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Hustle (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Hustle is a British television
drama series made by Kudos Film and Television
for BBC One
in the United Kingdom. Created by Tony Jordan
and first broadcast in 2004, the series follows a group of con artists who specialise in "long cons" – extended deceptions which require greater commitment, but which return a higher reward than simple confidence trick
s. The seventh series began on BBC1 on Friday 7 January 2011.
, that series' Executive Director, first conceived the idea in early 2002 while filming for the first Spooks series was ongoing. Nalluri pitched the concept to Jane Featherstone, Managing Director of Kudos Film & Television
which was the production company
behind Spooks, in the back of a taxi while returning from a day's filming. Intrigued by the idea, Featherstone recruited Tony Jordan
, the lead scriptwriter of the soap opera EastEnders
, to develop it into a workable proposal.
Jordan quickly produced some initial script drafts, which Featherstone took to the BBC
; Gareth Neame, Head of Drama Commissioning, rapidly approved a six-part series. Featherstone assembled a production team that had considerable overlap with the Spooks crew, including Simon Crawford Collins as producer and Matthew Graham as co-writer. In creating the first episodes, Jordan drew inspiration from the long tradition of confidence tricks and heists in Hollywood and television, including The A Team, The Sting
and The Grifters
. Featherstone remarked that "Ocean's Eleven was on around the time Bharat and I first spoke, and I think it helped to inspire us, but really we took our inspiration from a whole catalogue of movies and books... we wanted to make something that had the energy, verve, style and pure entertainment value of those sorts of films" At the same time, the writers attempted to draw on the success of recent blockbusters such as Ocean's Eleven
and Mission: Impossible
; speaking in an interview in December 2003, Crawford explained that "[such shows] worked because of the interaction within the group – the plotlines were almost irrelevant".
, the Academy Award-nominated star of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
, was soon suggested as a natural choice to play Albert Stroller
, the elderly 'roper' responsible for ensnaring potential marks. After meeting Vaughn over lunch, Crawford "[recognised] straight away that he could bring a whole new dimension to the part of Albert". Vaughn was immediately offered the role, and asked to begin filming the following day.
Jordan's script called for a group of five con artists or "grifters", with a wide range of ages, appearances and experience. The production team cast Adrian Lester
, at the time playing Henry V
at the National Theatre
, as Michael Stone, the former leader of the group; Marc Warren
as Danny Blue
, the "inside man"; and Robert Glenister
as Ash Morgan
, the "fixer"; in August 2003. Although having numerous credits in film and on the stage, Lester was an unknown face in television, having had less than two hours' broadcast screen time prior to the first Hustle series. Lester explained that he "couldn't imagine playing the same character for years, but Hustle was completely different. In the very first rehearsal we were doing a dance routine and then the next thing I know I'm whacking out several different accents and I just thought, 'I'm in heaven, this is great!'"
Jaime Murray
completed the lead actors, playing Stacie Monroe
who, as the grifters' only female member, is self-styled as "the lure". Murray, described by one of the Hustle production team as "that rare specimen – a stunningly beautiful actress who can actually act", and who auditioned in platform shoes to match her 5 ft 7in height with Stacie's description as having "legs that go on for miles", was reportedly "terrified" to be working with the more famous actors Vaughn and Lester, saying "when we were filming the first couple of episodes I was absolutely petrified and was convinced that it would be really obvious on screen. So when I watched some of it on tape I was totally amazed that you couldn't see how frightened I really was. I kept thinking, 'Oh my God! I'm working with Adrian Lester and Robert Vaughn. Any time now someone is going to tap me on the shoulder and ask me to get my coat!'"
In addition to the lead actors, the production team recruited a number of actors, both major and minor, to play the marks in each episode; including David Haig
, Tamzin Outhwaite
, and David Calder
.
