‘The Diamond Heist’ Review: A Dazzling Docuseries on Britain’s Most Audacious Robbery Attempt

Imagine a gang of career criminals, a flawless 203-carat diamond worth £200 million, and a heist so bold it feels pulled straight from a Hollywood script. The Diamond Heist, a new three-part docuseries on Netflix executive produced by Guy Ritchie, dives headfirst into the real-life attempt to steal the Millennium Star from London’s Millennium Dome in 2000 — and it doesn’t hold back.

Although Ritchie doesn’t direct, his fingerprints are all over this slick, swaggering series produced by Lightbox, the team behind Oscar and Emmy-winning documentaries. It’s a gripping blend of real crime and stylized storytelling — complete with freeze frames, loud typography, and characters larger than life. It might not be fiction, but it sure feels like a movie.

At the heart of the plot is Lee Wenham, a charismatic South Londoner born into crime. Having left school at 12, he was pulling in thousands a week by his twenties. The documentary paints him as one of the ringleaders of the gang that tried to pull off what could’ve been the biggest robbery in British history.

Their target? The De Beers diamond exhibit, showcasing the Millennium Star and other jewels totaling a jaw-dropping £350 million. Why a global diamond giant thought it wise to display priceless gems in the capital’s criminal epicenter remains one of the story’s more baffling details.

Wenham’s path to the Dome was personal. Hoping to prove himself to his father, also a lifelong criminal, he saw the diamond job as a legacy move. A trip to the Dome with his daughter Beth — now a featured voice in the series — became a reconnaissance mission for the potential crime of the century.

Episode one, titled Robbers, sets the scene in true Guy Ritchie fashion: kinetic edits, sharp quips, and criminal camaraderie. We watch the crew test a nail gun against reinforced glass, map out escape routes, and time police response windows — all while plotting a speedboat getaway on the Thames.

Despite some stylish excess and the occasional narrative detour, ‘The Diamond Heist’ is a satisfying deep dive into a real-life crime that feels stranger — and slicker — than fiction.

The Cops, episode two, shifts focus to the Flying Squad, the specialist police unit shadowing the gang’s every move. Dry humor meets dogged surveillance as officers narrate their suspicions, stakeouts, and covert installs — including hidden cameras at Wenham’s family farm, the gang’s makeshift HQ.

The final episode, Cops and Robbers, wraps the story with chaos, arrests, and courtroom drama. The heist ultimately failed, but the aftermath delivers its own twists, including betrayals, breakdowns, and that classic British criminal irony: they almost got away with it.

What sets The Diamond Heist apart isn’t just the wildness of the crime — it’s the dual narrative. We see both sides of the law, both sets of egos, both failures and bravado. It glamorizes some moments a little too much, perhaps, but that’s par for the course with a story of this caliber.

Despite some stylish excess and the occasional narrative detour, The Diamond Heist is a satisfying deep dive into a real-life crime that feels stranger — and slicker — than fiction. It’s a blast of nostalgia for the early 2000s, and a reminder that sometimes, truth really is wilder than the movies.

All 3 episodes of The Diamond Heist are now available on Netflix

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