Anarchy in UK over Geelong’s Biggs film

By Noel Murphy
A MOVIE filmed in Geelong about Ronnie Biggs’ wife Charmaine has been slammed in the British media for its sympathetic portrayal of the Great Train Robbery figure.
The five-part ITV series, with scenes shot in May at Old Geelong Goal, was drummed as the chance for Biggs’ wife Charmian Brent to finally tell her story.
But British press said it was opening old wounds for Biggs’ victims and their families.
Biggs told this reporter some years ago that Great Train robbers had been vilified for killing a train driver who in fact died of cancer several years after the 1963 robbery.
Biggs was sentenced to 30 years for his part in the robbery, which hauled 2.6 million pounds in banknotes. He escaped Wandsworth Prison to Australia then Rio de Janeiro before returning to England in 2001.