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The Gold star Jack Lowden left terrified by physical challenge on set

Filming for The Gold wasn't always easy

jack lowden
Melanie Macleod
Wellness Editor
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Slow Horses star Jack Lowden is back on our screens this month in new BBC Drama The Gold, and the actor revealed on the Graham Norton show that he struggled slightly during filming.

The show, which is based on a true story and also stars Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville, sees six armed men break into a security depot near Heathrow Airport, only to stumble across gold bullion worth £26m.

As you can imagine, the filming involved lots of ducking, diving and running – which Jack admitted he struggled with.

WATCH: The Gold on BBC - the official trailer

"There was a specific phrase used to describe what would be expected of me which was 'to vault'," Jack told Graham Norton. "My character never just ran or jumped, he vaulted. I got rather terrified by that so whenever I was out walking, I would double check everyone was out the way and then I'd vault over fences and back again until I was happy with it."

He continued that vaulting wasn't the only activity he had to throw himself into, adding: "There was also a lot of running and I was told very quickly that mine was below par and too expressive!"

jack lowden in a black outfit© Photo: Rex

Jack Lowden's BBC Drama The Gold is based on a true story

What is BBC drama The Gold about?

The Gold lands on BBC on 12 February and the six-part drama has an impressive ensemble cast including Dominic Cooper, Tom Cullen, Emun Elliott, Sean Harris, Ellora Torchia and Stefanie Martini.

MORE: 7 must-watch shows and films starring Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville

Giving fans an idea of what to expect, the BBC's official press release for the show reads:

"On 26 November 1983, six armed men broke into the Brink's-Mat security depot near London's Heathrow Airport, and inadvertently stumbled across gold bullion worth £26m. What started as 'a typical Old Kent Road armed robbery' according to detectives at the time, became a seminal event in British criminal history, remarkable not only for the scale of the theft, at the time the biggest in world history, but for its wider legacy."

jack lowden in a suit© Photo: Rex

Jack Lowden struggled on set

The statement continues: "The disposal of the bullion caused the birth of large-scale international money laundering, provided the dirty money that helped fuel the London Docklands property boom, united blue and white collar criminals and left controversy and murder in its wake.

"Inspired by extensive research and interviews with some of those involved in the events, The Gold is a pulsating dramatization which takes a journey into a 1980s world awash with cheap money and loosened morals to tell this extraordinary and epic story for the first time in its entirety."

The Graham Norton Show is on BBC One onFriday 3 February at 10.40pm. Also available on BBC iPlayer.

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