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Hustle (TV series)

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Hustle
File:Hustle title card-640.jpg
Series title card
Created byTony Jordan
StarringMarc Warren
Robert Vaughn
Robert Glenister
Jaime Murray
Ashley Walters
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of series4
No. of episodes24 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time60 minutes per episode (UK)
Original release
NetworkBBC One
ReleaseFebruary 24, 2004 –
present
ReleaseList of episodes
ReleaseList of episodes
ReleaseList of episodes
ReleaseList of episodes
ReleaseList of episodes
ReleaseList of episodes
ReleaseList of episodes

Hustle is a British television comedy-drama series made by Kudos Film & Television for BBC One in the United Kingdom. The fourth series started on Thursday 3rd May, and aired every Thursday at 9:00 pm on BBC One and BBC HD[1] and every Wednesday on AMC [2].


Background

File:Hustlepicture5.jpg
Four of the members of the gang taken from Series 4 - Episode 3

Created by Tony Jordan (who also wrote many of the scripts), Hustle follows a group of London-based con artists as they attempt to dupe money out of their victims ("marks"). Despite their chosen trade, they adhere to codes such as "bad behaviour breeds bad luck". In particular they adhere to the first rule of the con "you can't cheat an honest man" because an honest man doesn't want something for nothing.

The series frequently breaks the fourth wall (usually at least once per episode) and uses cutaway scenes shot in a different style from the rest of the show. For example, in several episodes the characters appear to "stop time", interacting with other characters that are frozen in place, discussing the con either with each other, or even with the audience. The technique is used as a metaphor for how the main characters manipulate their environment at will, as opposed to normal people who have no clue of what is going on. Examples of this can be seen in the pilot episode, "Gold Mine", the first episode of the second series and "Signing up to Wealth", the second episode of the fourth series. Other fourth wall-breaking moments are more subtle - a character smiles at the camera as the con begins to take shape, or makes an editorial comment to the viewers. Some episodes insert fantasy sequences - scenes shot like a Bollywood musical or a silent movie, for example.

File:Hustleimage2.jpg
AMC promotional image (series 4).

Each episode also amounts to a confidence game played upon the viewers through the use of mis-direction and hidden plot details that are revealed at the end of the story. Not all cons depicted are successful, and some episodes focus on the characters dealing with the consequences of their actions.

In addition to one long con, each episode features a number of short cons played by the major characters on members of the public. The short cons demonstrate the seemingly endless array of tricks professional conmen possess and the ease with which short cons can be played.

The first six-episode series was originally broadcast in February and March 2004, and a second six-episode series began on 29 March 2005 and ran until May 2005. The third series began on 10 March 2006 (and began on 14 April 2006 on BBC One Scotland).The fourth series began in Britain on Thursday May 3rd at 9:00pm[3] and in the U.S. 18 April, 2007[4].

In October 2005, it was announced that the BBC had sold United States screening rights for the first two seasons to cable television station AMC, who has also joined as a production partner for the third run. The series is also screened in Spain and Portugal through the People+Arts channel, partially owned by BBC and the first two seasons aired back-to-back on CBC in Canada during the summer of 2006. The third season premiered on CBC on February 13, 2007. Season 4 marked a departure from the usual airing of the series. Typically, the BBC would air the episode in the UK and then 6 to 9 months later they would air in the US on AMC. However, due to the additional funding that AMC provided for the production, Series 4 debuted in the US prior to airing in the UK.

The series got its own spin-off documentary, The Real Hustle, in which Paul Wilson, Jessica-Jane Clement and Alexis Conran travel the country demonstrating cons to real people with the aid of hidden cameras. It is aired regularly on BBC Three.