Several members of the cast described Hustle's filming schedule as incredibly hectic. Vaughn said that "[the role] was offered to me, and I was told to get on a plane an hour after I got the phone call and start shooting the following day". Speaking in 2009 after filming four series of the show, Lester explained that "when we start shooting Hustle we film two episodes concurrently, with the scenes out of sequence. Knowing where you are in the intricate plots at any one moment is... challenging". Murray, by contrast, claimed that the hardest scene to film was from the fourth episode, when Danny loses spectacularly to Stacie in strip poker
and ends up entirely naked. "It was the toughest scene for me of the entire six months we spent filming the series... Stacie is supposed to be calm, cool and collected... she looks down, checks him out and casually and suavely makes a comment. I kept looking down, dissolving into fits of laughter and was almost unable to deliver my line. So all you'll see is me laughing".
Although the programme typically contains few non-trivial stunts or dramatic special effects, the first episode includes an example of Ash Morgan's favourite con, known as "The Flop": having previously received a fractured skull in a bar brawl, Morgan deliberately steps in front of moving cars and exaggerates the accident. Although not actually hurt, X-ray scans show his fractured skull, and the driver's insurance company pays out a compensation claim. Glenister balked at doing the entire stunt himself, saying "I got a stunt man who did all the smashing against the windscreen stunts but I did everything else... We all like doing the stunts involving driving fast because it's boy's-own stuff but when it comes to the dangerous stunts I'm quite happy to leave it to someone else!"
on 24 February 2004, driven by a strong advertising campaign organised by Abbott Mead Vickers, surrounding its slogan, "the con is on". The programme was an immediate success, attracting over 6.7 million viewers, and attracting favourable reviews (see below). Before the first series had finished airing, the BBC had sold rebroadcast licenses to TV channels in twelve countries, including Italy, Norway, Germany, Israel, Russia and the Netherlands. Anita Davison, Commercial Director for BBC Worldwide, claimed that "The series [had] all the hallmarks of a huge international hit". The series was later licensed to broadcasters in India and South America.
The programme retained all of the lead actors from the first series; guest actors appearing the second run included Lee Ingleby
, Fay Ripley
, and Robert Llewellyn
. The second series was broadcast on BBC One from 29 March 2005, to a first-night audience of 6.7 million.
, securing a licensing deal with AMC
. In addition to exclusive broadcast rights to the first and second series in the United States, AMC also took the position of co-production partner on the third series, already in pre-production, with the option
to take the same position on a fourth series. The BBC described the move as "Securing the right platform... essential for a series to succeed in the competitive US market...". The first two series premiered in the US in January 2006, erroneously billed as an "AMC original series". The BBC also secured new licensing deals with broadcasters in Australia and New Zealand.
Capitalising on Hustle' s international success, the BBC created a spinoff series, The Real Hustle
, which premiered on 10 February 2006. The documentary
follows three genuine hustlers – a magician and professional gambler, a glamorous actress, and a professional sleight-of-hand artist and crooked gambling consultant – as they pull short-cons on unsuspecting businesses and members of the public. The BBC described the series as an attempt "to reveal how the scams work so that the viewer can avoid being ripped off by the same con".
All five of the lead actors again reprised their roles in the third series, which featured guest stars including Richard Chamberlain
, Linford Christie
, Sara Cox
and Paul Nicholls. The series premiered on 10 March 2006, running until 14 April. The second episode, featuring Danny and Mickey running naked through Trafalgar Square
, attracted a viewing audience of 6 million. Lester described the scene as one of his most embarrassing moments on-set, saying "you forget just how many phone cameras there are... we thought [the Square] was fairly deserted, but as soon as someone shouted 'Action' there was a tourbus behind us and the whole top deck suddenly started filming".
and Los Angeles, the series was quickly mired in casting concerns. It was first rumoured in April 2006 that Adrian Lester might not reprise the role of Mickey Bricks in the fourth series; the BBC confirmed his departure in September that year, casting Ashley Walters as a replacement lead character. The BBC was quick to dispel any suggestion that Lester's resignation was connected to the shift in production focus, stating "it is a shame that, due to his current filming commitments, Adrian cannot join us this time round...", while Lester explained his action as "need[ing] to do something else, be associated with something else". However, Lester also admitted that he felt that the series "just got a little bit too 'light'".
and the departure of cast members Marc Warren
and Jaime Murray
, and the arrival of Matt Di Angelo
and Kelly Adams
as their replacements. With the return of Lester's character, Mickey Bricks, Ashley Walters didn't reprise his role from series 4. The series resumed production in the summer of 2008. AMC reports it will not broadcast this or future series of Hustle.
