This is the story of Rose Dugdale and how she went from being an English debutante curtsying in front of the Queen to an avid supporter of the IRA and a shocking art thief.
The Heiress And The Heist is the story of the 1974 Russborough House heist and how a gang led by Rose Dugdale, a former debutante from London’s high society, stole £8 million worth of paintings.
Their demands? To free the Price sisters who were facing a prison sentence for the 1973 car-bombing attacks and were being force-fed while on hunger strike.
EPISODE ONE – Tuesday 9:35pm
On the night of April 26th, 1974, Rose Dugdale and three armed men forced their way into Russborough House with the intention of stealing a series of paintings for the IRA. The Palladian mansion housed one of the most exquisite art collections in the world. And so Rose and her gang were able to escape with 19 paintings valued at £8 million, today’s equivalent of more than €100 million. The story travels back in time to Rose’s background – her privileged upbringing in an aristocratic family and her academic achievements at Oxford and abroad – to reveal how these chapters of her life led her down the path of a revolutionary. Moved to action after Bloody Sunday, she develops bold plans in support of the IRA, even stealing from her own family home to obtain funds. Then, she follows the cause to Northern Ireland, where she engineers a plan with Eddie Gallagher to drop milk churns loaded with explosives on the RUC station in Strabane.
