Hatton Garden

I love reconstruction of true crime so that's right up my street and with a big score straight away, every single actor in this was superb, the combination of Cranham and Spall as old boys was genius. BASIL couldn't have been more perfect and The security guard who was called out to Hatton Garden that night is a new and fine actor too. I'm glad it came out eventually after the two year delay. Must be watched more than once, well that's in my opinion anyway 😁.

A great script and memorable acting from Timothy Spall and David Hayman playing men who know it's madness but just have to steal big - it's what they do.

The most we had any right to expect from "Hatton Garden" was a fairly accurate reconstruction of the crime and yet another addition to that long line of British gangster pictures and TV shows. What we got instead was one of the all-time great heist pictures, be that on television or in the cinema, and a masterclass in great acting, helped along by Paul Whittington's superb direction and a brilliant screenplay from Jeff Pope and Terry Winsor.

Spread over four nights it told the story of the 2015 Easter Weekend Hatton Garden robbery and its immediate aftermath. The first two nights concentrated solely on the robbery, filmed with a documentary=like precision and up there with the very best of them. The subsequent two nights showed how the police finally caught up with these, not-very-bright, geriatric robbers.

As the thieves who couldn't agree on anything, (it's amazing they were able to pull the job off in the first place and they very nearly didn't), Timothy Spall, Kenneth Cranham, David Hayman, Brian F. O'Byrne, Geoff Bell and Alex Norton were absolutely terrific with Spall and Cranham taking the lion's share of the honors. This wasn't just a bunch of fine British actors playing at being stock criminals but beautifully fleshed-out portrayals of living, breathing ordinary individuals and the real pleasure of "Hatton Garden" was watching great actors act. Yes, it was also a hugely entertaining crime caper, all the better for being based on fact, exciting and often very funny but it was so much more; proof that television can sometimes leave the current cinema trailing in its wake.

The Hatton Garden robbery has been well documented, so I won't go into the plot here. Several other films have been made on the same subject but none really did it justice. This four part series starting with the robbery allows the characters to feel believable rather than the cardboard presentations portrayed in the other offerings on the same story. and is superior in every sense.

All the cast here are stand out, how anyone can call any of the actors sub par is beyond me. Evidently they don't understand the craft. All the leads, especially David Hayman, Timothy Spall, Geoff Bell and Alex Norton all give first rate performances as the old timers well past their criminal sell by date. With four episodes to tell the story more time is given into the police investigation and is notable for the actress T'nia Miller giving another stand out performance in an under written role. The time given to the Police investigation into how the gang was caught makes the series more compelling. And the fall out the gang experienced after the robbery underscores the old motto, there is no honour among thieves. They're not the most sympathetic bunch of villains and It is good that screen time is also given to a composite character whose life and family business is ruined as a result of the robbery, highlighting the fact that the resulting crime did leave victims in its wake, whose lives were changed forever by the robbery.

If true crime drama is of interest then this is certainly recommended viewing, however this is a well acted and well made drama regardless of the genre and one worth your time.

By far the best TV drama in years. Timothy Spall was absolutely amazing and even said the 'C' word in the last episode....lol. The casting was genius and the drama intense. I'll not give anything away but this has to be viewed and I'll be surprised if this mini-series along with the actors doesn't pull some BAFTA awards the next time around. Absolutely brilliant, well done ITV.