There’s nothing worse than having access to a streaming service and wanting to watch a show, only to find out it’s no longer there. It used to be rare, but streaming services are now releasing TV shows and movies more frequently to save money.
It turns out that Paramount Plus did exactly that. Surprisingly he gave me a show and I’m furious.
The show in question is “The Gold,” starring Hugh Bonneville, Dominic Cooper, Charlotte Spencer and Jack Lowden. The show tells the story of the Brink’s-Mat robbery in London in 1983. The six-episode first season was a hit for the BBC in the UK and a slightly quieter hit in the US for Paramount Plus. It was also a critical success, earning a 92% fresh rating on the rotten tomatoes Tomatometer. He bbc He even renewed it for a second reason last November.
But now, if you have Paramount Plus, there is no way to watch the show. And people only find out when they go to Paramount Plus to find the show. I only found out about it from a recent episode of “The Watch,” a Ringer podcast.
So what happened? How did it happen that a critically successful show, renewed for a second season, with stars in the cast and two major studios behind it, was pulled from a major streaming service? And now that it’s gone from Paramount Plus, can you still watch it? After some research, I have the answer to both questions.
Solved the mystery of the disappearance of ‘El Oro’
While I just learned that “The Gold” had ironically been stolen from Paramount Plus, it seems like people have been slowly noticing this disappearance from Paramount’s catalog over the last month. A Reddit thread on the r/ParamountPlus subreddit shows comments from about a month ago indicating that the program had mysteriously disappeared.
Although it seems strange that [Paramount] then also sacrifice the US streaming rights, perhaps the money just didn’t cover Paramount Global, which is in the midst of Peacock merger rumors and financial struggles.
That thread also indicated that no one had seen this coming or knew why it happened. So I did some research and I think I figured it out. “The Gold” debuted on February 12, 2023. The show disappeared around February 2024. So Paramount only had streaming rights to its co-production for a mere year? Mathematics dictates that is the case, but logic does not follow. Why would Paramount lose the rights to a show currently in production for its second season?
The reason, it seems, could be simple. In the season 2 announcement, Deadline reported that Paramount was no longer involved in the production of “The Gold.” While it seems strange that they then sacrificed US streaming rights as well, perhaps the money just didn’t add up for Paramount Global, which is in the midst of Peacock merger rumors and financial struggles.
While it’s not a satisfying ending to this mystery, I’m sure it’s the most likely cause of why “The Gold” is no longer on Paramount Plus. So now the question is…where can you watch it?
Where to watch season 1 of “El Oro”
If you’re in the UK, there’s good news. Your best option to see “The Gold” was always BBC iPlayer, and you can still see it there right now. And if you’re a Brit abroad, you can use a VPN like ExpressVPN to watch wherever you are.
But if you are American, you are limited to paid video-on-demand streaming services like Amazon, Apple TV, etc. Of these, I recommend buying or renting “The Gold” in Amazon. Amazon offers you the largest number of options to buy or rent: 4K, Full HD and standard definition.
I’ll probably do it myself soon. You can rent the entire first season for just $9.99 in standard definition. That’s a steal compared to getting it as part of a Paramount Plus subscription, but given that the show has been praised by many, including Don, who called it “British television at its finest,” I just have to watch this show one way or another. Let this be a lesson to anyone who relies on streaming services to keep a show going.
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