'The Gold' Gets Royal with 'Victoria's Tom Hughes Joining Season 2

One of the biggest series of 2023 in the U.K. was the BBC series The Gold. Initially imagined as a limited series, the six-part small-screen dramatization of the 1983 Brink-Mat robbery was a star-studded affair, full of PBS favorites, as is befitting of a show that retold the U.K.'s biggest bank heist in history, in which the thieves made off with £26 million in gold bullion (that translates to ~£87 million/$109 million in today's money, due to inflation) none of which was ever recovered. Considering the show's success, the BBC worked with series creator Neil Forsyth to greenlight a second season that will continue the tale of what happened to all the gold.

However, most Americans did not watch The Gold. The series was made as a co-production with the (very short-lived) Paramount+ UK originals arm, and, considering the very recognizable cast, it was supposed to be the launch series for its international programming. (Less than six months after the show's debut, parent company Paramount all but discontinued its international slate.) Paramount+ was already in trouble before The Gold's Season 1 arrived, and the series' inability to break through on the platform proved how bad things were.

By the time Season 2 was announced, any mention of Paramount+ was conspicuously absent, which was unsurprising as the company was heading for the sale block by then. Luckily, the BBC found a far better partner to take the show on, as Masterpiece stepped up to sign on. (Considering it's where the show belonged all along, this will be a far better fit.) 

However, due to the extremely low U.S. viewership, PBS will start from the beginning and run a full marketing blitz for Season 1 before turning to Season 2 in 2026. Please note these photos, released by the BBC, are for the second season, which will air in the U.K. in 2025.

The new first-look pictures from the show's second season start with the show's lead trio of actors, all of whom are PBS stalwarts. Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey) stars as the real-life detective assigned to head up the case, DCI Brian Boyce. (This is Bonneville in his Overworked Cop Era.) Bonneville co-stars with Charlotte Spencer (Sanditon), who plays Nicki Jennings. (Jennings is a fictionalized version of the partner assigned to work with Boyce, whose family was part of the London criminal underworld and knew all the players.)

Rounding out the trio, there's Emun Elliott (Guilt), who plays DS Tony Brightwell; like Boyce, Brightwell was a real-life detective assigned to the case and who helped track the gold even as it was laundered away. 

Here's the second season synopsis:

Following the conviction of some of those involved in the theft and handling of the Brink’s-Mat gold, the police realized that those criminals only ever had half of it. Season 2 explores what happened to the other half and the criminal fortune it created. As the police investigation continues, it becomes a tense, high-stakes journey into international money laundering and organised crime, the police embark on a series of dramatic manhunts as they desperately try to solve the longest and most expensive investigation in the history of the Metropolitan Police.

Other returnees from the series' first season on the policing front include Peter Davison (Doctor Who) as Assistant Commissioner Gordan Stewart, Amanda Drew (Inspector Ellis) as CS Cath McClean, and Silas Carson (Out There) as PC Harry Bowman. 

As for their quarry, Tom Cullen (Becoming Elizabeth) returns as John Palmer, the real-life partner of dealer Brian Reader (who was played by James Nelson-Joyce in Season 1), who helped launder the gold; Stefanie Martini (Prime Suspect: Tennison) plays his wife, Marnie Palmer; and Sam Spruell (The Thing with Feathers) is also back as Charlie Miller, one of the six original robbers.

Season 2 also introduces a new cast of characters, including Stephen Campbell Moore (Masters of the Air) as DI Tom Lundy, one of the detectives who famously tried to parachute into the case. Other new additions include Tom Hughes (Victoria) as Logan Campbell, Rochelle Neil (Three Little Birds) as his girlfriend Kadene, Joshua McGuire (Blitz) as Douglas Baxter, and Joshua Samuels (Saltburn) as Jerrin.

Season 2 also introduces several actors whose roles were not revealed, but all of whom have appeared in previous PBS series: Tamsin Topolski (Call the Midwife), Antonia Desplat (The Durrells in Corfu), Lorna Brown (Press), Thomas Coombes (Miss Austen), Sean Teale (Mr Selfridge), and Olivia Grant (Indian Summers).

In a statement about the new season, Neil Forsyth said, “The second and final part of The Gold sees the story of the Brink’s-Mat robbery, and everything that stemmed from it, become even more expansive, surprising and international. It has been a real thrill for me to see the scripts brought to life so brilliantly by our director, Patrick Harkins, our fantastic cast, and our hard-working crews in the UK and Spain. We are delighted with the results and look forward to the series launching later this year."

Forsyth penned all six episodes of The Gold Season 2, with a new director, Patrick Harkins (Tin Star), helming all installments and Charlie Leech returning as producer. Forsyth is also an executive producer along with Ben Farrell for Tannadice Pictures and Nick Lambon and Lindsay Salt for BBC Drama; the series is produced with All3Media International. 

The Gold Season 2 will arrive on the BBC in the first half of 2025. Season 1 is expected to air on most PBS stations (plus the PBS app, Amazon's Masterpiece Prime Video channel, and stream for members of PBS Passport) in the latter half of 2025 or early 2026. Season 2  will follow on PBS sometime in the 2026-2027 TV season.