, despite the show retaining its London setting. The series once again consists of 6 episodes.
Lolita Chakrabarti
(Lester's real-life wife) made a guest star appearance as Museum Curator Nishika Baboor in this series' third episode, "Tiger Troubles". Other guest stars in this series included Mark Benton
, Simon Day
and Danny Webb
.
, Angela Griffin
, Clive Swift
, Hannah Gordon
, Claire Goose
, Denis Lawson
and Roger Lloyd Pack
. Series 7 is the most watched series yet, with viewing figures reaching 7.2 million.
, Martin Kemp and Paterson Joseph
. Peter Polycarpou
and John Barrowman
have also revealed on Twitter that they will have guest roles in series eight. This will be the third series to be filmed in Birmingham, the fifth in HD and the fourth series featuring all of the current cast. Adrian Lester is also set to direct an episode, in which Mickey is kidnapped. Other cons will see the team take on the world of slimming pills and pull off a gold heist. Lester said series eight is likely to also be shown in January 2012.
The team adhere to the credo "you can't cheat an honest man", with all of their marks being people who have some kind of illegal activity in their pasts or simply demonstrating a fundamentally negative personality; in one episode, Mickey stated that he selects marks that he personally has reason to dislike in order to ensure that the con is never exclusively about the money. Some episodes have even featured the crew performing cons that benefit people they have befriended over the course of the episode rather than having them be the sole benefactors of the con; examples include them faking a jewel theft from the Tower of London
and allowed a member of the cleaning staff to discover it after she showed sympathy for team member Ash Morgan while he was working undercover as an immigrant worker (Eye of the Beholder), leaving the money stolen from a highly secure slot machine in a casino to a security guard at the casino who had advised Stacie Monroe
during her brief employment (Big Daddy Calling), stating that they will 'return' an apparently stolen painting only after the rights to the security system that protected it had been returned to the wife of the original inventor (The inventor having committed suicide after he was cheated out of the patent) (New Recruits), and arranging for the niece of a friend to get a modelling contract with an agency that has a rivalry with the company that cheated her out of her money in her original application.
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 are oblivious to what is going on. Examples of this can be seen in the pilot episode (The Con is On
), the first episode of the second series (Gold Mine) and the second episode of the fourth series (Signing Up to Wealth). 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.
Each episode also amounts to a confidence game played upon the viewers through the use of misdirection 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. However, even if a con does fail, the characters usually come out on top in some way or other.
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 con men possess and the ease with which short cons can be played.
Each episode of Hustle is a stand-alone program, with usually little or no connection to other episodes in the series; however, it has contained some continuity before, for example:
In October 2005, it was announced that the BBC had sold United States screening rights for the first two series to cable television
station AMC
, who 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 the BBC. The first two series aired back-to-back on CBC
in Canada during the summer of 2006. The third series premiered on CBC on 13 February 2007.
Series 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 on 18 April 2007, prior to airing in the UK. As a result of AMC's increased involvement, the first and final episodes of series 4 were filmed on location in Los Angeles and Las Vegas
. The series has also been shown in other countries such as New Zealand, Australia (both on ABC1
and Foxtel
's UKTV), Japan, Sweden on SVT, Italy on La7
and Finland on MTV3
. Currently series two is aired to the middle east (Mostly KSA, Oman & UAE) by Dubai One, a channel based in Dubai UAE. Virgin Media TV bought the rights to broadcast Hustle on its flagship channel Virgin 1
.
The series received a 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
.
The title sequence, created by Berger & Wyse, was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award (2005), a BAFTA
(2006) and an Emmy (2007). The title music, composed by Simon Rogers
was also nominated for the Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music Emmy in 2007.
