The Gold series 2 has come to a bittersweet conclusion, ending the BBC drama for good as there won’t be a series 3 – so what happened in the series finale, and what was the fate of the robbers and the gold?

Series 1 and 2 dramatised the theft of £26million worth of gold bullion from the Brink’s-Mat storage depot in Heathrow in 1983. At the time, it was the largest robbery in world history. While the 2023 first series saw some of the criminals banged up, and half of the money recovered, series 2 followed the other half of the gold.

As the series progressed, it was hard not to find a grudging respect for the robbers, beginning with Charlie Miller, who managed to make £13million of gold bullion vanish into thin air. By the end of episode 5, though, the key players – Charlie Miller, Kenneth Noye, and Stephen Palmer – were all on the run for their lives… The final episode saw them all face justice.

So did DCI Brian Boyce’s special task force ever find all the gold? And did the police manage to catch all the robbers? Here’s everything you need to know in The Gold series 2’s ending explained, including news on a series 3.

***Warning: spoilers from The Gold series 2 ending ahead***

The Gold series 2 recap: What happened in BBC drama?

Series 1 of the BBC drama dramatised the shocking 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery and the remarkable story that followed. The latest series 2 followed the investigation into the second half of the gold “as it evolved on an international scale”.

A synopsis told us: “Following multiple court cases and convictions of some of those involved in the theft and handling of the Brink’s-Mat gold, the police realised that they had only ever been on the trail of half of the money.”

Series 2 was inspired by some of the theories around what happened to the other half of the gold – worth a whooping £13m. The Brink’s-Mat Task Force embarked on a series of dramatic manhunts as they desperately tried to solve the longest and most expensive investigation in the history of the Metropolitan Police.”

‘The following is inspired by real events’

The beginning of each episode told us: “The following is inspired by real events, and the many theories that have surrounded the gold. Some characters, elements, and chronologies have been created or changed for dramatic purposes.

“The theft of £26million worth of gold bullion from the Brink’s-Mat depot in Heathrow in 1983 was the larges robbery in world history.

“After several years of investigation, and multiple court cases and convictions, the police realised they had only ever been on the trail of half of the Brink’s-Mat gold. This is our story of the other half.”

Of course, this could only ever be based on theories. In reality, the police did not manage to find at least half of the money. Although plenty of people in the chain got rich… At the time, police could not be seen to be spending money on “wild goose chases” as the country was going into a recession.

How did police eventually catch the Brink’s-Mat robbers?

In The Gold series 2, the police task force followed the trail of the money from the stolen Brink’s-Mat robbery. At first, Charlie Miller and John Palmer were riding high on their loot… But a lot of money needs a lot of ingenuous ways to hide it. This was ultimately their downfall. Plus, they got seriously cocky.

Charlie Miller set up several limited companies in a bid to launder the money. The problem? He named them all after south London council estates. That’s how DI Tony Brightwell and DI Nicki Jennings tracked down money launderer Douglas Baxter, who eventually played a part in Charlie’s downfall.

Elsewhere, on the small Caribbean island of Tortula – rich on dirty money – two drug dealers were found dead in the water off Fort Lauderdale. This linked “psychopath” organised crime member Scott Errico – one of many links in the chain – to Logan Campbell’s side of the operation. Of course, Logan had £10m of Charlie’s money.

The moral of the story seemed to be that money breeds greed, and greedy people make mistakes and get sloppy. Crucially, the police – determined not to give up – were putting pressure on those lower down the ranks too, for example John’s head of accounts Shirley (played by Beth Goddard). What’s that saying? You’re only as strong as your weakest link…

However, the Brink’s-Mat case was so complex, with so many players, it was almost impossible to gather enough evidence to prosecute all those guilty of stealing and laundering the Brink’s-Mat gold.

What happened to John Palmer?

Meanwhile, in Tenerife, Russian heavies jeopardised John Palmer’s hopes of looking like a legitimate businessman. Of course, being rich always attracts attention – sometimes from the wrong sort of people. Especially if you live a “flashy” lifestyle. Strong-armed into laundering money for the Russian’s, John became overstretched. He was laundering more and more money, with not enough clean money to balance it out. Oh, and there was the growing (quite literally) problem of his pregnant ex-lover which was playing on his increasingly cocaine-addled mind, as well as the reappearance of the rather menacing Kenneth Noye on the run.

In episode four, an undercover investigative journalist working for ITV approached John Palmer. She made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. If he laundered $100million of drug money from Burma, he could keep $20million as commission. ITV subsequently caught him on camera sealing the deal, and aired the footage in a damage documentary. Not good for John’s ‘credible’ career selling timeshare apartments.

Did he serve time? Where is John Palmer now?

Although police were never able to charge John Palmer in relation to the Brink’s-Mat robbery, he served time for another crime in 2001. During The Gold ending, a jury found him guilty of “substantial fraud”. The judge sentenced him to eight years of imprisonment, as well as placing a confiscation order against him of more than £33million.

It was one of the longest fraud trials in British legal history and Palmer represented himself (mainly because he couldn’t find a lawyer to defend him). He defrauded 20,000 people out of £30m. He served just over half of the prison time. In 2005, the court declared him bankrupt.

On June 24, 2015, John Palmer was found dead in the garden of his gated home in Essex. An unknown assassin had shot him multiple times. He was 64 at the time of his death. Police never caught the killers, and his murder remains unsolved.

