1. The Big One
In 1963, a small-time South London carpenter joins the biggest robbery in British history for one reason - he knows a retired train driver who is semi-competent.
In 1963, a small-time South London carpenter joins the biggest robbery in British history for one reason - he knows a retired train driver who is semi-competent. And yet Ronnie Biggs will, for the next fifty years, be far more famous than the man who planned it, the rest of the gang who pulled it off, the train driver who was so brutally attacked, or the Scotland Yard detectives who solved the case.
How exactly is a criminal 鈥榣egend鈥� born? Actor Daniel Mays delves into unheard Ronnie Biggs tapes and takes us back to the rubble of post-war London to find out 鈥�
Credits:
Presenter - Daniel Mays
Producers - Phoebe McIndoe & Jude Shapiro
Executive Producer - Jack Howson
Associate Exec - Chris Pickard
Mix Engineering - Will Fitzpatrick
Additional Production Support - Ashley Clivery
Commissioning鈥疨roducer - Sam Proffitt
Commissioning鈥疎xecutive -鈥疞ouise Kattenhorn
Commissioning鈥疎ditor - Richard Maddock
Contributors include:
Professor Dick Hobbs, criminologist
Nick Reynolds, sculptor and son of the Great Train Robbery gang leader
Noel 鈥楻azor鈥� Smith, writer and former armed robber
Brian Stone, cellmate of Biggs
A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and 麻豆社 Sounds
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- Sun 24 May 2026 00:30麻豆社 Radio 5 Live
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Gangster
Uncovering the real-life stories of gang bosses and criminal kingpins.