BBC One confirms transmission date for The Gold

BBC One’s next, big primetime crime drama is – you guessed it – coming right after the end of Happy Valley.

The Gold tells the (true) story of the Brink’s Mat robbery.

In 1983, six armed men broke into the Brink’s-Mat security depot near London’s Heathrow Airport, and inadvertently stumbled across gold bullion worth £26m. What started as ‘a typical Old Kent Road armed robbery’ according to detectives at the time, became a seminal event in British criminal history, remarkable not only for the scale of the theft, at the time the biggest in world history, but for its wider legacy.

The disposal of the bullion caused the birth of large-scale international money laundering, provided the dirty money that helped fuel the London Docklands property boom, united blue and white collar criminals and left controversy and murder in its wake.

The Gold has a very solid cast, too – Hugh Bonneville stars alongside Jack Lowden, Dominic Cooper, Charlotte Spencer, Tom Cullen, Emun Elliott, Sean Harris, Ellora Torchia and Stefanie Martin.

The Gold: Sunday 12th February, 9pm, BBC One

NORDIC NOIR Finnish series Poromafia to debut on C More

Those in the Nordic territory will get a new Finnish crime series very soon.

Poromafia (Reindeer Mafia) is set to start on the Nordic streaming service on 16th February.

The series begins when Brita Nelihanka, the great arctic matriarch, is about to lose her fight against cancer. Her wealth is to be divided evenly between the members of her family, and the ill-gotten lands are to be returned to their original owners. The family is torn apart when her will is revealed at the funeral, and many past secrets are finally revealed.

It stars Samuli Edelmann, Anna-Maija Tuokko and former Beck star Mikael Persbrandt.

Here’s a trailer…

BBC One confirms transmission date for Better

We’re getting another new crime drama on BBC One in early 2023.

Better explores the complex and powerful bonds of loyalty and family, set in a world where everyone has their own version of “right” and “wrong”. Examining the power of human conscience, we follow DI Lou Slack’s (Leila Farzad) epic battle towards redemption, by bringing down Col McHugh (Andrew Buchan); the man she has come to love like a brother and the man she has helped place at the head of Leeds criminal underworld.

But while Col is a dangerous enemy to make, Lou’s biggest battle may yet be with herself.

Nineteen years ago, when Lou was a young police officer at her lowest ebb and Col a low-ranking but ambitious newcomer to the Leeds underworld, their paths crossed, and they struck a deal that changed their lives forever. The bargain allowed Col to become very rich and very powerful, and Lou to turn around her failing career. A complex but special bond between the pair was forged, and so began Lou’s gradual slide into corruption. But now, when Lou’s family is brought to the brink of a tragedy, she must put right the wrongs that she has spent years rationalising and excusing, to have a second chance at a new, better life.

Better: Monday 13th February, 9pm, BBC One