The Gold series 2 ending explained: Did police convict Charlie Miller?

In the second and final series of The Gold on BBC One, Brink’s-Mat robber Charlie Miller recovered the missing £13million of gold bullion that he’d hidden underground. With the cops on his tail, he managed to evade them with the help of a stolen ambulance… Crucially, he enlisted the help of Douglas Baxter, a disgraced Isle of Man financial advisor, became a key figure in the shadowy network of money laundering that extended to the Caribbean. 

However, at first, it looked like “highly-intelligent” Baxter – a pompous plonker if ever there was one – was a big risk. And turned out he was – compromising Miller by calling him on a landline and later buckling under police interrogation. He “flipped” and met Logan Campbell wearing a wire for the police.

Police arrested Campbell Logan at the end of The Gold episode 4. This was after he’d been double-crossed by Douglas Baxter, and exposed by his fiancée Kadene. Once captured, Campbell eventually gave up information on some of Miller’s money in Costa Rica.

At the end of The Gold series 2, Charlie Miller had his armed robbery charge thrown out of court because of lack of evidence. However, police extradited him to Florida to face charges there. Although Douglas Baxter bottled it, and refused to testify against him, the court eventually found Miller guilty. The authorities awarded damages against him of $151million to be seized from any assets and bank accounts.

What happened to Kenneth Noye?

In series 1 of The Gold, viewers saw Noye found guilty of conspiracy to handle the stolen gold. A judge sentenced him to 14 years in prison, of which he served eight.

As depicted in series 2, Kenneth Noye was involved in a road rage incident on the M25 near Swanley, Kent in May 1996. He stabbed Stephen Cameron to death after being released from prison on license.

During The Gold series 2, he was on the run, first in Tenerife, and later in Gibraltar. However, Kent police tracked him down and arrested him where he was living in the woods.

He later claimed the stabbing of Stephen Cameron was in self-defence. A jury subsequently convicted ‘Kenny’ of the murder. A judge sentenced him to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 16 years. He was released in 2019.

What happened to the Brink’s-Mat gold?

According to the end credits of The Gold series 2, “none of the Brink’s-Mat gold has ever been recovered”. This is despite years of dogged investigation.

As DI Nicki Jennings said herself: “It’s Brink’s-Mat, it’s never done.” Meaning that they would never be able to find the gold, or every link in the (gold) chain of accomplices.

If you have bought jewellery in Britain since 1984, it is likely to contain traces of the Brink’s-Mat gold…

What happened to DCI Boyce, and where is he now?

DCI Brian Boyce was forced to retire, having investigated one of the most complicated cases in the history of the British police. After 30 years of service, his career in the force was over. Sadly, he had to “leave with the job half done”.

He went on to become involved in another infamous crime – the murder of Stephen Lawrence. In 1999, he reportedly offered his services to the Lawrence (for free), and went on to help the legal team gather evidence.

Based on a real-life figure, former detective Brian is now in his eighties. He spoke with actor Hugh Bonneville ahead of filming The Gold series 1, as well as the series’ writer Neil Forsyth.

The Gold series 2 ending: Who was Brian Reader?

James Nelson-Joyce made a brief reappearance as Brian Reader in The Gold series 2 final episode, who was then running a car lot. He was Noye’s reluctant confidante, and helped him while he was on the run.

Reader was a notorious British gangster described as “one of the busiest crooks in the British underworld”. He’s also known for his role in the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary in 2015.

Career criminal Brian Reader worked closely with Kenneth Noye on the Brink’s-Mat robbery, who was described as his ‘right-hand man’. Reader was jailed at the Old Bailey in 1986 for conspiracy to handle stolen goods after plotting with fellow crook Noye to convert the gold. He was sentenced to eight years.

Who did Dominic Cooper play in The Gold series 2 final episode?

Actor Dominic Cooper portrayed Edwyn Cooper in the BBC crime drama The Gold. The character of Edwyn, a key character in series 1, was a solicitor involved in laundering the proceeds of the Brink’s-Mat robbery.

Edwyn Cooper was a fictional character, a composite of multiple individuals who assisted in the laundering of stolen goods. Like Douglas Baxter in series 2, Edwyn joined the criminal underworld for financial gain, but was caught. Police arrested him for his role in laundering the proceeds from the Brink’s-Mat robbery.

He initially agreed to co-operate with the police and give them information in order to receive a more lenient sentence and better conditions. However, he changed his mind when Gordon Parry threatened his partner. In series 2, he was still behind bars, a self-confessed “ruined soul”.

Will there be a series 3 of The Gold?

Nope, the Beeb has confirmed that there will not be a series 3 of The Gold. The new series, airing in 2025, is the second and final part of The Gold.

That’s because the series 2 finale of The Gold brought the story of the Brink’s-Mat robbery up to date. Police failed to recover most of the gold in what was described as “the crime of the century”. In fact, less than $60,000 of the $2.7 million was ever found.

Of the 11 people involved in the robbery, eight received life sentences after a trial. Two others died before they could be convicted.

Neil Forsyth, creator, writer and executive producer, said: “I always saw The Gold as a two series show, following the two halves of the gold, so this will be the final series.”

Read more: Inside Red Eye series 2 on ITV, including why Richard Armitage has been replaced

The Gold series 1 and 2 are currently available to watch on BBC iPlayer.