Hugh Bonneville teases bigger second series of The Gold
Hugh Bonneville has stated that the second series of BBC drama 'The Gold' is far bigger in scale as his character DCS Brian Boyce leads the hunt to track down the unaccounted for bullion following the Brink's-Mat robbery in 1983.
Hugh Bonneville says that the second series of 'The Gold' is much grander in scale.
The 61-year-old actor reprises his role as DCS Brian Boyce as the BBC drama returns to screens on Sunday (08.06.25) and explained that the new series takes place on a "much bigger canvas" as Boyce and his team attempt to track down the unaccounted half of the gold stolen in the 1983 Brink's-Mat robbery dispersed across the UK, Isle of Man and Tenerife.
Hugh told the Metro newspaper: "It's a much bigger canvas this time. We shot in some buildings in London for season one that clearly were built on Brink's-Mat money (in real life) but this time you see the money leaking out into Tenerife and the tax havens.
"You begin to realise it funded drugs imports and the beginnings of the ecstasy drug boom in the UK. The ripple effect of this one event in November 1983 is remarkable."
Hugh also savoured the opportunity to meet up with Boyce before the first series of 'The Gold' aired in 2023.
The 'Paddington' actor recalled: "Brian took me and (series creator) Neil Forsyth out to lunch as we were starting season one, so I reciprocated after it had been on.
"He likes to talk about the old days and took me through his career. He was on the squad that knocked down the door to get Ronnie and Reggie Kray! He was very courteous to us and thanked us for respecting the way they went about their work, which was very heartening.
"You get the sense he was a good leader who absolutely relied on teamwork."
Tom Cullen returns as gold smelter John Palmer but had a horrible experience trying to snort glucose that was used as a substitute for cocaine as his character spirals into addiction during the series.
He said: "The fake coke is pure glucose, it absolutely f***** me.
"We did the last scene of the day at about 8pm, where I had to snort this humongous line in Palmer's private plane, which is just ridiculous, everything in it is gold. I think I fell asleep about 1am.
"Don't do glucose, kids."
