Money spinners

A group of weavers turn to crime to save their community in a true-life period drama

NEW DRAMA 
The Gallows Pole Wednesday, 9pm, BBC2 (box set, BBC iPlayer) 

Shane Meadows has won acclaim for hard-hitting dramas such as The Virtues and This Is England, and now the celebrated writer and director turns his hand to historical drama in this powerful series.

Set in the 1760s, The Gallows Pole tells the true story of the Cragg Vale Coiners, a group of weavers in rural Yorkshire whose livelihoods are disappearing in the face of the onrushing Industrial Revolution.

Led by David Hartley (Michael Socha), the workers begin producing fake gold coins in a bid to put food on the table - even though the enterprise could cost them their lives.