Hidden Assets: RTÉ's new crime drama goes deep with the CAB
Cathy Belton as CAB detective Norah Dillon in Hidden Assets.
Just a week after Kin wrapped up, the national broadcaster will fill that Sunday night slot with a new crime drama. Hidden Assets, a six-part thriller, was created in partnership with US network AMC and is partly set in Belgium.
The series, which is set to air on RTÉ One from Sunday, centres around a Criminal Assets Bureau detective (Angeline Ball) and a “by-the-book” Belgian inspector (Wouter Hendrickx) as they race to halt an international terror attack.
"A routine raid sees the Criminal Assets Bureau expose a link between a wealthy Irish family, a stash of rough diamonds and a series of deadly bombings in Belgium,” a description for the show reads.
"If anything has Peter McKenna's name on it, I don't even need to read the script," says cast member Cathy Belton, who previously worked with the highly-rated writer (Hidden Assets was co-written by Morna Reganon) on Red Rock.
Belton plays the role of Nora on the show, one of four members of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) team involved with the investigation.
"We were a real team. It was such a unit. We had a lot of fun but it was also tough work because all of our scenes were in the same location. Nora, who I play, comes from Revenue so a lot of my stuff was in the office chasing the money. Instead of a gun, I had a pen,” Belton says.
“There's a great line in it where my character describes what money laundering is. She says it's like a cancer and that she needs to know every nook and cranny of where it's going. She says it's like a car chase, only better, and I think it's a great way of describing the obsession she has with her job."
Belton worked with a real member from the bureau ahead of filming, which she says was an eye-opening experience.
"It is amazing what CAB does. One of the great privileges of my job is to get an insight into what different people do and when you get one of these roles it's just jaw-dropping," she says.
"I am blown away by the work these people do. They are real heroes. I’ve become so aware of any article that mentions CAB now. The work they do and the money they’re bringing back into the country for us, they’re just extraordinary people."
It’s this element of Hidden Assets, as well as the usual high-paced drama a crime show brings, that Belton believes differentiates it from what’s been done before.
"It's really different and there's a great tension in it," she says. "It's a thriller but it's also a real insight into the frankly heroic work that CAB does for our country. After working with my source, I've realised that these people are risking their lives, it isn't just an office job. My source told me that it was an honour to serve his country and I just thought 'wow'.”
The story moves between a small town in Co Clare, where the filming for Belton’s scenes took place, and Antwerp, the diamond capital of the world. It’s in the latter location that the series really gains its momentum.
"What's exciting is that half of it is set in Belgium, where it really builds up to the terrorist attacks. It moves from this domestic small office drama to a huge, corrupt, international world,” Belton said.
"What's scary though is that that’s when it starts to feel real. I read stuff in the newspaper and think: 'My God that could be Hidden Assets'."
- Hidden Assets starts on Sunday, November 7 on RTÉ One