Cast

Main Characters

Contacts

  • Neil Cooper (played by Tom Mannion) is another con artist who helps Mickey in Season 1, Episode 1. He acts as a police officer named DePalmer who heads the investigation into the crew.
  • Tip Jones (played by Brian Pettifer) is a forger of classical art. Albert says that Tip is the best forger in the business but is very untrustworthy. When he is first seen it is said that an operation went wrong and he has thus suffered from brain damage. However, this is all a ruse by Tip to fool the Fraud Squad so that he doesn't have to stand trial. Once Albert mentions how much money they intend to con Meredith Gates out of then he soon comes out of his "brain damaged" state. Tip forges an original Mondrian which the crew sell to the collector Meredith Gates. However, Tip betrays the crew and attempts to take the crew's money.
  • Samuel Richards (played by Richard Harrington) is a thief, who wants to steal the diamond that Moore's Bank stole from his father. The crew help him because Victor Maher (the Head of Security at the Bank) forces them to catch Richards but they con Maher as well. Mickey forms a bond with Richards because he feels that their fathers were similar people.
  • Adam Rice (played by Paul Nicholls) is a thief regarded by the police as "The Ghost" due to his ability to just disappear from the crime scene or elude people trying to follow him. He is the kind of person who is used to being followed and so every so often he pulls a vanishing trick just to be on the safe side. He is a keen parachutist and this hobby has come in handy in his line of work when he has needed to get over electric fences and the like. He only works with people he has hand-picked and doesn't like being approached for jobs. He turns Mickey and Danny down when they try and get him to recruit them for his next job. They try and convince him that whatever he is going to steal they will make copies of it and then sell them on as the original thus increasing the take (just like they did with the Star of Africa). He then he shows up in their flat willing to recruit them (well Ashley Morgan really as he needed Ash to shut down the security systems) while Mickey, Danny, and himself steal an original Hans Christian Andersen manuscript.

Marks

Series 1

  • Peter Williams
  • Frank Gorley
  • Meredith Gates
  • Victor Maher
  • Katherine Winterborn
  • Steven Winterborn
  • Anthony Reeves

Series 2

  • Howard Jennings
  • Johnny Keyes

Series 3

  • Benny Frazier
  • Kulvindar Samar
  • Frances Owen
  • Tim Millen

Series 4

  • Anthony Westley
  • Dickie Brennan
  • Veronica Powell
  • Clarissa Bartwell
  • Johnny Maranzano

Guest stars

Episodes

Series 1

The 2006 DVD release of the first series does not provide episode names, instead referring to each episode as "Con 1", "Con 2", etc.

# Title Writer Director Airdate(U.K)
1"The Con is On"Tony JordanBharat Nalluri24 February 2004
The episode begins with Michael Stone's release from prison. Tricking Ash, Stacie and Albert into believing that he is to carry out one last con before he retires, Mickey forms a group to perform an investment scam on a businessman, Peter Williams. Danny, having not impressed Mickey earlier in the episode, turns up at a key moment in the con to convince Williams to take part, gaining him entry to the group. However, Danny is approached by police officers and in a confrontation with Mickey, Mickey is shot in the head. Danny is faced with a choice: either testify against the other members of the group or go to prison with them. When he refuses, it is revealed that this dilemma was simply a test, Mickey isn't dead, and that the man leading the police investigation was a fellow con artist.
2"Faking It"Tony JordanBharat Nalluri3 March 2004
Albert gets beaten up after being caught cheating at cards and the crew decides to take revenge on the thug who is a casino owner and avid movie fan.
3"Picture Perfect"Matthew GrahamBharat Nalluri9 March 2004
The gang has a painting forged and sells it to an unknowing art enthusiast.
4"Cops and Robbers"Tony JordanMinkie Spiro16 March 2004
Mickey is blackmailed by a former cop-turned-bank security manager, who threatens to send Danny to prison if Mickey doesn't help him catch an habitual bank robber. Mickey soon realizes that the ex-cop is setting a trap for Mickey himself, while the bank robber is in fact simply seeking the return of a valuable family heirloom.
5"A Touch of Class"Ashley PharoahBharat Nalluri23 March 2004
A rich, bitchy, recently divorced woman is the target of the con. Everything is going according to the plan until Mickey's feelings for the woman start to get into the way, but who is actually the 'victim' in this particular scam?
6"The Last Gamble"Tony JordanRobert Bailey30 March 2004
The crew picks a greedy fat-cat as their mark for a con using his two secret weaknesses- gambling and prostitutes- but the situation is complicated by a previous mark who seeks payback for them claiming to sell him the London Eye.

