TV | Heist: The Northern Bank Robbery

Darragh MacIntyre & Sam McBride

Heist: The Northern Bank Robbery, on Monday 3 May at 9pm, tells the story of what was the biggest heist in British history just days before Christmas, in December 2004 when the Northern Bank in Belfast was robbed.

In a sophisticated operation, the gang took two families hostage for 24 hours, forcing two bank employees to rob £26.5M from the cash centre. Suspicion immediately fell on the Provisional IRA and a political storm ensued which threatened to derail a fragile peace process. Sixteen years on, despite an international police investigation, it remains unsolved.

With exclusive access to new source material - including police 999 calls along with internal bank CCTV and court documents - they piece together what could have happened.

Through interviews with key players - in politics, policing and financial crime - they uncover what happened to the main suspects in the cross-border police investigation and ask whether the robbery may, inadvertently, have helped the peace process.

Featured are:

John Horan – expert in Anti-Money Laundering, Bribery and Corruption and Financial Crime

Alan McQuillan – former Director of the Assets Recovery Agency

Niall Murphy – Solicitor

Michael McDowell - former Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform

Dr Mitchell Reiss – US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland under Bush administration

Peter Robinson – former leader of DUP and First Minister of NI

Ted Cunningham – Cork-based financier – the first person convicted in relation to the Northern Bank robbery

Sir Hugh Orde – former Chief Constable PSNI

Anthony McIntyre – former IRA member

Bertie Ahern – former Taoiseach

Brian Feeney – Commentator

Tom Kelly –Prime Minister Tony Blair's former official spokesperson (2001-2007)

Andrée Murphy – Commentator

Chris Moore – Journalist

Heist: The Northern Bank Robbery

Monday 3 May | BBC One NI | 9pm