Shooting has begun on the first of three planned films about the biggest burglary in British history.

The Hatton Garden Job, based on last year’s £14m Hatton Garden raid, boasts former EastEnders stars Larry Lamb and Phil Daniels among an impressive cast of homegrown talent.

Downton Abbey’s Matthew Goode, Game of Thrones’ Clive Russell and True Blood’s Stephen Moyer will also appear in the film, helmed and co-written by Ronnie Thompson.

Lamb will be playing Dartford ringleader Brian Reader, the 77-year-old who was jailed for six years and three months at Woolwich Crown Court in May after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary.

His sentencing was delayed multiple times due to his ill health — he was kept in Belmarsh Prison’s hospital wing and was later photographed with an armed escort at Queen Elizabeth Hospital after he suffered a stroke.

Reader’s accomplices – John Collins, 75, Daniel Jones, 61, Terry Perkins, 67, Carl Wood, 59, William Lincoln, 60, and Hugh Doyle, 49 – were also jailed for between six and seven years.

The gang ransacked 73 safety deposit boxes between them and only a third have been recovered.

The Hatton Garden Job is expected to be released later this year, with an estimated runtime of 100 minutes and a certificate of 15.

Also in pre-production are The Hatton Garden Heist, directed by Gabe Turner, which is set to debut in 2017.

The Theory of Everything director James Marsh is attached to helm an as-yet-untitled third project. The script is being penned by Joe Penhall, who wrote 2009’s critically acclaimed The Road.

Earlier this year, Hollywood legend Sir Michael Caine said he would jump at the chance to star as Reader in a film about the heist.

The veteran actor, who turned 83 in March, said: “The four guys in Hatton Garden, they are very, very tough. I’ve heard my name and Ray Winstone’s name mentioned. I would do it in an instant.

“There are not many opportunities for me to play the lead in a movie [at the age of 83]. It’s unbelievable.”