The Gold Robbers (ITV Crime Drama, Peter Vaughan)

The Gold Robbers was a 13 part crime drama made by London Weekend Television for the ITV Network in 1969. It was centred around the gang who pull off a multi-million pound gold bullion robbery at an airfield and the Detective Chief Superintendent tasked with bringing them to justice.

It was basically an anthology series of sorts with individual episodes focusing on different members of the gang with Detective Chief Superintendent Craddock (played by Peter Vaughan) and Detective Sergeant Tommy Thomas (Artro Morris) acting as the linking device.

Guest stars included George Cole, Ian Hendry, Katharine Blake, Richard Leech, Joss Ackland, Roy Dotrice, Alfred Lynch, Ann Lynn, Alethea Charlton, Jeremy Child, Sally Thomsett, Bernard Hepton and Jennifer Hilary. Hendry’s episode saw him co-star with Wanda Ventham, the pair would later go on to appear as husband and wife in the BBC’s The Lotus Eaters a couple of years later.

Ex Detective Chief Superintendent Arthur Butler of Scotland Yard acted as technical advisor to the series. Butler had been heavily involved in the Great Train Robbery case a few years earlier.

Cast: Peter Vaughan (Detective Chief Superintendent Cradock), Richard Leech (Richard Bolt), Artro Morris (Detective Sergeant Tommy Thomas), Donald Morley (Grierson), Peter Copley (Assistant Commissioner Farr), Michael Barrington, John Harvey, Elisabeth Murray, Michael Wynne, Jeremy Child, Peggy Ann Wood, Ken Watson, David Ellison, Frank Sieman, Antony Whelan, George Hilsdon, Tony Leary, Marc Boyle, Simon Cain, Michael McKay, Corbet Woodall, Joss Ackland, Alethea Charlton, Sally Thomsett, Peter Madden, John Bindon, Michael Hall, George Cole, Katharine Blake, Alfred Lynch, Colette O’Neil, Terence Rigby, Ian Hendry, Wanda Ventham

Creator and Producer: John Hawkesworth / Story Consultant: John Whitney / Music: Max Harris

UK / ITV – London Weekend Television / 13×50 minute episodes / Broadcast 6 June – 29 August 1969 (There was a repeat run in 1970 which saw the final two episodes compiled into one feature length episode.)