True love or lies?:
In the new drama Gold Digger, a man embarks on an affair with a wealthy woman almost twice his age, causing family suspicions. Jim Maloney reports.
A gritty British drama turns a love affair on its head.
Is Benjamin Golding a ‘gold digger’? That’s the question which lies at the heart of an absorbing new British drama.
In Gold Digger, Ben Barnes (Westworld) plays Benjamin Greene, a 36-year-old copywriter. He becomes involved with a well-to-do older woman, 60-year-old Julia Day (Julia Ormond, Legends Of The Fall, Sabrina).
She is 24 years his senior, but despite the large age gap, their romance rapidly becomes serious.
At the same time, however, those close to Julia start to suspect Benjamin’s real intentions.
Written and created by Marnie Dickens (Thirteen), the six-part drama gradually uncovers Julia’s family secrets, which have long been hidden from view.
In addition, Gold Digger explores the impact that the relationship has on Julia’s already troubled family.
The romance slowly but surely fractures the lives of her children – Patrick (Sebastian Armesto, Poldark, Broadchurch), Julia’s high-flying eldest son, who is always attempting to do the right thing; Della (Jemima Rooper, Lost In Austen, Trauma), the middle child with an alarming capacity to self destruct; and Leo (Archie Renaux), the baby of the family, who still lives with his mother and puts his father on a pedestal.
The drama co-stars Alex Jennings (Unforgotten, The Crown) as Julia’s ex-husband Ted, Nikki Amuka-Bird (NW, Hard Sun) as Julia’s former best friend Marsha, and Julia McKenzie (Agatha Christie’s Marple) as Ted’s mother, Hazel.
Has Julia finally found the love of her life? Or is Benjamin the insidious gold digger her family all believe him to be?
Barnes, 37, who played Prince Caspian in The Chronicles
Of Narnia cycle of movies, says he was drawn to Gold Digger because it portrays the sort of relationship that is not often witnessed on screen.
“What I really love about Gold Digger is that it is an older woman and a younger man, and in cinema and TV, that’s something we only get to see the other way around.
“We’re living in an age where all of these issues should be entirely antiquated. But I still think this should pique our interest and redress the balance a little. It’s interesting to toy with stereotypes of femme-fatale characters and these younger-women-and-older-male dynamics, which have been played out in so many films over the years.”
For example, Barnes continues, “In action films, we often see an older man with a beautiful and much younger woman, and nobody even bats an eye at that relationship.
“We see these 55-, 60-year-old male movie stars with these 20-something-year-old actresses opposite them and don’t even question it.
“So it’s always good to show things from a different angle. It is always worth telling a story that you feel is under-represented.”
The 37 year old, who has also starred in The Punisher and Sons Of Liberty, continues that, “I’m not pretending to be any kind of social justice warrior for taking on a role such as this one.
“At the same time, I think that any story which puts a 60-year-old female character at its centre, talks about her journey and tells it from her perspective is something which is less than usual.”
Barnes has spent the past 10 years working in the US, so he was delighted to film Gold Digger in his native Britain.
“It’s amazing to be back in England. I hadn’t been able to film back home in 10 years. It’s really great because I get to use my own accent again on a set, which actually felt a bit awkward at first.
“But it’s interesting to go and play a character where I can use more of myself and my own attributes.”
Benjamin is clearly a figure who will divide audiences. But Barnes hopes that, whatever they think of his character, viewers will be enthralled by this drama.
“Just like a lot of good stories in life, Gold Digger holds a mirror up to humanity.
“When the viewers are watching, there will be judgments made about my character and his intentions.
“The audience really becomes part of it. This drama poses interesting questions that are absolutely worthwhile.
“It turns the lens very much on the person watching it – and that is an exercise which is always fascinating.”
“What I really love about Gold Digger is that it is an older woman and a younger man.”
– Ben Barnes