Series 2

# Title Writer Director Airdate(U.K)
1"Gold Mine"Tony JordanOtto Bathurst29 March 2005
Harry Holmes, an old time grifter, is nailed by a cocky property developer, a man who thinks he can't be conned. Despite Mickey and Albert declaring the man untouchable, Danny makes a 50 pence bet with Mickey that the developer can be conned. Danny's plan: to convince the developer that a worthless piece of property in the heart of London is sitting on top of a literal gold mine. When the con begins to unravel at the 11th hour, it is left to the more experienced Mickey to rescue the situation and keep everybody out of jail.
2"Confessions"Matthew GrahamOtto Bathurst5 April 2005
A gangster turned famed chef seeks his long lost son, and Albert lays the plan for the team to take him for what isn't rightly his. Meanwhile, the death of a close friend leaves the aging Albert questioning his own mortality.
3"The Lesson"Tony JordanAlrick Riley12 April 2005
Danny discovers a potential member for the crew and brings him in on their latest con: to swindle a Nigerian collector of rare currency by passing off a fake rare American $1,000 bill. However, when the con goes wrong, the new member attempts to take the money by conning an innocent woman, little suspecting that he has been played from the beginning...
4"Missions"Howard OvermanAlrick Riley19 April 2005
The team's plan to con an auction house with a comic book forgery goes awry when a corrupt cop decides she wants in; meanwhile, Stacie develops a friendship with a comic fan who wants the comic for himself.
5"Old Acquaintance"Julie RutterfordJohn Strickland26 April 2005
Stacie's ex-husband reappears in London after clearing out her apartment, leaving her with only a cactus, mouldy cheese, and a Phil Collins CD that wasn't even hers. The gang decide that revenge is best served cold and attempt to take his money in a rigged game of poker, but will Stacie fall for him again?
6"Eye of the Beholder"Tony JordanJohn Strickland3 May 2005
No one has attempted to steal the crown jewels since Thomas Blood, and no one has ever succeeded. Mickey plans to change that, but things are made more difficult by a police team that is currently after Mickey.

Series 3

# Title Writer Director Airdate(U.K)
1"Be My Eminem"Tony JordanOtto Bathurst10 March 2006
The crew are back and working their way back up after losing everything in a brief spell in Las Vegas. Their second mark (The original target having had a heart attack before the con could begin), a people-trafficker called Benny Frazier, will do anything for his son, an aspiring rap artist. The con is set, but has the "mark" caught on?
2"Leader of the Pack"Tony JordanOtto Bathurst17 March 2006
Flaws are revealed in the gang's leadership as the rivalry between Mickey and Danny escalates. To solve this dilemma, Albert suggests the "Henderson Challenge". Dropped naked in the middle of London and given six hours to grift as much money as possible, it becomes a test of pure grifting skill between Danny and Mickey, with Stacie helping Danny while Ash works with Mickey (Leaving Albert to demonstrate minor cons to Eddie).
3"Whittaker Our Way Out"Steve CoombesColm McCarthy24 March 2006
The crew assist American con artist James Whitaker Wright III, descendant of the legendary James Whitaker Wright I, by setting up the fake company, "Chad mining" in order to crash the bank that destroyed his great-grandfather. However, have the crew forgotten how cunning "JW3" is? Guest starring Richard Chamberlain.
4"The Bollywood Con"Danny BrownColm McCarthy31 March 2006
The crew attempt to set up Kulvinda Samar (a harsh sweatshop owner), by using a movie-investor con in a Bollywood film. Their usual flawless set up is too perfect, as things take a turn for the worse, particularly when the mark develops amnesia and apparently has a change of heart.
5"Royal Scoop"David CummingsSJ Clarkson7 April 2006
The gang decide to take down a tabloid paper, since it influenced one of the paper's victims- a friend of Stacie's- to attempt suicide when it accused her of embezelling funds. They try to sell them a story about the Queen Mother being a 'fake', with Albert being the son of the 'impersonator', but the situation becomes increasingly complicated when Mickey is captured by the Secret Service for his actions against the Queen Mother.
6"The Ghost"Tony JordanSJ Clarkson14 April 2006
The crew are caught by the police after they supposedly 'find' cocaine in a suitcase Mickey was carrying. Albert is thrown into prison and Detective Chief Inspector York makes a 'deal'; the rest of the crew must convince a notorious conman, Adam Rice, into stealing the Hans Christian Andersen manuscript, and then being caught red-handed. However, the crew outsmarts York, and he is, as a consequence, fired while Albert is released.

