The Gold season 2 ending explained: do the police find the gold?

The Gold season 2 marks the return of the thrilling BBC drama inspired by the real life events and theories surrounding the infamous 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery.

The police continue their hunt for the £26 million of stolen gold – the largest robbery in world history at the time.

After realising that they were only chasing half, they focus on following the money which takes them on an international investigation into money laundering and organised crime. Starring Hugh Bonneville, Charlotte Spencer, Emun Elliott, Tom Cullen, Jack Lowden and more.

Here's a recap of everything that happened in The Gold episode 6.

The final episode begins with Edwyn Cooper in prison. He’s pondering legacy and tells the prison board how it takes everything in life and reduces it into a conclusion. In his case, it’s Brink’s-Mat. Nothing in his life counts, but Brink’s-Mat. He doesn’t want probation, he says. He wants to serve his full sentence because the only thing that matters is that he’s tainted by Brink’s-Mat. The other prisoners think he’s infamous, but he doesn’t think so. All he thinks about is what he lost. He says he only finds solace in the fact that he’s not the only one. That he was part of a team and they’ve all ruined their lives, too. It cuts to Charlie and John in custody. Kenny sits at a restaurant.

Lundy questions Charlie. He tells him to plead guilty to the financial charges, then tell him where the money is, and he’ll never see him again. Or, he says, they’ll charge him with the robbery. Charlie says: “What robbery?” Lundy says it won’t be hard to join the dots since he went from poor to rich very quickly. Charlie says he’s made some calls since he’s been in custody and has learnt that people say Lundy's bent and that even being called it makes him vulnerable. Charlie says he might miss Lundy when he’s gone and when he asks where he’d be going, he says they’re not so different. He’ll do whatever he can to send him down and Charlie will do everything to stop him.

Elsewhere, Boyce sits down to talk to John. He tells him to plead guilty and have a life afterwards, but John says he has to fight. Boyce said he won’t find a lawyer, but John says he’ll be defending himself. Boyce tells John that since he can’t even read or write, it's going to be hard. Then, he asks him where Kenny is. John says he never really knew him, but he knows there’s always someone looking for him.

It cuts to Cadiz, Spain. Kenny is sitting at a restaurant, ordering lunch. In Kent, the police officer in charge of M25 murder is working on the case. His officers tell him that the News of the World have heard they’re looking for Kenny so he tells them to call a press conference, but that they can only say they've heard Kenny is in Spain. They need someone to actually see Kenny, then they need to see him and then their witness does without the press involved. But, if they know, then they have to embrace it and get Kenny on the front pages to try and aide their search.

Boyce sits down with Commissioner Stewart and McLean. He says they’ll go to trial against John and they’re assisting the Americans to place charges against Charlie in Florida, which will get them higher penalties. They'll get one half of the Brink’s-Mat gold and two men to be prosecuted. He says that while before they convicted more men, they didn’t get the gold. This time, if they can convict John and Charlie, they’d make the greatest financial recovery in the history of British policing, take the money out of circulation and stop the damage money like that can do.

Stewart says if they’re not convicted, they won’t be able to recover a penny, making the whole case a waste. McLean says Boyce is out of time and he asks for special dispensation. Stewart says he can’t do that and that Boyce has done his 30 years and now he has to retire. But Stewart tells him before he goes, he’ll charge Charlie with the robbery. Boyce says they don’t have enough evidence and Stewart says the public knows they have a Brink’s-Mat robber, so they need to charge him. And when it comes to Kenny, it’s not Boyce’s problem.

As Kenny shops in Spain, he sees his face all over the front pages of the newspapers. Another shopper clocks him and as Kenny leaves he threatens him. Kenny calls Brian Reader at his car yard and tells him to get a payphone and call him back. He does it. Kenny tells Brian he’s been seen in Gibraltar. He says they need to speak to their friends to find out what they can do about the charges.

At the Kent Police, the officers are reading through all the fake sightings across 13 countries. The officer-in-charge says Kenny must have friends helping them by calling in fakes to hide the real one. Meanwhile, Stewart and McLean call in Lundy and Boyce. The papers have printed Lundy’s allegations. He thinks it’s the work of Charlie Miller. He again says he’s never been corrupt or been afraid to arrest anyone. He says he’s the best at Scotland Yard; at catching criminals and being investigated into, which he doesn’t think is a coincidence. Boyce says he’s never seen any wrongdoing, but that he needs him to charge Charlie. Stewart suspends him, effective after the Old Bailey proceedings conclude.