Following much media speculation, including reports of the programme being cancelled and a motion picture spin-off, the BBC announced on 12 June 2008 that Hustle had been recommissioned for a fifth series with series 1–3 star, Adrian Lester
returning to the show alongside Robert Glenister
and Robert Vaughn
. Due to scheduling conflicts, Marc Warren
and Jaime Murray
did not feature in series five, with Matt Di Angelo
and Kelly Adams
joining the cast.
acquired the film rights to Hustle; a film adaptation of the programme is currently being written by creator Tony Jordan, who has written several drafts but is still developing the script. In February 2009, executive producer, Simon Crawford Collins stated that the movie is to be produced by a major US studio.
described it as "defiantly high-concept, tightly plotted, knowing stuff... a laugh; slick, glossy, and smart certainly, but a laugh all the same", and The Times
remarked that it had "the snap and style of a series that has been cryogenically frozen in the 1960s and brought back to life, like The Clangers
... The wonderfully absurd result is a drama series that takes itself far less seriously than almost anything since The Persuaders
". A later review from the same paper summarised the series as "an engaging, well-acted, snappily directed drama... sleekly edited, flatteringly lit, and stylishly executed... Will you remember a single moment of it five minutes after you’ve watched an episode? Probably not. But who cares?" The first three episodes attracted an average audience of 6.2 million, peaking at over 30% of the total audience.
British television
Public television broadcasting started in the United Kingdom in 1936, and now has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channelsTaking the base Sky EPG TV Channels. A breakdown is impossible due to a) the number of...
drama series made by Kudos Film and Television
Kudos (production company)
Kudos Film and Television is a British independent film and television production company. It has produced television series for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, and its productions include Spooks , Hustle, Life on Mars and its spin-off Ashes to Ashes, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard and M.I. High...
for BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
in the United Kingdom. Created by Tony Jordan
Tony Jordan
Tony Jordan is a British television writer. He was listed as the number 1 television screen writer in the UK by Broadcast magazine and among British Broadcastings Top 20 in The Stage ., He currently resides in Hertfordshire, UK.For many years, he was lead writer and series consultant for BBC One...
and first broadcast in 2004, the series follows a group of con artists who specialise in "long cons" – extended deceptions which require greater commitment, but which return a higher reward than simple confidence trick
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
s. The seventh series began on BBC1 on Friday 7 January 2011.
Conception
Hustle was largely born from the same production team that created and popularised the early series of Spooks, a similarly-styled drama series first broadcast in 2002. Bharat NalluriBharat Nalluri
Bharat Nalluri is a British television director, best known for his work with the independent production company Kudos Film & Television in the 2000s and early 2010s. For Kudos, he has directed episodes of Spooks, Life on Mars, Hustle , and Outcasts: all for transmission on BBC One...
, that series' Executive Director, first conceived the idea in early 2002 while filming for the first Spooks series was ongoing. Nalluri pitched the concept to Jane Featherstone, Managing Director of Kudos Film & Television
Kudos (production company)
Kudos Film and Television is a British independent film and television production company. It has produced television series for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, and its productions include Spooks , Hustle, Life on Mars and its spin-off Ashes to Ashes, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard and M.I. High...
which was the production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
behind Spooks, in the back of a taxi while returning from a day's filming. Intrigued by the idea, Featherstone recruited Tony Jordan
Tony Jordan
Tony Jordan is a British television writer. He was listed as the number 1 television screen writer in the UK by Broadcast magazine and among British Broadcastings Top 20 in The Stage ., He currently resides in Hertfordshire, UK.For many years, he was lead writer and series consultant for BBC One...
, the lead scriptwriter of the soap opera EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, to develop it into a workable proposal.
