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Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst 

BBC Radio 5 Live

In the 1990s, Brian Brendan Wright, known as The Milkman, became one of the UK's most significant cocaine traffickers. His operation stretched from coca labs in Colombia, through Venezuelan jungles and Caribbean sea routes, to quiet marinas and racecourses in Britain. Bulk shipments crossed the Atlantic by sailboat. Cartel brokers negotiated deals in Miami. Public phone boxes carried coded conversations.

At home, Wright cultivated a different image: racehorse owner, gambler, a familiar face in elite restaurants and private boxes. Behind that public life sat an organisation moving hundreds of kilos of cocaine at a time. Couriers, skippers and middlemen handled the risk. Cocaine flooded British streets while its organiser remained largely unseen.

The investigation to dismantle the network lasted 11 years. Customs officers, DEA agents and police forces across multiple countries tracked phone numbers, cracked codes, followed boats and recruited insiders. Arrests reached from Colombian suppliers to UK logistics men. As pressure mounted, Wright fled abroad and became one of Britain's most wanted fugitives.

Gangster: The Story of the Milkman follows the rise and fall of a transatlantic cocaine empire — the smugglers who ran it, the officers who pursued it, and the human cost left in its wake.

Gangster

As cocaine profits multiply along the route to Europe, HMCE launches Operation Extend following the seizure of the Sea Mist. 

Barry Clarke and his team monitor payphones, trace Colombian numbers and build intelligence from a London office, attempting to map the network behind Brian Brendan Wright.

Operation Extend becomes a long-term effort to understand a network that communicates cautiously and avoids direct contact.

Alongside the logistics sits the human cost. Clare Campbell describes the impact of cocaine addiction on her brother, a respected journalist whose life unraveled. For investigators, the case is not only about shipments and surveillance, but the consequences of a trade that damages families while its organisers appear untouchable.

As surveillance tightens, Wright grows suspicious, phone boxes are abandoned and tactics shift. Across the Atlantic, US agents continue to pursue the Narco whose connections help explain how bulk quantities of cocaine reached Europe. 

Operation Extend becomes a test of patience - assembling fragments of intelligence in pursuit of the man known as The Milkman.

Credits
Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Louise Clarke
Producer: Patrick Kiteley 
Journalism Assistants: Tim Fernley and Hattie Valentine
Technical producer and sound designer: Nicky Edwards
Commissioning Editor: Louise Kattenhorn
Commissioning Producer: Sam Proffitt
Editor and Executive Producer: Tara McDermott

The Story of The Milkman: 3. Operation Extend

Who were the middlemen behind the cocaine flooding Britain in the 1990s? From midnight yacht transfers in the Atlantic to cartel Narcos in Miami, and US agents piecing together the network supplying Brian Brendan Wright.

Credits
Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Louise Clarke
Producer: Patrick Kiteley 
Journalism Assistants: Tim Fernley and Hattie Valentine
Technical producer and sound designer: Nicky Edwards
Commissioning Editor: Louise Kattenhorn
Commissioning Producer: Sam Proffitt
Editor and Executive Producer: Tara McDermott

The Story of The Milkman: 2. Cocaine by the Sea

A force nine gale off the coast of County Cork leads to a late-night report of a vessel behaving oddly in Cork Harbour. When Irish Customs board the Sea Mist, they uncover 600 kilos of cocaine hidden inside a dumb-waiter shaft. The seizure becomes one of the largest in Irish history and draws intense media attention as the crew appear in court in the small town of Cobh.

Evidence recovered on board - including a UK mobile phone number and a handheld GPS tracing a route from Venezuela across the Atlantic - points investigators towards Britain. Former HMCE officer Barry Clarke describes how the case begins to focus on a cautious, elusive figure with Irish roots: Brian Brendan Wright, known as The Milkman.

Set against the backdrop of 1990s Britain, where cocaine use is rising rapidly, the Sea Mist becomes the starting point for a long-running investigation into international cartels, middlemen and maritime smuggling - and the man accused of supplying industrial quantities of cocaine to the UK.

Credits
Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Louise Clarke
Producer: Patrick Kiteley
Journalism Assistants: Tim Fernley and Hattie Valentine
Technical producer and sound designer: Nicky Edwards
Commissioning Editor: Louise Kattenhorn
Commissioning Producer: Sam Proffitt
Editor and Executive Producer: Tara McDermott

The Story of The Milkman: 1. The Sea Mist

In the 1990s, Brian Brendan Wright, known as The Milkman, became one of the UK’s most significant cocaine traffickers. His operation stretched from coca labs in Colombia, through Venezuelan jungles and Caribbean sea routes, to quiet marinas and racecourses in Britain. Bulk shipments crossed the Atlantic by sailboat. Cartel brokers negotiated deals in Miami. Public phone boxes carried coded conversations.

At home, Wright cultivated a different image: racehorse owner, gambler, a familiar face in elite restaurants and private boxes. Behind that public life sat an organisation moving hundreds of kilos of cocaine at a time. Couriers, skippers and middlemen handled the risk. Cocaine flooded British streets while its organiser remained largely unseen.

The investigation to dismantle the network lasted 11 years. Customs officers, DEA agents and police forces across multiple countries tracked phone numbers, cracked codes, followed boats and recruited insiders. Arrests reached from Colombian suppliers to UK logistics men. As pressure mounted, Wright fled abroad and became one of Britain’s most wanted fugitives.

Gangster: The Story of the Milkman follows the rise and fall of a transatlantic cocaine empire — the smugglers who ran it, the officers who pursued it, and the human cost left in its wake.