Series 4

# Title Writer Director Airdate(U.K)
1"As One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, One Flew In"Tony JordanAlrick Riley3 May 2007
Danny steps up to be leader, as the gang head to LA in an attempt to sell the Hollywood sign. With Mickey heading to Australia to help pull off a major con, Danny feels it's time for him to take the lead. To make his mark, he comes up with an ambitious plan to sell the Hollywood sign to Texan movie memorabilia fanatic Anthony Westley (Robert Wagner). Once in LA, Danny convinces Westley that the sign is being put up for sale to be replaced with a brand new one. Westley's willing to pay big money to get his hands on the sign and will stop at nothing to ensure he wins the bid. But how will the gang get the cash if they can't deliver the sign itself?
2"Signing Up to Wealth"Tony JordanLee MacIntosh10 May 2007
Back in the UK, Danny is convinced the team needs a new grifter and begins interviews, but the candidates aren't quite what the rest of the team are expecting. Meanwhile, Dickie Brennan, a ruthless porn baron, is keen to own a prize-winning horse. Of course, our gang of con artists are willing to oblige, despite knowing nothing about horses. And while all this is going on, will anyone take any notice of Billy Bond, who will stop at nothing to join the gang?
3"Getting Even"Tony JordanLee MacIntosh17 May 2007
The grifters' favourite barman, Eddie, is in trouble. The owner of his Father's nursing home is holding him ransom. Veronica Powell is a ruthless businesswoman but she has a weakness: her wine collection. However, she's more wily than most, and time is running out for Eddie's Father. Can Danny think of a decent con, or will our team go bankrupt trying to convince her...?
4"A Designer's Paradise"Colin BlythewayStefan Schwartz24 May 2007
Clarissa Bartwell is an immoral woman with a passion for fashion. Using the Emperor's New Clothes as inspiration for the con, Billy steps up to play the inside with Danny. However, there's someone hanging around who's threatening to blow their cover unless Billy hands over 20,000 pounds in cash. Can Billy keep this threat at bay until the intricate con is over...?
5"Conning the Artists"Nick FisherStefan Schwartz31 May 2007
The team are celebrating another successful, and lucrative, con. But the fun soon ends when they're taken hostage on their own territory - Eddie's bar - by a man who accuses them of dishonouring his family. This time it's personal - it's not about the money. Have they gone too far, or can they find a way of negotiating themselves out of it alive...?"
6"Big Daddy Calling"Tony JordanAlrick Riley7 June 2007
The team fly out to grifters heaven, Las Vegas, when they find out Albert's been beaten up by mafia boss, Johnny Maranzano. The revenge - the apple of Johnny's eye - Big Daddy fruit machine with a $5 million jackpot. Can they find a way of robbing a casino that never closes and is under 24/7 security without getting caught or, worse still, getting killed...?

Series 5

On Tuesday 14th May, it was confirmed that the BBC had commissioned a fifth series, but is unsure on how many episodes. Some sources say that there will be six, whereas as other say there will be 8 or even 10, if Adrian Lester decides to reprise his role as Michael Stone. It also has been claimed that more episodes will be filmed in the US, with a number of Hollywood names interested in a part in the show.

Trivia

  • The only person to work on both Hustle and spin off series The Real Hustle is James Freedman - expert on con artists and scams.
  • Clive Owen turned down the role of Mickey Bricks. [5]
  • In the first season, second episode, the name of the team's movie company is actually Fake Pictures. The name can be seen when the mark gives the cheque to the team.
  • The con used in the final episode of the first series is the same as the one featured in The Sting called "The Wire" (this is acknowledged on-screen).
  • Upon first meeting Danny in episode 1, Mickey comments "I bet you've even watched The Sting". Later in the episode, when Danny gate-crashes the con, Mickey introduces Danny as 'Mr Redford'.
  • In series 3, episode 5, the name of the newspaper the team con is changed from the 'Sunday World' in the version broadcast on BBC 1, to the 'Weekend World' in the DVD release. All references to 'Sunday' in the name of the paper are either altered, blanked out or dubbed.
  • At the start of Season 4 episode 1 the gang are talking during a movie and being shushed by a man sitting behind them. Danny spoils the plot for the man when they leave early by telling him that "at the very end all five of them get blown up in a boat." Which is exactly the way the season ends in episode 6.

DVD Releases

Several series of the show have been released on 2-disc DVDs in both Europe and North America. The UK, Region 2, release of Season One erroneously contained the US edited versions of the episodes, and not the full uncut episodes as originally seen on BBC One. A revised edition was released, which can be identified by the sleeve notes indicating a 58-minute run time for each episode, and "as seen on BBC One".

DVD Name Region 2 Release Date Region 1 Release Date
Hustle Complete Season One 18 April, 2005 September 5, 2005
Hustle Complete Season Two 19 September, 2005 February 13, 2006
Hustle Complete Season Three 23 April, 2007 July 10, 2007
Hustle One to Three Complete 23 April, 2007 TBA
Hustle Complete Season Four TBA TBA

Soundtrack

On 27 July, 2007. Sam Braidley set up a petition in which will be sent to BBC Worldwide to request a soundtrack to be made of the Hustle series. The petition can be found here.

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ [3]
  4. ^ [4]
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