When they leave, Boyce asks Lundy how close the Americans are to bringing charges against Charlie. He says once they get a verdict on the robbery trial, he can go to the Americans. Boyce says what if the charges are thrown out and Charlie is allowed to walk? Lundy says if the Americans aren’t ready, then Charlie will disappear. Boyce tells Lundy to stop that from happening.

The officers are watching Brian Reader’s car yard. Brian pulls up, swaps his car with one of the used cars in the yard, blocks the police at the entrance and leaves. At the Old Bailey, the charges against Charlie Miller for the Brink’s-Mat robbery are read out. The prosecutors say that Charlie went from being poor to being wealthy right after the robbery and then went to Spain. The judge says there’s insufficient evidence to charge him and Charlie is discharged. Lundy comes to meet Boyce after the trial.

In his cell, Charlie shouts for his release. But, in walks Boyce and Lundy. He’s being extradited immediately to Florida. He says he’ll beat the Americans like he just did them. He asks, while there were six of them on the Brink’s-Mat, where are the others? Boyce says it’s not about the robbery, it’s about the money. Boyce says in the end Charlie will only have the memories of everything that happened with none of the gold or money to show for it. As they leave, Charlie screams. Lundy then tells Boyce that he’s quit his job.

Brian meets Kenny in the woods. He says he escaped the Kent Police and asks about the “other thing”, but Brian says it’s not going to happen. He says he wants the conversation and Brian says a conversation is what’s not happening. He asked his men at the Yard about moving it to manslaughter, but they wouldn't. Brian tells Kenny he shouldn’t have done what he did once he was out of prison. Kenny says all he does is lose friends and gain enemies.

Boyce returns to the office and says they need to coordinate with the Americans and when it's time, take Douglas there to testify against Charlie. With John Palmer, it’s going to be one of the biggest fraud cases in British history. Jennings says it’s going to take time to put together and Boyce says he doesn’t have the time. He tells them, in fact, it’s today. He’s retiring. Jennings says they’re not ready, but Boyce says they have an ending within their grasp. He apologizes that he can't be there to help and that it’s hard for him to leave. But, he wants them to see it through.

It cuts to some time later. It's the court trial for the fraud case against John Palmer. Jennings tells Harper that the jury is bored by the long explanation the prosecution is giving. After, John stands up and charms the jury, speaking directly to them. He explains that the case is expensive in Britain and that while he was found innocent of Brink’s-Mat, the police have been trying to get him for something else.

The officer at Kent Police receives a call. He drives to a location alone and is met by another car. The next day, he tells his officers that Kenny is in Cadiz. He gives them tickets to fly there. They ask where he heard it from and he doesn’t answer. They ask if they have backup and he says no. But, if they don’t want to go, then he can send in the Spanish instead. But, the officer thinks it should be Kent Police and his officers agree.

In Fort Lauderdale, Douglas is there to answer the claim that he was part of the criminal conspiracy to launder money. He admits liability in the case and the judge tells him he could be charged $8 to $10 million, but that he’ll also be acting as a witness. Charlie stands to the same charges, but he denies liability. At the Old Bailey, John is questioning Harper. John says that people got ripped off, but not by him, and that he’s rich. She says it’s widespread fraud. John says it’s a conspiracy between the police, her and the Brink's-Mat insurers. Then she asks why John paid the Brink’s-Mat insurers £3 million, and he says because he wanted them off his back. She says he’s boasting about his hidden wealth.

John turns to the jury and says he’s not hiding it. He tells them he was in The Times and he doesn’t want to rob tourists. The woman notes that it was 17,000 people he was robbing. He says he never sold a timeshare, nor took the money. In Cadiz, the officer has found the restaurant where Kenny has been dining. But, he’s not been seen in a while. He tells him that they’re not the first to ask after him, though.

In Fort Lauderdale, Charlie enters for trial. Meanwhile, the Kent officer sees the front page of the paper suggesting Kenny’s been killed. His officers in Spain speak on the home and reveal that the word is that he got taken out by a contract from the other Brink’s-Mat robbers.

The officer-in-charge says he doesn’t believe it, so they should continue. In the woods, Kenny holds the paper and tells Brian it’s a bit much killing him off. He says it wasn’t theirs, but maybe it’s a message. Kenny says that Brian is free as a bird, but he argues that he isn’t. He tells Kenny his solicitors got a letter from the Brink’s-Mat insurer and they want money from everyone connected or they’ll file civil cases and they’ll go to the cleaners. John had to pay £3 million. And now, they want £3 million from Kenny. Kenny says he isn’t giving himself up and he’s going to get out because he’s fed up.

