Original subtitles

This programme contains some strong language

NEWS: A major armed robbery took place this morning

at a trading estate near Heathrow Airport.

Six men broke in to the Brink's-Mat storage depot

and made off with what has just been confirmed

as £26 million worth of gold bullion.

The Metropolitan Police say

that the robbers are believed to have South London connections.

Inquiries are being conducted across London and roadblocks have...

You're going to go to your mother and confess that you broke it.

But YOU broke it!

Yes, I know that, but she can't divorce you.

CAR DOOR OPENS, CLOSES

What you going to do with that, then?

HE SLURPS

When Danny and I were inside...

..they gave us metal cups.

Which meant we always knew when the screws were turning over the cells,

because the boys would start rattling the cups on the doors.

An early warning system sort of thing.

I bet you two wish you'd had someone to give you a little rattle

when I was driving down the road.

What do you want, Charlie?

Let's go.

You used to tell a good story in there.

Not much else to do inside but tell stories.

Talked about growing up down here.

About the old tin mines.

About how there's that many of them, you had to watch yourself

on the moors to make sure you didn't fall down one.

And how if you did fall down one,

no-one would ever find you.

I need a mine like that.

GRUNTING

PANTING

MUSIC: Disorder by Joy Division

♪ It's getting faster Moving faster now

♪ It's getting out of hand

♪ On the 10th floor down the back stairs, it's a no-man's-land

♪ Lights are flashing Cars are crashing

♪ Getting frequent now

♪ I've got the spirit Lose the feeling

♪ Let it out somehow... ♪

STRAINING

PANTING

You told stories too, Charlie, when we were in there.

About all the jobs you'd done...

..and everyone you met doing them...

..and how that was all leading to one job.

A last job.

And I reckon you found it.

A lot of blokes in South London become villains

to be big men in South London.

I became a villain to get out of South London.

I became a villain...

..so that one day I wouldn't have to be a villain any more.

What happens now?

You go home and tell her something that ain't this.

I spend a few years getting a suntan.

Then I come back,

and I see how far from South London

and how far from being a villain what's down there can take me.

Look at that sun.

Ain't that beautiful?

Ain't that beautiful?

This is it, sir. It always is with you two.

The car yard is owned by an associate of Charlie Miller.

Is there a car yard in South London

that isn't owned by an associate of Charlie Miller?

It's a strong tip, sir. I know we've said that before.

You've definitely said that before.

Anything?

Not yet, sir.

Fill in the holes. Apologise. I'm off to the Yard.

The Metropolitan Police has many duties, Boyce.

Landscaping South London car yards isn't one of them.

We have solid intelligence

that Charlie Miller was on the Brink's-Mat job.

He disappeared on the day of the robbery,

and we think he hid half the Brink's-Mat gold before doing so.

You've been telling us about Miller for a long time.

While digging holes all over England.

The word is, Miller is out of money, which means he'll be back,

which means that wherever it is,

half the Brink's-Mat gold is about to resurface.

We've reached the limit of the support we can give you.

Support? I'm working out of a basement at Tottenham Court Road

police station with two detectives.

Which means you can wrap it up quietly.

The job is only half done, sir.

The Brink's-Mat inquiry has been

the longest and most expensive in the Met's history.

It has to end some time, and these things never end cleanly.

We have a number of outstanding lines of inquiry.

Two weeks, Boyce.

Can you buy me some time, ma'am? What do you think I've been doing?

MUSIC: Loaded by Primal Scream

No. We've had a new tip, sir.

I can see that from the coats and the misplaced sense of hope.

This one's different. They're always different, Jennings,

and then they're always the same.

They've seen Charlie Miller.

And they're going to see him again.

Good morning, Mr Palmer. Sorry to keep you, Jerren.

Oh, no, Mr Palmer. You are the boss. Never apologise.

How is the air, Mr Palmer?

Would you like some water? I'm just fine, son.

Two futures. That's what's in front of you.

There's the future that we represent.

You know that one. It's not great.

Or there's this one.

And that's a future, Danny.

That's life right there.

That's hope.

