Is The Bank Job a true story? The Film Based On The Baker Street Robbery

The Bank Job is a thriller that tells the story of a bank robbery. Terry Leather (Jason Statham) is a car dealer who is financially struggling. When his ex-girlfriend, Martine (Saffron Burrows) makes a deal with him and asks him to rob a bank, he puts together a team and carries on with the task. It is not just a heist but a plot to retrieve confidential photos of Princess Margaret from gangster Michael X’s safety deposit. This movie involving the royal family, top secrets, sexcapades, bank robbery and more has the audience questioning, is The Bank Job a true story?

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Is The Bank Job a true story?

Yes. It is based on the Baker Street robbery that happened in the Lloyds bank in London in 1971 It initially became a headline on many newspapers and was dubbed the 'walkie-talkie bank job' because some random person heard the robbers' conversation on his walkie-talkie unintentionally. Later, the government issued a D notice ordering the media not to cover the story. This movie that released nearly four decades later is an attempt to reveal the truth of the Baker Street robbery but the director of the film, Roger Donaldson, has fictionalised the story a little bit. So, what actually happened during the Baker Street robbery? Below is a report as covered by The Chicago Reader's The Bleader. 

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The robbers who were later referred to as the 'sewer rats'  made a tunnel into the Lloyds bank's basement, where the safety deposit lockers are kept. They stole a lot of cash and jewellery. A walkie-talkie user overheard the conversation between the robbers and reported it to the police station. With the gang of robbers having escaped, the conversation was broadcasted. The robbers were arrested but there are no reports detailing the years of sentence for them. And how was Princess Margaret involved in this?

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George McIndoe, one of the producers of the movie, personally met up with two of the robbers. McIndoe discovered that the British Intelligence Service MI5 were involved in the theft. They wanted to get hold of a scandalous photo of Princess Margaret which underworld gangster Michael X had in his possession in a safety deposit box in the bank. According to Daily Mirror UK, the robbers had no idea about the MI5 being involved. Narrating the incident to Mirror, one of the thieves told that the tunnelling took three weeks as they did all their work during the weekends alone. They left a spray-painted message that read, "Let Sherlock Holmes try to solve this." If you wish to see the movie, it is on Amazon Prime.

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Image Courtesy: Still from The Bank Job