Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Luke Evans, Neil Maskell, Jack Roth, Bethany Muir, Martin Compston, Paul Anderson, Nicholas Murchie, Del Synott, Jack Gordon, Nigel Collins, Eliza Doolittle, Robert Glenister, Stuart Graham, Bill Thomas, Eric Hulme.

Those behind the 1988 film Buster should look upon The Great Train Robbery: The Robber’s Tale as a way to tell a story properly and without the large amount of buckets of whitewash in which to dip the carcass of post-war police work and the glamorisation of those involved in a crime that shook the very foundations of life in the U.K. already rocked by the scandal surrounding John Profumo and Christine Keeler.

Headed by an impressive cast, which included the excellent Luke Evans as Bruce Reynolds, the haunting appeal of Neil Maskell as Buster Edwards, and in one fell swoop showing what the man was really like and away from the big screen and the incredible audacious talent that is Jack Roth as Charlie Wilson, The Great Train Robbery: The Robber’s Tale goes to the very heart of the issue, the twin persuasive powers of greed and culpability. Backed by an incredible score which included the sweet tones of Eliza Doolittle and Nina Simone, there was nothing that could go wrong as far as the story went and a it was a great reminder to the B.B.C. that it holds a special place when it comes to doing really good quality drama.

The Great Train Robbery: The Robber’s Tale doesn’t seek to glamourize the events that surrounded that dark night on a railway line in Buchinghamshire, it doesn’t go completely off the deep end by showing the immediate aftermath of life on the run for Bruce Reynolds or Buster Edwards as the 1988 film starring Phil Collins and Julie Walters tried to do. Instead it shows the game of chess, the long game of strategy that was devised and how even the most carefully laid plan can come undone by one unprepared action. By shifting the attention in the first of the two episodes completely onto the men who stole over two million pounds, the public saw more of the warts and all that went into the planning of such an audacious robbery and not the sensationalised version that the film machine ended up corrupting.

This two-part series by Chris Chibnall is the second time this year that the writer has had a huge hit on his hands and following on from Broadchurch, shows the enormity of the man’s writing prestige in being able to hold a story together and his prowess of showing how the criminal minds works. Excellent stuff!

Ian D. Hall