You can't be choosing Charlie Miller over that.

We won't let you.

Say what you want about Charlie Miller,

but he isn't in the business of betraying people.

It doesn't matter how we got here.

The important thing is that we're here. We ain't going anywhere.

Thank you, sir.

So, Danny, why don't you do yourself a favour?

Tell us about that.

Don't know what that is,

but if you're nicking people for getting postcards,

then you'll have a busy summer.

You know, Danny, I spent years making calls

to chief constables asking for support.

And by now, if this was Surrey or Sussex or, God help us, Kent,

they wouldn't even take my call.

But down here, we have the advantage of novelty,

which means I have just secured enough support from Cornwall Police

to either seal off the moors around the mines for 48 hours...

..or to have a constable sit outside your door for a year,

note every visitor, and follow you and your wife and, soon enough,

your child, wherever you go...

..while I put you in the system as a cooperating witness

and distribute that information to every nick in South London.

Charlie's been waiting his whole life for this.

He ain't going to get stopped by three cops from London

who haven't found a bar of gold between them.

Right decision.

Good morning.

Hello.

May I offer you some champagne and the opportunity

to change your life with a time-share here in Tenerife?

Two glasses. Oh. Why not?

Well, this is more like it.

So there's a bus over there, and only a ten-minute journey away,

there's lots more champagne.

Come on, love, let's go have a look.

The thing about holidays is that, half the time,

they're no fun at all.

All that money, all that graft

for a week in some shitty hotel

that ain't nothing like the brochure.

And you're lying next to a dirty pool and you think...

.. "Is this it?"

You thought life was going OK.

Maybe you were wrong.

Maybe this IS all you're worth.

Well...

..I've got good news.

That hotel and that holiday,

that life...

..it's not you.

This is you.

This is what you've been grafting for.

What you've been saving for.

This...

..is what you're worth.

You buy a time-share, and one week a year you come here,

and you live like a king.

This is paradise.

And when you speak to this lot,

you're going to be surprised how cheap paradise comes.

Where's the gold, then, Palmer?

Look, I'm just here to talk about time-shares, mate.

I'm not buying a time-share from a crook.

I was found innocent at the Old Bailey.

You don't get much more innocent than that.

Please come with me, sir. Yeah, I'm leaving anyway.

I wouldn't trust you with my money, Palmer.

Well, I'll struggle by without it, son. Yeah.

MURMURING

Yes.

I'm John Palmer.

Goldfinger. HE CHUCKLES

And no, before you ask,

I don't know where the other half of the Brink's-Mat gold is.

But if you do find it, you'll let me know. Yeah?

LAUGHTER

And more importantly, there's 20 of you here,

and only 18 time-shares left to sell.

So why don't you drink the rest of my champagne?

And it's first come, first served. Good luck.

Right. Who's first?

Sir, the first thing we need from you is a deposit,

and that will secure your property.

Mr Palmer.

Sales team take it from here, mate. I'm not looking to buy a time-share.

I'm from the Sunday Times. We've been calling your office.

So you put him up to that, did you?

You're in our Rich List on Sunday, Mr Palmer.

We can go with our figures or we can go with yours.

Well, you'd best come with me, then.

PHONE RINGS

Hello?

Buenos dias, Daniel.

Hello, Charlie.

I'm coming down to see you tomorrow.

All right. Yeah. Fair enough.

Everything OK, Danny?

Yeah. Fine.

Just having a cup of tea.

Not like that muck they gave us inside...

..in those bloody tin mugs.

You're a good lad, Danny.

I'll see you tomorrow. See you tomorrow, Charlie.

Here, look, the paperwork isn't that difficult to understand.

Let's go.

That was a mistake.

What was? You don't want to be talking to people like that, John.

Getting yourself in the papers.

Listen, Shirl, they were going to write something.

I made sure they wrote what I wanted.

I'm in charge of your books.

People start asking questions,

it's me that could get it in the neck.

This is a legit business.

This is a successful business.

You've been a big part of that.

There's no questions we can't answer. Good.

Then maybe you can help me make sense of some of this.

I'm just a jeweller from Solihull.

