Review, The Gold, BBC1 - a sequel too far or on the money?
****
As every wrong 'un knows, returning to the scene of a crime is a major no-no. Yet here is Neil Forsyth, bold as you like, following his hit drama of two years ago with another dip into the Brink's-Mat gold robbery. Is he mad?
In the hands of any other writer it could be a sequel too far. Fortunately, the creator of Bob Servant and Guilt has expertly blown the bloody doors off again, so at ease everyone.
The first series focused on the robbery and the hunt for 'the gold'. It's always 'the gold'. The gold is a character in its own right, a siren luring men to their doom, and it is wildly entertaining to watch her at work. The second series is about the £13 million of gold that's still missing, and the dirty money that continues to wash through the system.
It's back on the chain gang again for gentleman copper Brian Boyce (Hugh Bonneville), with not enough budget but plenty of chemistry and quips from the detective partnership of Tony and Nicki (Emun Elliot and Charlotte Spencer; worth a spin-off series on their own).
Following the money was never going to be as exciting as watching the original heist, and so it proves. No one even breaks into a run until episode three (the whole series is on iPlayer now).
Forsyth makes up for this lack of action by adding layers to his characters, some old, some new. Of the latter, Joshua McGuire is a standout as a dodgy lawyer operating from the Isle of Man.
John Palmer (Tom Cullen), the country mouse who can't read or write but is worth millions, is in Tenerife selling timeshares and feeling the heat as other cowboys arrive. And Charlie Miller (Sam Spruell) proves to be a gangster with surprising depths. He does love a beautiful sunset, old Charlie.
At times, Forsyth's villains seem a touch too clever and eloquent. While this makes for some great dialogue - there's an old lag's speech that's one for the ages - it is not always believable. Be assured, however, the mistake of the first series, making one of the "faces" out to be a charismatic, Robin Hood-type, is not repeated here.
Add to this mix one of Forsyth's trademark poptastic soundtracks (Aztec Camera's Somewhere in My Heart anyone?), exotic locations and some very funny lines, and The Gold more than earns its keep. This is the sort of exhilarating, high-end short-run drama series that BBC Scotland and other commissioners see as the future, which is laudable. But there has clearly been some serious money spent. How many of these can BBC Scotland's coffers realistically run to?
That remains a known unknown for now. Ditto where most of the Brink's-Mat money went. As one villain says, 'Loads of people got rich from that job but it weren't the six blokes in the van.'
Behind every great fortune is a great crime, and behind that a tasty crime drama, as long as it's written by Neil Forsyth.
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