An ‘incredibly tense’ new heist thriller starring Eddie Marsan is based on one of the most notorious crimes in British history.
No Ordinary Heist, which releases in cinemas in the UK on March 27, follows the extraordinary true story of two bank executives who were held hostage for 24 hours while officials were forced to raid their bank.
In total, £26,500,000 was loaded into a van and driven away from the Northern Bank in Belfast.
Inspired by the events in December 2004, a crime thriller starring the Back to Black star and Saipan’s Éanna Hardwicke is now set to be released.
Discussing his upcoming project, Marsan told BBC Radio Ulster: ‘I was fascinated by the opening, the opening first 10 pages, the idea that the bank manager and the security guard were forced to rob their own bank.
‘It was a brilliant script. It was brilliantly paced out. And then when you add the music, the music in the film had such incredible tension.’
Cork actor Hardwicke also told the radio show how he was drawn into the film.
He said: ‘I knew that was at the time the biggest bank heist in British and Irish history. And then I read Colin’s script and met Colin and, I suppose, realised quickly that this was very much based on those events.
‘It was inspired by the Northern Bank robbery but I focused and kind of foregrounded the relationship of these two men who were based on the characters, based on the men who were forced to commit this robbery.
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‘That’s what drew me to it.’
The robbery in question occurred just days before Christmas in 2004 when gangs of armed men took over the homes of two Northern Bank officials in Belfast and County Down.
With family members held hostage, the officials were instructed to remove cash from the vaults and load it into the back of a van.
After the crime, Northern Bank announced it would withdraw most of its bank notes and re-issue them in a different colour and style.
Some of the notes that were stolen were then later found in Cork.
Chris Ward, of Colinmill, Poleglass, who was one of the two bank employees forced to assist the robbers, was arrested in November 2005 on suspicion of being an ‘inside man’.
However, in October 2008 he was found not guilty of facilitating the robbery.
To this day, no one has been convicted of direct involvement in the robbery and the majority of the money has never been recovered.
This comes after a ‘gripping’ BBC crime thriller watched by 10,000,000 people confirmed its shock return after a decade.
Psychological thriller Doctor Foster, which consistently drew in millions of viewers, will return for a third and final season.
It will also see the return of lead stars Suranne Jones as well as Bertie Carvel and Tom Taylor as Gemma, Simon and Tom Foster, respectively.
No Ordinary Heist is in cinemas from March 27.
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