You lot shuffle the papers. I'll keep the wheels greased.

That's the kind of thing I'm talking about.

Look where you are, Shirl.

Hmm?

Got a good job for good dough...

..out here in the sunshine.

It's a lot better than where you could be, ain't it?

Yeah.

Yeah. OK, John.

All right, folks, I'm off.

Don't work too hard.

All right?

How are you? Wet.

How's the old man?

Dead. I'm sorry to hear that, Charlie.

Well, he lived the life, didn't he?

No-one can say he didn't give it a right good go.

I need something that can take a bit of a load.

That's an easy one.

Got all sorts here, pal.

Save them from scrap and patch them up.

Don't recommend MOTs, right enough.

But then, we don't sell them to people that worry about

that kind of thing. That's the one.

Really? Yes!

Hey! Que pasa?!

Hey!

Why are you following me? Que?!

Don't give me that! Hey!

Ingles.

Hey, sorry, I don't understand!

You... are following me.

No, no, senora, I am working.

OK? This is my route.

We've driven round half the fucking island.

You must be the busiest postie in the business.

Look, the letters, the addresses.

Tell Mr Palmer why you are following him. OK!

This is my route, OK?

Please, look, the letters, the addresses. Come on! Please!

I don't want to see you again.

OK.

Now piss off. OK, OK, OK, OK.

What are you driving around with a shooter for?

I see what you do.

How you make the island look away to let you make your money.

And I see how easy that money comes.

Oh, it comes easy, does it? For now, yes,

because you are the only cowboy in town.

But that money will bring others.

When this island becomes the Wild West...

..I'm ready for when that day comes, Mr Palmer.

You should be too.

I know a lot more about money than you do, son.

How to earn it,

how to keep it...

..and the kind of people that try to take it from me.

There's nothing I'm not ready for.

OK, Mr Palmer.

All units, all units. Target vehicle is inbound.

Past point Bravo. Stand by, stand by.

Vehicle approaching.

Vehicle is a brown van.

Should we stop him, sir?

Wait.

Sir?

Take him. Take him.

Take him.

SIRENS WAIL

Armed police! Armed police!

Out of the vehicle now!

OVERLAPPING SHOUTING

Hands in the air!

Searching!

What do you see? Clear! Just boxes.

It's not him!

Salesman, sir. Tupperware, if you're interested.

Send them packing, return to position, sir?

No.

Surprised.

Sorry? You look surprised by the van.

Miller told you he was coming,

and yet, when you saw a van, you looked surprised.

Why?

We're going to the mines. Which one?

It's been a long time, mate. I don't remember which mine it was.

Sorry.

Then you'd best remember fast,

or they won't be bringing you back here.

Let's go.

Welcome to England.

It looks cold.

HE CHUCKLES

It is cold.

But the beer's warm.

Where'd you get that pilot from, then, eh?

Hit every bloody cloud up there.

I think that was just the beer, JP. Yeah, well...

..you tell him to keep it fuelled and ready.

It always is. I'll be checking the mileage,

so don't you lot be flying off to the Bahamas.

I wish. See you on Sunday, John.

A ghost.

That's what I am in England.

No passport control, no nosy bastard spotting me in an airport

and calling the press or the Old Bill.

Because I beat them, you see, the English police.

I beat the best they have.

And they won't forget that.

One day, they'll come back for more.

And when they do, well...

..let's see how they get on finding a ghost.

THUMPING AND RATTLING

MAN STRAINS

THUMP

MAN STRAINS AND PANTS

CHATTER

SIREN WAILS

Where now?

Keep going.

Stop here.

All units, stop here.

MAN ON RADIO: Received.

Where?

I'll show you.

There's a better way in. Let's go.

Proceed with caution.

Armed police! Armed police! Armed police!

Clear! Clear.

Clear.

Clear.

Cheeky bastard!

He's taken off the serial numbers, sir.

We couldn't prove it's Brinks-Mat. But look how badly he's done it.

This half's going to move cruder and quicker.

I don't get it. He had 1.5 tonnes of gold down there,

and we stopped every vehicle going in and out.