At Charlie’s trial, he argues that Douglas led him to a man to help him with some money he’d got from a business venture. But, it didn’t come from the Brink's-Mat robbery and he’s been cleared from his involvement in it in London. The judge says it’s not about the robbery, it’s about the proceeds. And, they have witnesses that say he was the originator of those proceeds. Then, there’s a co-conspirator in Federal Witness Protection. Charlie looks at Douglas and says there wouldn’t be anyone that daft to do it in public. Stepping outside, Brightwell has to talk Douglas off the edge as he’s worried about the threat. They head back in.

The Gold season 2 ending explained

In Cadiz, the officers spot Kenny arriving at the restaurant. They call their boss in Kent. He says he’s sending out the witness and he’s not going to tell them what that means or the danger involved. The officers agree. At the Old Bailey, John is questioning Jennings. She says they believe criminals should be punished. She says they’ve found the money and it's worth more than the gold. They’re just here to get him for fraud. John turns to the jury and says that he’s getting targeted by a corrupt witch hunt. Jennings calls him a criminal and mentions the TV documentary where he said he’ll clean the money, but he says it was a set up. He starts to get angry and shouts at her, calling them all corrupt. The judge stops him and Jennings smiles.

Douglas is brought to stand as a witness in Charlie's trial. The judge asks him if any of Douglas's co-conspirators are in the courtroom. He says no. Afterwards, Douglas tells Brightwell that Charlie will get convicted with Logan’s evidence regardless. But, Douglas says there have been murders and so the police are less of a threat to him than Charlie is. In Cadiz, Kenny sits down again at the restaurant. The officers and the witness are waiting. The plan; the Spanish police cause a diversion and they go in and leave quickly.

The prosecution is questioning John. He asks John why he came back to the UK. He replies that he missed England. And the lawyer asks if it was because he was under threat from criminal associates. While John says he doesn’t have any, the lawyer says he spends £1 million on bodyguards. Then, he says John has personally threatened people. He argues he never has. He says that he built an empire and that they can’t live with that. Meanwhile, in Cadiz, the Spanish police are undercover as a couple and start arguing to distract Kenny. Then, the witness and the Kent Police officers walk past, unseen. She gives a positive ID. But, Kenny grows suspicious. He takes the waiter inside and asks who the people were that walked past him, he remembers a woman. The waiter doesn’t know.

Jennings calls Brightwell in America. He says he doesn’t know if they have them. The court case hasn’t concluded. Jennings says she never thought it would be on them. She wishes him good luck. In the woods, Kenny calls Brian and says he’s running again. He tells him to keep his head down, but Brian says they’re not watching him anymore. Kenny wonders who they’re watching instead then.

It cuts to Dartford Magistrates’ Court. The Kent Police officer gets a call from his officers in Spain, who are watching Kenny in the woods. They ask for permission to stop Kenny and he says to give them five minutes. They don’t think they have that long as he's seen packing up. Boyce walks in to an office and asks for an arrest warrant. He’s got extradition, a military plane, and the home office, Interpol and the Spanish Police all waiting for it. He says to sign it, but not file it until Monday. So, he signs. The officer calls back his officers and gives them the go ahead to arrest. They’re joined by more police who start to creep forward.

In Fort Lauderdale, the judge has reached her verdict on the case against Charlie. He winks at Douglas as he stands to receive his judgement. Meanwhile, the jury has reached a verdict on John, too. In Spain, the police move closer to Kenny and he runs. While back in Fort Lauderdale, Charlie is found guilty and at the Old Bailey, they find John guilty, too.

The American judge orders $151 million in charges to be ceased from any assets and all bank accounts held or controlled by Charlie. For John, he’s sentenced to eight years in prison and confiscation of £33,243,812.46. The police continue to chase Kenny down, finally catching him. He asks who they are and they tell him, they're the Kent Police. It cuts to the officer-in-charge back in Kent, they call him and tell him they got Kenny.

Boyce comes to see Jennings and Brightwell as they’re packing up the office. He’s wants to congratulate them. He’s worked out they’ve retrieved £200 million, which means the legacy of the biggest robbery in history has resulted in the biggest financial result in the history of British policing. Jennings said they didn’t get them all and Boyce says that’s hard to come to terms with. When Jennings ask if it’s over, Boyce says: "It’s Brink’s-Mat. It’s never over."

Words appear on the screen detailing that Kenny was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, which saw him released in 2019. John was shot dead in 2015 in the garden of his home in Essex, a murder that remains unsolved. And that none of the Brink’s-Mat gold was ever recovered.

All episodes of The Gold, seasons 1 and 2, are available on BBC iPlayer.