Gangster
BBC Radio 5 Live
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About This Podcast
How did a small-time carpenter with a minor and fumbled role in a 1963 violent heist become Britain's most famous fugitive and - for many - an unlikely folk hero?
From gangland tea boy to Brazilian playboy, this series recounts the controversial rollercoaster life of Ronnie Biggs in his own words, through previously unheard recordings.
Actor Daniel Mays, who portrayed the Great Train Robber in a major ITV drama, hosts the podcast, marking the 25th anniversary of Biggs' return to Britain to face justice after 36 years on the run.
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Recent Episodes
S9E16 6. The White Cliffs of Dover
The Great Train Robber fugitive faces a stark choice: depression, debt and death in Rio ... or surrender to the UK justice system.Twenty-five years ago, Britain Most Wanted septuagenarian…
S9E15 5. The Magic Balloon Gang
Buy your ticket for ‘The Ronnie Biggs Experience’. For fifty dollars you will be entitled to Brazilian barbecue, a few beers, and an intimate audience with an international celebrity fugitive.…
S9E14 4. The Slip-Up
Welcome to Rio in 1970. Home to the most beautiful football team the world has ever known. Home to a brutal military dictatorship. And, now, home of the last Great Train Robber at large.The Ronnie…
S9E13 3. The Land of Milk and Honey
What price freedom? And why should you never wear crocodile shoes when you’re on the run?!While the rest of the Great Train Robbery gang are serving thirty-year sentences, the runaways are enjoying…
S9E12 2. The Hate Factory
This episode contains reference to self harm.We’re in Wandsworth Prison, where the lights never go out. And where freedom for Ronnie Biggs might only be a chess game or a rope climb away … Meanwhile…
S9E11 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. And yet Ronnie Biggs will, for the…
S9E10 Introducing Gangster Presents: The Story of Ronnie Biggs
How did a small-time carpenter with a minor and fumbled role in a 1963 violent heist become Britain’s most famous fugitive and - for many - an unlikely folk hero? From gangland tea boy to Brazilian…
S12E7 6. Losing Face
It’s the 1990s and Wo Shing Wo gangsters think they’re untouchable. Georgie Pai is fighting yet another deportation order after being caught in the UK again. He’s granted bail on the condition that…
S12E6 5. Video Wars
A video war is raging across Britain’s Chinatowns, fuelled by a booming market for Hong Kong films and soaps, copied and rented out for huge profit. In Manchester, Wo Shing Wo quickly seizes control,…
S12E5 4. The Northern Powerhouse
By the 1980s, Georgie Pai has been arrested in Glastonbury for overstaying a tourist visa, found guilty of terrorising Chinese communities in Southampton, and deported back to Hong Kong. But borders…
S12E4 3. Sleeping Tiger
Two Hong Kong nationals are arrested in Southampton after guns are found in a vehicle. One of them speaks to police, revealing that a flourishing protection racket is operating right under their…
S12E3 2. The Hong Kong Connection
From the neon-lit Chinatowns of Britain to the back streets of Hong Kong, we learn why the Triads were feared by so many. The secret societies were formed hundreds of years ago as resistance…
S9E9 1. Enter The Godfather
In 1970s Britain, Chinese-heritage migrants worked long hours in restaurants and takeaways to build their new lives. But as the diaspora established itself, the gangs they thought they’d left behind…
S12E1 Trailer
From the back alleys of Hong Kong to the neon-lit Chinatowns of Britain, Georgie Pai built a nationwide criminal empire through his Triad gang Wo Shing Wo. With a network of protection rackets,…
S11E7 6. Starcrossed Lovers
Amy and Joe had been planning a future together, outside — but now they’re stuck behind bars, facing the consequences of their actions.In this final episode, host Amber Haque unpicks how their story…
S11E6 5. “Love You”
Amy knows this is the final run - just one more package of drugs to smuggle in, one more drop-off before Joe walks free and maybe they can leave crime behind.But this time, someone is watching.Will…
S11E5 4. Illegal Highs
Highly-addictive, relatively cheap and easy to smuggle, Spice is running rampage through Britain’s prisons.And Spice is the reason Amy finds Joe zombie-like in his cell, eyes rolled back in his…
S11E4 3. Just This Once
Smuggle one package of drugs into prison for her boyfriend Joe and he’ll be able to pay off his debts. That’s what Amy needs to do and then she can concentrate on planning their future together, or…
S11E3 2. The Boy From Bradford
Amy is risking it all for a relationship with career criminal Joe - but who is the boy from Bradford she’s falling in love with.Host Amber Haque delves deep into his past and jumps down the rabbit…
S11E2 1. When Amy Met Joe
The last thing mental health nurse Amy expected to encounter when she took a job at Lindholme prison was someone offering romance. Then she met Joe - cheeky, brimming with charisma and a career…
Frequently Asked Questions
Gangster has published 91 episodes since April 2021, covering topics in Documentary, Society & Culture.
Gangster is currently highly active with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 29m.
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