No, we didn't.

SIREN WAILS

Oh, my girls! Daddy!

Oh, my girls! Come here! I missed you.

Oh, I have missed you so much. Let me look at you.

Oh, have you been growing again? Yeah.

That's a good suntan for someone too busy to come home.

HE CHUCKLES Suits me, though, don't it? Mm.

Mm. Mm!

Ooh! Come on! Come on, Daddy! Hold on, hold on.

We're going inside, are we? Come with us! All right. Come on, then.

Have you bought us any presents? You never know.

Good day, Mrs Palmer. Oh, hello.

CHATTER

Oh, I lose again. You're terrible at this!

Are you trying your hardest?

So you need a minder now, do you?

He's just keeping an eye on me.

Well, it's not like I can, is it?

We can have that argument when I'm there, not when I'm here.

I risk a lot to come home. Mm.

You risk more when you leave.

It's not forever.

You used to say it's not for long, now you say it's not forever.

Look, I can't make a quid in England now

without the coppers asking how I've made it.

I need to make enough money over there

so when I come back, I never have to make money again.

Making money is what gets you up in the morning, John.

I can't imagine you ever not needing that.

Well, come on, love.

Eh? I'm here.

I reckon... HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

..we can find a better way to spend our time than arguing.

So your minder will let you out of sight for that, will he?

Yeah, a few minutes, maybe. A few minutes?!

Yeah, well, it's been a while!

It don't really seem worth it.

Daddy, come and play!

Mm-mm-mm!

Daddy!

Erm, that...

..ain't over. I hope not.

What are you playing?

Hmm.

CHATTER

Ah!

That was quick.

I've got a job for you.

SEAGULLS CRY

Ah.

MUSIC BLARES AND MAN COUGHS

COUGHING CONTINUES

BABY CRIES

I would like to access the executive lounge.

And before you start,

I would remind you that I am a loyal and frequent customer.

You can't get into the executive lounge

with an economy ticket, Douglas...

..as discussed. I have over 1,000 points in your loyalty scheme,

which surely buys me entry into... 1,000 points gets you a mug.

There is a man in there wearing fucking shorts!

Would you like the mug? HE SCOFFS

You're a poxy bloody airline in a poxy bloody airport

on a poxy bloody island!

Safe flight, Douglas. HE SIGHS

There are many ways a police career can end,

and this is one of them.

It can end with honour, respect,

and a carriage clock.

Or it can end like this.

While the panel had no option but to clear you,

it noted a startling list of transgressions -

deviations from accepted practice, lack of communication,

and a reputation for...

So I'm cleared, then.

Resign today and I'll let you keep your pension.

You've run out of departments that will take you, Lundy,

which is quite the achievement.

The Lone Ranger.

Did you ever watch it, sir, as a kid?

Saturday afternoons? I played lacrosse on Saturday afternoons.

Well, my old man worked Saturdays down the mine,

and he'd come home covered in soot.

He'd sit on a newspaper so as not to dirty the armchair.

He'd stick his feet in a bucket of hot water,

and me and him, we'd watch The Lone Ranger.

He worked alone, the Lone Ranger, in that mask of his,

and no-one ever knew his name,

and every week he got told a villain to catch,

and so he followed the clues,

and he spoke to who he needed to speak to,

and by hook or by crook, he found that villain

and he brought him in.

And then the credits rolled and it was chips for tea.

Well, Lundy, that's a touching tale from the provinces, but shall we...?

That's what this job is about for me.

It's not this place. I hate this place.

You know, I come here... Every time I come here,

you give me a commendation or you give me a warning,

and I'm not interested in either. I'm interested in catching villains.

And when it comes to that, I am the best you've got

and you know it. So why don't you give me a villain to catch,

I can go back out there, I can pretend to be the Lone Ranger,

and you can go back to your office and pretend to be a policeman?

KNOCK, DOOR OPENS

Sir, Downing Street.

Resign, or I'll have you doing school visits

for the rest of your career.

I thought the Lone Ranger had a sidekick.

Tonto, wasn't it? Yeah. That was his weakness.

