Start date confirmed for ‘Father Brown’ star’s ’80s crime comedy ‘The Curse’

Channel 4 has announced when The Curse will premiere in the UK.

The six-part series is based on an infamous 1983 robbery where six men raided a depot near one of London’s airports thinking they’d walk away with £50,000 in cash, only to stumble across seven thousand bars of gold, with a street value of tens of millions.

The Curse started filming in England last summer – the exact same week that the BBC coincidentally also announced a drama series based on the exact same story!

From the award-winning makers of People Just Do Nothing and Murder in Successville, this “fictionalised tale” looks set to be a more comedic “loosely inspired” interpretation of events.

The Curse is described as “a comedy caper set in London in the early 80’s, following a gang of hopeless small time crooks who, through their own stupidity and poor judgement, find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest gold heists in history.”

The official synopsis reads: “The 80’s saw the elevation of materialistic values, in a decade where the rich got richer (mainly at the expense of others). The same era saw a rise in armed robberies with local lads taking from the very people they felt were robbing them.

“The Curse stars Allan Mustafa (playing Albert Fantoni), Steve Stamp (playing Sidney Wilson), Hugo Chegwin (playing Phil ‘The Captain’ Pocket) and Tom Davis (playing Big Mick Neville), a group of hapless small-time criminals who become embroiled in the plot.

“They are normal working-class men who just dabble in low level crime to make ends meet during the recession hit decade. But the naïve gang royally bite off more than they can chew with the heist and subsequently are stuck with the impossible task of coming up with a plot to rid themselves of the loot before they get nicked or even worse, end up dead…”

Father Brown star Emer Kenny is playing Albert’s wife Natasha, and it’s her who narrates the story.

Watch a clip from the first episode featuring her character here:

 

The cast also includes Peter Ferninando (The Letter for the King), Ambreen Razia (This Way Up), Geoff Bell (His Dark Materials), and Michael Smiley (Luther).

The Curse begins in the UK at 10pm on Sunday 6th February on Channel 4.

Every episode will also be available to stream from Sunday morning on All 4.

Fiona McDermott, Head of Comedy at Channel 4, previously commented: “It’s been such a treat to see these mega comedy talents collide with The Curse. As gripping as it is daft, we’re thrilled to have such an ambitiously funny show from these brilliant creatives coming to Channel 4.”

A ninth season of Father Brown premiered earlier this month.

Father Brown is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.