Treasure Hunter Tommy Thompson Docuseries Greenlit At Nat Geo From BBC Studios

Peter White
Updated ·2 min read

Tommy Thompson, the scientist and explorer who discovered three tons of gold from the wreck of the S.S. Central America and later ended up in prison, is the subject of a new docuseries for Nat Geo.

The network has ordered Lost Gold (w/t) from BBC Studios’ Documentary Unit.

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The three-part series will tell the story of how he discovered the wreck to the turmoil that led to his prison sentence.

In 1989, Tommy Thompson stunned the world by recovering three tons of gold and historically priceless artifacts. Despite this staggering achievement, Tommy would be caught in a maelstrom of litigation, deception and personal turmoil for the next three decades as he tried to hold onto his find. Facing serious allegations, accused of defrauding his 161 investors, he went from ship deck to courtroom to prison cell. How — and why — did Tommy’s extraordinary success unravel?

The series has exclusive access to a video archive from the original expeditions and will tell the story with the help of Gary Kinder, author of Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea. It includes 600 hours of archive footage and thousands of slides, prints, photos and newspaper clippings on the original exploration mission — the majority of which have never been seen before.

The series is exec produced by Alexander Leith for BBC Studios and Chris Kugelman for National Geographic Content. Georgia Braham is producer and Sam Benstead is series director.

“Every so often, you come across a story so captivating that you feel compelled to get to the heart of it,” said Tom McDonald, EVP of Global Factual/Unscripted, National Geographic. “Lost Gold encompasses all that we are passionate about at Nat Geo: exploration, adventure, discovery, and at its core, truth-telling. We cannot think of a better partner than BBC Studios to execute this series with.”

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