It was the ‘crime of the century’, the biggest burglary in English legal history - and it was carried out by a bunch of pensioners. Last year’s Hatton Garden heist reads so much like a film script that it is no surprise a big screen adaptation is already under way.

Crystal Palace filmmaker Mark Harris is co-producing The Hatton Garden Job and hopes to release it by the end of the year.

He told us: “We are making a Long Good Friday, Hoskins in his old days, a very good earthy London film - like you had Gangster Number One, like you had the Long Good Friday. These films come once in a blue moon. This is what this film is.”

To recap: last Easter £14 million in diamonds, jewellery, gold and cash was taken from the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company in London after a 50 cm hole was drilled through the wall.

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It was a crime that caught the nation’s attention, and not just because of the numbers involved.

It soon emerged that the raiders were not a gang of elite thieves at the top of their game, but a bunch of men in their sixties and seventies led by 76-year-old Brian Reader from Dartford, who they called The Guvnor and The Master.

It got better and better when facts more about the raid emerged, such as Reader travelling by bus and the look-out falling asleep.

The press dubbed them variously Dad’s Army, Bad Grandpas and the Diamond Wheezers.

All of which made it an irresistible story for Harris, 44, to tell.

He said: “It is probably one of the biggest crimes of the century, so why wouldn’t I?

“Listen, you do not make money out of British films. It is far too small.

“It is not about money – I hope the film will pay for itself. Like the [raiders] that actually got sentenced, we will probably be losing money on it. That’s f*****g British film for you.”

After parting ways with original writer Simon Cluett, Harris and co-producer Ben Jacques have enlisted Ronnie Thompson to pen the script and an award-winning director whose name is currently under wraps.

The eight week shoot is due to begin in May using as many of the genuine locations as possible.

He said: “You can expect the actual true events. There is going to be a little bit of fiction, which is normal in films, but it is really a true crime story.

“It is going to have a little bit of comedy in it as well.

“These old boys, they were old, they were Londoners and from Kent, so it is going to have a real good feel factor.

“They were harmless, you’ve got to remember that. They weren’t at one time but this was the last job.

“We’re basing it on the [heist] but it will have a lot of warmth and empathy with the characters.

“And the characters are real. It is based on factual evidence which has been released in the press and the media.”

He added: “The characters, we’re basing it on their naughtiness. These are men that did have a criminal activity background but they are also family guys.

“It is like a London Sopranos. It is a heist for Christ’s sake. It’s a really big thing.”

The announcement of a Hatton Garden heist film set tongues wagging all over the world, with discussion rife over who would play the Reader, the Dartford mastermind of the operation.

Sir Michael Caine even went on record to say he would be interested.

But Harris remained tight-lipped on his cast, other than to say it would not include Caine.

He said: “We have got some good London faces, some good English faces, a great cast lined-up, a fantastic female that’s internationally based and we will be announcing that once we are more secure.

“I can promise you will have some very good London faces and some characters that everyone will warm to. It will be a fantastic film and it is one hundred per cent going to cinema.”

He added: “We are not in talks with Michael Caine, by the way. People reported Michael Caine had been on the project. That is definitely not going ahead.

“The reason that is not going ahead is simply: if Hollywood wants to make a film and Michael Caine wants to listen, let that be. But that will be a glossy piece of s**t.”

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