(tense music) - [Neil] In November, 1983, robbers stole 26 million pounds worth of gold bullion from the Heathrow trading estate in London.

- "The Gold" is inspired by the true events of the Brinks-Mat robbery and everything that came after that.

- The fact of matter is there's elements of the story that are incredibly factual, they are elements that are inspired by, and there's creative license, and I'm very comfortable with that.

- We were not trying to make a documentary or the most authentic portrayal of what happened in 1983 onwards.

We were trying to make the best drama possible, and what we wanted to find was our own versions of the characters.

- People like us, we have to fight twice as hard to get anything in this world.

- The one thing I would stress is the show's been very heavily researched.

Some of the characters are very, very close to the real people and are named after the real people.

They're undisguised representations of real people involved in the story.

And then there is the odd creatively positioned character.

But I don't think there's a single character in the show that's not based in some way on a real living person.

- This thing, it's a poison.

It's passing through us.

We gotta keep on going until it's gone.

- I guess with all things that are based on reality, there's a sort of number of factors that stop the ability to tell it as it was or is.

One of the biggest things is obviously the legalities.

You know, there's publications out in the public domain.

There are people still alive.

Because that stuff's in the public domain, you have to be sensitive.

- [Newsreader] Today's main headlines.

A police officer has been stabbed in a garden in Kent.

The owner of the house, Kenneth Noye, has been arrested.

- If you're being truthful to the spirit of the story, to the spirit of the storylines within it and the characters within it, then I'm very, very comfortable with that.

It's not a documentary.

It's not a factual drama where every word has been plucked from real life.

I think there has to be the creative process as well.

So I think we've got the balance right.