in one of its hotel rooms “offering to launder at least £3 million”. Cook then ambushed Palmer downstairs as he left, challenging him about his laundering. “About what?!” Palmer scoffed, trying to laugh it all off but looking increasingly rattled. It’s an astonishing moment — watch it on YouTube.
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Did Palmer have a ruinous cocaine habit? And did he father a lovechild?
The portrayal of Palmer didn’t go as far as it might have done. According to the author Tom Morgan, who co-wrote Goldfinger and Me with Palmer’s ex-wife Marnie, the real Palmer “developed a cruel side … a cocaine problem and held a gun to Marnie’s head on one occasion”. He is known to have had affairs, resulting in extramarital children, something he joked about in the Cook Report undercover footage.
John Palmer leaving court after paying £1 million bail in cash in 1997
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So what happened to Palmer after the trial, and who killed him?
After defending himself in court in 2001 (he’d sacked his legal team), he was found guilty “of masterminding the largest timeshare fraud on record” and jailed for eight years, serving half. He declared himself bankrupt and, according to Goldfinger and Me, opened a jewellery shop in London and a pawn shop in Essex. He split from Marnie. In May 2015 he was charged in Spain with fraud, firearms possession and money-laundering linked to his timeshare business. He was facing 15 years in prison and speculation arose that he would turn supergrass. On June 24, 2015, he was shot dead in his home in South Weald, Essex, aged 64.
Police said his shooting had “all the hallmarks of a professional hit”. Detective Superintendent Steve Jennings, who was in charge of the case for Essex police, said in 2023: “The timing of the trial and the benefit to others of John not being at the trial makes it the strongest possibility for the killing.” The shooter has never been found.
John with his wife Marnie Palmer in Tenerife, 1985
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What about the two Cambridge alumni involved in the money laundering. Were they real?
Neither Douglas Baxter, the bumptious lawyer (played by Joshua McGuire), nor Logan Campbell (played by Tom Hughes), a shady businessman in the British Virgin Islands, are real names. Both, however, were inspired by specific individuals who were done for money laundering in the Virgin Islands. They knew each other from the Isle of Man rather than Cambridge.
The real Brian Boyce carrying exhibits into Lambeth Magistrates Court where proceedings started against eight people
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What about Brian Boyce and his team — what became of them?
Brian Boyce is absolutely real and has aided Forsyth with research. As Bonneville has said, “Boyce was incorruptible … a man of principle, and integrity.” His underling, Nicki Jennings (Charlotte Spencer), is fictional, while Tony Brightwell (Emun Elliott), is based on a real officer. After leaving the police Brightwell went on to work in the private security sector.
Tony Brightwell (Emun Elliott) was based on a real cop but Nicki Jennings (Charlotte Spencer) is fictional
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The maverick copper Lundy (Stephen Campbell Moore) was real and worked on the Brink’s-Mat case. He was known for his unconventional approach and really did claim, as he does in the series, to be the subject of a smear campaign. He retired in the late 1980s and reportedly now lives in Spain.
Kenneth Noye (Jack Lowden) did escape and was finally arrested in Cadiz
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Did Kenneth Noye flee the UK on Palmer’s private jet and go on the run in Spain?
Noye and Palmer had known each other since being linked over a VAT gold fraud in the 1970s, long before they were linked to the Brink’s-Mat robbery. In 1996 Noye was a wanted man having disappeared the day after the M25 road rage murder of Stephen Cameron. Soon after, The Times reported that police were questioning Palmer about Noye’s disappearance. Palmer told police that “he could not help them”.
Five years later, it was revealed that Palmer had arranged for his private helicopter to help Noye. It had landed by Palmer’s Georgian mansion near Bristol. Noye, carrying a bag of cash and wearing a flat cap as disguise, had climbed aboard and it took off for a golf course at Palmer’s chateau in Normandy, before flying on to Spain the next day. Noye laid low in a villa near Cadiz for two years until he was recognised and arrested in 1998. He was then extradited and found guilty of murder. He was released from prison in 2019. He now reportedly lives with his wife in the town of Looe, Cornwall.
Kenneth Noye was arrested for the road rage murder and sentenced in 2000
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What happened to the gold in the end?
Forsyth says that the late Brink’s-Mat robber Micky McAvoy (portrayed in series one), told him that the gold was all smelted down, with the money in its different forms now all over the world. “If you live in London or any major British city, there will be property in that city that was ultimately bought with Brink’s-Mat money. It’s out there and it’ll never be kind of detected at this stage.”
‘It’s Brink’s-Mat — it’s never over.’ But will there be a series three?
Despite Boyce offering a pointed last line to the drama, Forsyth has said this will be the final series. “Between a book and 12 episodes,” he says, “I think I’ve given it a good shake.”
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