Credits:

Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Louise Clarke
Producer: Patrick Kiteley 
Journalism Assistants: Tim Fernley and Hattie Valentine
Technical producer and sound designer: Nicky Edwards
Commissioning Editor: Louise Kattenhorn
Commissioning Producer: Sam Proffitt
Editor and Executive Producer: Tara McDermott

The Story of The Milkman: Trailer

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 ceremoniously flew home on a private jet chartered by The Sun newspaper, after 35 years on the run. Some celebrated him as a hero, others demanded he live the rest of his days in Belmarsh Prison. 

As the series comes to a close, actor Daniel Mays reflects on how and why Britain built-up the Ronnie Biggs myth.

Credits:
Presenter - Daniel Mays
Producers - Phoebe McIndoe & Jude Shapiro
Executive Producer - Jack Howson
Associate Exec - Chris Pickard
Mix Engineering - Will Fitzpatrick
Commissioning Producer - Sam Proffitt
Commissioning Executive - Louise Kattenhorn
Commissioning Editor - Richard Maddock

Contributors include:
Ursula and Chris Crocker, ex-housemates of Biggs
Professor Dick Hobbs, criminologist
Colin MacKenzie, crime reporter for the Daily Express
Professor Ruth Penfold-Mounce, celebrity crime expert
Chris Pickard, ghostwriter for Biggs
Nick Reynolds, sculptor and son of the Great Train Robbery gang leader
Jim Shreim, documentarian and neighbour of Biggs
Noel ‘Razor’ Smith, writer and former armed robber
Brian Stone, cellmate of Biggs
Mike Sullivan, crime editor for The Sun
Reverend Dave Tomlinson, officiant at Biggs's funeral

A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds

The Story of Ronnie Biggs: 6. The White Cliffs of Dover

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. Branded T-Shirts are available upon request.

Live music may be provided by the Sex Pistols or, otherwise, a pop band of adorable children. 

Warning: the risk of a kidnap attempt occurring within the duration of this event is high. Snakes are also a known hazard.

This episode has been edited since publication.

Credits:
Presenter - Daniel Mays
Producers - Phoebe McIndoe & Jude Shapiro
Executive Producer - Jack Howson
Associate Exec - Chris Pickard
Mix Engineering - Will Fitzpatrick
Commissioning Producer - Sam Proffitt
Commissioning Executive - Louise Kattenhorn
Commissioning Editor - Richard Maddock

Contributors include:
Michael ‘Breiti’ Breitkopf & Bruce Henry Leitman, musical collaborators of Biggs
Ursula Crocker, ex-housemate of Biggs
Colin MacKenzie, crime reporter for the Daily Express
Professor Ruth Penfold-Mounce, celebrity crime expert
Chris Pickard, ghostwriter for Biggs
Alex Popovics, son of Biggs’ partner Ulla Sopher
John Robb, musician and punk critic
Jim Shreim, documentarian and neighbour of Biggs

A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds

The Story of Ronnie Biggs: 5. The Magic Balloon Gang

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 Biggs rollercoaster is about to crank up for another wild ride that takes in a Scotland Yard sting, samba, teenage pregnancy, the tabloid scoop of the decade, and an accidental legal loophole that defies the British government.

Credits:
Presenter - Daniel Mays
Producers - Phoebe McIndoe & Jude Shapiro
Executive Producer - Jack Howson
Associate Exec - Chris Pickard
Mix Engineering - Will Fitzpatrick
Commissioning Producer - Sam Proffitt
Commissioning Executive - Louise Kattenhorn
Commissioning Editor - Richard Maddock

Contributors include:
Ursula and Chris Crocker, ex-housemates of Biggs
Colin MacKenzie, crime reporter for the Daily Express
Chris Pickard, ghostwriter for Biggs
Jim Shreim, documentarian and neighbour of Biggs
Noel ‘Razor’ Smith, writer and former armed robber

A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds

The Story of Ronnie Biggs: 4. The Slip-Up

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 the delights of mid-sixties Paris and Las Vegas. But the life of an outlaw is not all about cabaret clubs, Frank Sinatra residencies, and sweet freedom … painful plastic surgery and familial misery is part of the package too. 

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 Producer - Sam Proffitt
Commissioning Executive - Louise Kattenhorn
Commissioning Editor - Richard Maddock

Contributors include:
Ian Dowding, nephew of Biggs
Doctor Sharonna Pearl, historian and face theorist
Nick Reynolds, sculptor and son of the Great Train Robbery gang leader
Noel ‘Razor’ Smith, writer and former armed robber
Brian Stone, cellmate of Biggs

A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds

The Story of Ronnie Biggs: 3. The Land of Milk and Honey

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 - outside the jail walls - the British establishment is shaking under the weight of working-class anger, the Profumo affair, the Swinging Sixties, and a media frenzy at the severe sentences handed down to the Great Train Robbers. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this programme, details of organisations offering information and support can be found at bbc.co.uk/actionline

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 Producer - Sam Proffitt 
Commissioning Executive - Louise Kattenhorn 
Commissioning Editor - Richard Maddock 

Contributors include: 
Professor Dick Hobbs, criminologist 
Noel ‘Razor’ Smith, writer and former armed robber 
Brian Stone, cellmate of Biggs 

A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds

The Story of Ronnie Biggs: 2. The Hate Factory

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 ‘legend’ born? Actor Daniel Mays delves into unheard Ronnie Biggs tapes and takes us back to the rubble of post-war London to find out …

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 Producer - Sam Proffitt
Commissioning Executive - Louise Kattenhorn
Commissioning Editor - Richard Maddock

Contributors include:
Professor Dick Hobbs, criminologist
Nick Reynolds, sculptor and son of the Great Train Robbery gang leader
Noel ‘Razor’ Smith, writer and former armed robber
Brian Stone, cellmate of Biggs

A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds

The Story of The Milkman: 2. Cocaine by the Sea

Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst

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