I learnt from that.

SHE SIGHS Give me a job, ma'am.

HE SIGHS

This is a mistake.

I thought you'd be impressed, me being in there with that lot.

I know who you are. I know what you've achieved.

I don't need to read it in some newspaper.

I don't know why you want anyone else to read it either.

Because it's an opportunity.

That bit you read - "business interests in Spain."

That's what they put my dough down to.

No mention of anything else. It shows that I'm legit,

and the more legit I look,

the further away I get from that bloody gold.

No, I don't think this gets you away from the gold, John.

I think it just reminds people about it.

While I accept that Cornwall didn't go exactly to plan,

if the gold is on the move, then that is a good thing.

You're not here to discuss the gold boys.

Have you seen the Times? I've been a little busy, ma'am.

The Times Rich List, which is Christmas bloody day

for this country's establishment, and there he is.

150 million, all built on Brink's-Mat.

And look who he shares his position with.

John Palmer next to the Queen. I realise this is not ideal...

This is a national embarrassment. Our phones are ringing.

If the Home Secretary wants to discuss it, I'm very happy to...

It's gone higher than the Home Secretary.

I'm being sent across the park. And you're going with her. Now.

I assume you won't be joining us, sir. Christ, no.

Commissioners that go to Downing Street don't come back.

If they need a head on a spike, give them Boyce.

It'll come to you dirtier than that. I'd hope so.

Who's smelting it for you, Charlie? Gypsies.

Clever. Can you handle it?

For the right price.

Take what you need to do it quick.

I'll be in touch.

DOOR CLOSES

What are you up to, then?

I've just gone through Miller's criminal associates.

We spent a year doing that, mate. Look where it got us.

Whatever he's doing right now, whoever he's doing it with,

is in here. Yeah, but there's 200 blokes in there

that will help him shift the gold, and three of us.

We've got to do something, Nic.

You're right. The answer's in there.

But we're asking the wrong question.

IN THE DISTANCE: This is exactly the kind of situation

we need to avoid. Yes, Prime Minister.

The people of Britain are worried about doing their bit.

This is the last thing we should be reading about in the newspaper.

Of course.

How might something like this not happen again?

Well, clearly this... Stiffer money-laundering laws,

a new extradition treaty with the Spanish, and adequate resources.

Then we'll put legislation in front of Parliament

and speak to the Spanish. That would be helpful.

And in return, you will ensure

the next time that John Palmer is in the newspapers,

he'll be appearing at the Old Bailey.

With the right resources, that will be achieved.

Good.

How are you, Douglas?

Wilting. Whisky?

And what might pass for whisky in a place like this?

Oh, only the good stuff for you, love.

If only.

Right, then, Douglas, take a seat. I'll go and get me bits and bobs.

Well, if this is your good stuff,

you must be selling the punters bloody petrol.

I'm a friend of a friend.

Of course you are.

This is South London. Everyone's a friend of a friend.

I heard you can clean money. Did you now? You're good at it, apparently.

Oh, am I?

Am I good at cleaning money?

HE LAUGHS

First-class degree from Cambridge. Top of my year.

One of the finest legal minds of my generation.

All to sit in this shithole drinking God knows what

and being told by yet another Cockney knuckle-dragger

that I'm good at cleaning money.

I'd have been better off driving a fucking bus.

I've got a proposal. Oh!

Oh, he has a proposal!

Let me guess - you turned over a post office

with a banana stuck down your jumper,

and now you need to hide ten grand.

Well, that should shake up the world of international finance.

Coming to South London once a month

to help places like this dodge a few quid in tax

doesn't sound like international finance to me.

This is a temporary service while I await the return of my licence.

It was two months of bird you did, weren't it? Sorry?

For the cocaine.

That was an escalating sequence of misunderstandings.

And I ain't looking for someone with a licence.

Well, I ain't looking for someone like you.

Because I am sick of people like you with your brown envelopes

and your dirty fivers and your,

"So how does it all work, then, Mr Baxter?"

So with some, but not much, respect,

why don't you take your little bag of swag and fuck right off?

