Starring in historical dramas comes with plenty of pressure. Not just to get the facts right, but to do the characters justice. So, when Charlotte Spencer got the call that a second season of The Gold – the BBC drama following the real-life events surrounding the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery, during which £26m-worth of gold and diamonds were stolen – had got the green light, she was thrilled. “Most people only know half of the story,” she says. “I think people are going to be amazed at just how far it went.”

Landing on screens on 8 June 2025, Spencer reprises her role as Detective Nikki Jennings alongside a starry cast including Hugh Bonneville, Dominic Cooper, Sean Harris, Jack Lowden and Tom Cullen. With the first series laying out exactly how the six robbers broke into Heathrow’s Brink’s-Mat warehouse, the second season promises to delve deeper into what became the Met’s longest and most expensive case in history, and an event that The Independent described as “the crime of the century” in 1992. 

“Most people of a certain age have heard of Brink’s-Mat but I hadn’t until the script came through and I was talking to my parents,” says Spencer. “My dad actually knew a police officer working on the case and it was interesting having some kind of connection. The more you talk to people, the more you find there are connections all over the place. It’s a huge case.”

Indeed it was. Most of the gold – equivalent to £111m in today’s money – has never been recovered while the shootings of countless individuals linked to the case became known as the ‘Curse of Brink’s-Mat’. The aftermath of the robbery also saw the formation of a string of cash-rich criminals, exposed the inner network of London’s underworld and spotlighted just how complex the capital’s money laundering operations were. Legend has it that anyone who bought jewellery made in Britain after 1996 is wearing Brink’s-Mat bullion, and that the theft triggered an injection of cash into the UK property market and drug trade whose effects can still be felt today. 

Due to the lengthy nature of the case, Spencer’s character is actually a composite one, an amalgamation of several people who worked on the case. “There were just so many people on it, and also some didn’t want to be named, that they condensed it into this one character,” she explains. Hinting at the lack of female detectives in the police force in the 1980s, Spencer adds: “I love the fact she’s someone that wouldn’t have necessarily got into that line of work because of her background. She’s really determined and I like that about her. She won’t take no for an answer.”

Charlotte Spencer as DI Nicki Jennings in The Gold

“There’s certain jobs where you feel like you’re getting better by being on set because of the people you’re working with and that’s how I felt on this job,” adds Spencer. “Because I’m the detective I get to do a lot of scenes with different people, so being able to work closely with these amazing actors gave me moments of like ‘wow, is this really my job?’ It makes you up your game because you want to be as good as them.”

While she admits imposter syndrome still creeps in, Spencer is well versed in the world of performing. Having started her career aged 12 – “I always knew what I wanted to do. My mum says I asked to go to ballet when I was three and she didn’t know how I even knew the word ‘ballet’” – she trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in Marylebone, and recalls that just being offered a place was a shock. “None of us expected me to get in; I didn’t think I was that good. There was a possibility of going for the scholarship but I just didn’t think I was going to get in so I didn’t bother. 

“Mum and dad were left in a quandary of actually paying for it on a very small wage so they remortgaged the house so I could go. It's an amazing thing that they did; they’re still paying it off now.” She laughs: “Thank god it worked out.”

As a child actress, Spencer got her first gig as Jane Banks in Mary Poppins on the West End – “an unbelievable moment for me and my family” – and it’s one she still sees as pivotal for her career because it’s where she met director Richard Eyre. “Ten years later, I got the part of Christine Keeler in an Andrew Lloyd Webber show with him. He worked with me when I was 12 and then he worked with me when I was 22; that was an amazing role.”

Spencer explains that, when she first started out, the transition between stage and set was a tricky one. “Back in the day, when I was trying to get into TV from musical theatre, we weren’t taken seriously. I actually had a director apologise to me because I had gone in for a job and when they could see I had done musical theatre, they thought I wouldn’t be able to act. I got a recall, went in disguise and I got the part. The producer knew who I was and said to the director: ‘That’s the girl you said couldn’t act’. 

“I don’t know if it still remains but there was a massive stigma around musical theatre actors not being able to act. It’s changing; Hannah Waddingham is someone who debunked all of that.” 

I’m just more present and I prefer it that way; I’m not in my own head

Spencer’s CV is one to dispel that notion too. From theatre, she landed roles in Jack Thorne’s seminal drama Glue, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA, and has also starred in Apple TV+’s award-winning Ted Lasso, Sanditon on ITV and is currently filming Amazon Prime’s Apollo Has Fallen, which is slated for release in 2026. It’s an impressive roll-call but, as she quickly admits, not one that has come easily. 

“After [Glue], I had quite a few years of trouble and not working. I think a lot of actors go through that and don’t really [talk about it]. That’s your learning curve; if you still want to do it and have the drive when you don’t have the work, that shows you’re probably going to be in it for the long haul. It flipped after that and I’m now in a good place again but I’m sure it will be peaks and troughs,” says Spencer. 

How does she cope with the setbacks? “The only advice I’d give is to find who you are without the job. Find what else makes you happy. That goes for everyone; we can all be labelled by our careers but we’re so much more than that. It was my identity since I was a child and I think the added pressure of coming from a background [where I couldn’t just give up] meant I had to make it work. 

“In between [jobs] I volunteer and teach at my old dance school. It’s been the thing that has kept me going; it makes me teary. I realised I loved doing this even if I was just teaching it; it brought me joy on every level.” 

While performing has always been painted as a glamorous job, it’s also a brutal one. With years marred by writer’s strikes and competition for parts only getting stiffer, it’s no secret that an acting career is underpinned by perseverance. And one thing that Spencer believes doesn’t help? Social media. 

“I started to come off it during Covid. I can’t keep comparing myself and, in that regard, it just doesn’t help. A lot of our work is about competition; we’re going for auditions weekly, monthly, and you’re constantly in this battle,” she explains. “So far, it hasn’t stopped me from getting the work. I’m just more present and I prefer it that way; I’m not in my own head.” I empathise, suggesting it’s certainly a loud place to be at the moment, to which she replies: “That’s the other thing: you don’t need my opinion. I don’t have any right to tell you anything.” Refreshing indeed. 

Spencer’s honesty about the flipside to acting is admirable, and she knows her career isn’t without its highlights. Can she pick one? “When I did The Duke with Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent. There was a moment when I was on set with them and sat around a table and I couldn’t believe I was there. There was a point at the premiere, and there’s a picture of it somewhere, when Helen’s hugging me and saying, ‘You’re really brilliant in this film’. Someone caught that moment and that was a real highlight.

“Dexter Fletcher [also] helped me hugely; he played my dad in Hotel Babylon when I was 15/16. Because he was a child actor himself, he saw something in me and took me under his wing. He helped me get my agent and a few years later he put me in my first film, Wild Bill. He’s remained a great friend ever since.” 

What’s next? A film project in Madrid, but time spent in her Hertfordshire garden with her Yorkie, Chip – “named after the cup from Beauty and Beast because it’s my favourite film” – is on her priority list. Having charted the course from child stage actress to TV star, she makes no secret of finally feeling more comfortable with where her career is at. “I’m so unbelievably happy with my life right now that I’m just going to ride the happiness wave.” 

The second season of The Gold airs on BBC on 8 June 2025. 

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