Masterpiece Grabs 'The Gold,' Both Seasons to Air on PBS

For the second time in 2024, there is good news on the streaming wars front, as those succeeding services start pulling away from those that will not. As I recently noted in our Gangs of London Season 3 post, this is a frustrating time for TV fans when series that should, by rights, be massive hits wind up lost in the dusty corner of a streaming service no one subscribes to. But one series has managed to escape the confines of its collapsing platform, as The Gold gets scooped up from Paramount+ and moves house to the place it should have been the whole time: PBS.

For those of you who are longtime readers, you'll remember The Gold, the BBC series about the infamous Brinks Mat robbery in which £26million in gold bars was accidentally found and stolen by some small-time robbers thinking they'd be legends. Instead, they were like the dog that caught the car; after all, what does one do with giant gold bars? Though their lives weren't improved, the intermediaries who could move the product managed not only to launder all of it but also gentrify parts of London that are still some of the most expensive parts of the city to live in today.

Season 1 was a massive hit on the BBC, but Paramount+ (which co-produced Season 1) failed to market the series. It went nowhere in the U.S. When the BBC announced it would renew the series for a second season, Paramount exited it, leaving space for a network that would know what to do with such a series to step in. Enter PBS and Masterpiece, which have secured the rights to Season 1 and will debut Season 2 in the U.S. when it crosses the pond.