Forsyth strikes gold, but this is fan fiction

GRIPPING: Hugh Bonneville as Brian Boyce in The Gold

- with GARRY BUSHELL

THERE was a cracking scene in The Gold as crafty ex-con Charlie Miller whisked away stolen Brink’s-Mat ingots worth £16million in the back of an ambulance right before DCI Brian Boyce’ eyes. South London villain Charlie (Sam Spruell) had stashed the gold bars in an abandoned Cornish tin mine before he rubbed the Old Bill's noses in it with his daring bravado.

Except it didn't happen.

Miller never existed - he’s a composite character dreamed up by writer Neil Forsyth - and using the mines as storage facilities is an unproven theory.

Dramatists often twist reality in the name of “artistic licence”.

In the first series of this superior BBC crime drama, Forsyth conjured up the character of Nicki Jennings - a London DI who made all the key deductions - even though the Flying Squad in 1983 contained no female detectives whatsoever.

He also painted double-killer Kenneth Noye as a roguish Jack The Lad class warrior with a chip on his shoulder the size of Das Kapital. TV Kenny charmed all and sundry, only turning nasty when a jury found him guilty...

The Brink’s-Mat robbery was Britain's biggest gold heist - the underworld version of winning the Lottery.

Six violent armed blaggers hit a secure storage facility near Heathrow expecting to nab £1 million in readies.

Instead, they stumbled on gold bullion worth £26million.