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Dundee United references slipped in to hit BBC Brink’s-Mat robbery drama The Gold

A Spanish extra wears a Dundee United top in BBC series The Gold.
A Spanish extra wears a Dundee United top in BBC series The Gold. Image: BBC/Tannadice Pictures

An extra in BBC’s The Gold has been spotted in a Dundee United strip in just one of a number of club references slipped into the show.

The show’s writer, Arab fan Neil Forsyth, told the “bewildered” Spanish actor to wear one of his old shirts in a scene shot in the country and says he has enjoyed viewers’ reactions to the many surprise additions.

Several of its characters have been given United-themed names.

There is a Charlie Miller, Siegrist (Benjamin), Bowman (Dave), Sturrock (Paul) and Milne (Ralph).

Meanwhile in a scene set in a prison, the commentary for one of United’s famous victories – against Barcelona in their 1987 Uefa Cup run – subtly plays in the background.

The extra wearing a United top in episode five
The extra wearing a United top in episode five. Image: BBC/Tannadice Pictures

The six-part series based on a book by Bafta winner Forsyth and Thomas Turner covers one of the UK’s biggest ever crimes  — the incredible true story of the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery.

More than 6,000 gold bars were stolen from a warehouse on the outskirts of Heathrow but remarkably most of the culprits were never caught.

It’s the latest series created by Forsyth whose big break came in TV when his Bob Servant short stories were adapted into a BBC series starring Dundee superstar actor Brian Cox.

‘Bewildered’ Spanish extra forced to wear shirt

Former High School of Dundee pupil Forsyth told us: “I always have United references tucked away in my shows, usually surnames of characters and things like that, but I’ve certainly stepped it up this time.

“With the United top, we wanted to have some of John Palmer’s [gangster nicknamed ‘Goldfinger’ who was shot dead in 2015] workers in Tenerife wearing 1980s vintage British football tops but they’re very expensive to source.

Neil Forsyth, left, and fellow Dundonian Brian Cox.
Neil Forsyth, left, and fellow Dundonian Brian Cox.

“I had a United replica top from the league winning season of 1982/83, so I stuck that in my bag for the filming in Spain and slipped it on one of the Spanish extras.

“It’s quite an odd shot, and in the edit the director kept suggesting we cut it, but I wasn’t having that. I’d rather have one odd shot of a bewildered Spanish extra, for the sake of getting a United top in the show.”

The Broughty Ferry wordsmith also revealed he has taken inspiration from many of his experiences while working in Dundee.

A screenshot of the scene which includes the United ‘fan’. Image: BBC/Tannadice Pictures

While working at the Taychreggan Hotel Bar, he says one regular would come in every afternoon and, when asked how he was, would say “you see it all, son, you see it all”.

Someone has delivered that same line in tribute in all his shows, and in The Gold it is the turn of actor Anil Desai.

Four million people tuned in to the first episode when it aired and now all episodes are on the iPlayer.

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