Because if you want this to get physical, I would warn you,

I am a Cambridge boxing half-blue.

So if you wish to take this to the cobbles,

I'll take it to the cobbles right now.

When I was a boy, we came here to play football.

The Queen's house at one end of the park,

the Prime Minister's house at the other, and a bunch of kids

from Maple Street playing football in the middle.

Well, that's how London was back then.

It protected the powerful,

but it didn't forget to serve the people.

What's your point, Boyce?

If you can find the money for me to bring down Palmer

and save Her Majesty from being embarrassed,

then you can find the money for me to chase the other half

of the Brink's-Mat gold and whatever it turns into.

This country's heading into a recession, Boyce.

We can't be seen to spend money on wild goose chases.

I'll get results, ma'am, with some extra manpower.

Well, on that front, you're in luck.

Thank you for having me in your beautiful home, Mrs Palmer.

I hope that one day I can build a life like this.

I'm sure you'll do just fine.

Thank you, Mrs Palmer.

I love you too. I'll see you soon. Bye.

Now, you need anything, you let me know, yeah?

All I want is what we had.

HE SIGHS

I can't give us that.

But I can give us something better.

It doesn't have to be better.

That life was enough for me.

And if it had been enough for you, then we wouldn't be here.

Come here.

I'll see you soon.

You want to keep an eye on that one.

I like him. He's ambitious.

Yeah, that's why you need to keep an eye on him.

Bye, girls. Bye, Daddy. Bye, Daddy.

CAR DOOR CLOSES

It can't be a coincidence. No chance.

I have some news. Mm. So do we.

We can't chase the gold again, sir.

We don't have the time, and it's probably gone already.

This time, it's only about the money, right from the start.

So we thought about the money, and Miller,

and how he'll need help with it. Help that's in here.

And we noticed something, sir.

KNOCK ON DOOR This is my news.

What? Lundy?

He's bent, isn't he?

Charming.

Cleared by a panel, love.

Its DI Jennings, and cleared by a panel don't mean much.

You looking for Charlie, are you?

Yeah, of course you are. Cos he was on the Brinks job, wasn't he?

Took half the gold and then he shoved it down a hole.

Didn't think to mention that? Well, the Met Police suspended me,

DI Jennings. They decided they weren't interested in me

or what I heard. Where do you want me, Boyce?

Sir. Right. Yeah. Where do you want me, sir?

No overtime, no drinking at lunchtime, and no Freemasonry.

If I charged my overtime, I'd bankrupt the Yard,

I run at lunchtimes, and I'm a Catholic,

so I think the Masons would be less keen on me than they are on you.

We have two targets - Charlie Miller and John Palmer.

It's a bit bare up there, isn't it? Not for long.

If we've learnt one thing in the last few years,

it is to respect what the gold

and the money that comes from it does to people.

Not to them, but to the people around them,

those drawn in by greed or ambition or fear.

Those with choices to make.

To stay loyal or to rebel.

To stay clean...

..or to get dirty.

Those people will make those choices,

and they will make mistakes,

and we must be there when they do.

Because right now, in the people around Palmer and Miller

are those who will protect them and those who will destroy them,

and we need to work out which ones are which before they do.

We need to work out what danger they're in before they do.

I don't know where this ends, but I know that it's begun.

FLAMES WHOOSH

HE CHUCKLES

Mm. CHARLIE: That's the lot.

Shame. I was enjoying the air miles.

So?

So? Where have you put it?

That is stage two.

I have been somewhat preoccupied with stage one.

But it's tucked away somewhere? Invested?

It's somewhere, yes.

I gave you my money

because I believed you knew what to do with it

and I believed you knew what would happen if you lost

a single note of that £10 million.

And you were right on both counts.

Then tell me very clearly

where every penny of my dough is right now.

MUSIC: She Bangs The Drums by The Stone Roses

♪ I can feel the Earth begin to move

♪ I hear my needle hit the groove

♪ And spiral through another day

♪ I hear my song begin to say

♪ Kiss me where the sun don't shine

♪ The past was yours but the future's mine

♪ You're all out of time... ♪