Jordan quickly produced some initial script drafts, which Featherstone took to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
; Gareth Neame, Head of Drama Commissioning, rapidly approved a six-part series. Featherstone assembled a production team that had considerable overlap with the Spooks crew, including Simon Crawford Collins as producer and Matthew Graham as co-writer. In creating the first episodes, Jordan drew inspiration from the long tradition of confidence tricks and heists in Hollywood and television, including The A Team, The Sting
The Sting
The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936 that involves a complicated plot by two professional grifters to con a mob boss . The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who previously directed Newman and Redford in the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.Created by...
and The Grifters
The Grifters (film)
The Grifters is a 1990 neo-noir film directed by Stephen Frears and produced by Martin Scorsese. It stars John Cusack, Anjelica Huston and Annette Bening and is based upon The Grifters, a pulp novel by Jim Thompson.-Plot:...
. Featherstone remarked that "Ocean's Eleven was on around the time Bharat and I first spoke, and I think it helped to inspire us, but really we took our inspiration from a whole catalogue of movies and books... we wanted to make something that had the energy, verve, style and pure entertainment value of those sorts of films" At the same time, the writers attempted to draw on the success of recent blockbusters such as Ocean's Eleven
Ocean's Eleven (2001 film)
Ocean's Eleven is a 2001 American comedy-crime caper and remake of the 1960 Rat Pack caper film of the same name. The 2001 film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and features an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy García, and Julia Roberts. The film was...
and Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible feature films
The Mission: Impossible films are a series of action films based on the television series of the same name. The films feature Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, an I.M.F agent.-Mission: Impossible:...
; speaking in an interview in December 2003, Crawford explained that "[such shows] worked because of the interaction within the group – the plotlines were almost irrelevant".
Casting
With Hustle greenlit for filming, the production team began searching for actors to play both the main characters and the marks for each episode. The process was initially quite difficult; Crawford described his "immediate thought [as] 'this is so good, how the hell are we going to get a cast to live up to these characters?' ... Tony had created incredibly strong characters, each with their own particular style and panache, but they also had to form a believable, if unusual, 'family' unit". Robert VaughnRobert Vaughn
Robert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in...
, the Academy Award-nominated star of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
, was soon suggested as a natural choice to play Albert Stroller
Albert Stroller
Albert Stroller is a character in the BBC TV series Hustle. He is played by Robert Vaughn.Albert is a member of a crew of grifters. He is the group roper; his role is to identify people as targets and lead them to the inside-man...
, the elderly 'roper' responsible for ensnaring potential marks. After meeting Vaughn over lunch, Crawford "[recognised] straight away that he could bring a whole new dimension to the part of Albert". Vaughn was immediately offered the role, and asked to begin filming the following day.
Jordan's script called for a group of five con artists or "grifters", with a wide range of ages, appearances and experience. The production team cast Adrian Lester
Adrian Lester
-Personal life:Lester was born in Birmingham, England, the son of Jamaican immigrants Monica, a medical secretary, and Reginald, a manager for a contract cleaning company. He sang as a boy treble in the choir of St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham...
, at the time playing Henry V
Henry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
at the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, as Michael Stone, the former leader of the group; Marc Warren
Marc Warren
Marc Warren is an English actor, known for his British television roles as Danny Blue in Hustle, Dougie Raymond in The Vice and Dominic Foy in State of Play.-Career:...
as Danny Blue
Danny Blue (Hustle)
Danny Blue is a fictional character in the popular BBC television show Hustle. He is played by Marc Warren.-Background & Joining the crew:...
, the "inside man"; and Robert Glenister
Robert Glenister
Robert Lewis Glenister is a British actor known for his roles as con man Ash "Three Socks" Morgan in the British TV series Hustle, and Nicholas Blake in the BBC spy drama Spooks.-Career:...
as Ash Morgan
Ashley Morgan (Hustle)
Ashley Morgan is one of the five lead characters in the popular BBC television series Hustle. He is played by Robert Glenister.Ashley Morgan, known simply as Ash to his own crew, and “Three Socks” Morgan to the wider grifting circle, is a seasoned grifter, and the team's "fixer"...
, the "fixer"; in August 2003. Although having numerous credits in film and on the stage, Lester was an unknown face in television, having had less than two hours' broadcast screen time prior to the first Hustle series. Lester explained that he "couldn't imagine playing the same character for years, but Hustle was completely different. In the very first rehearsal we were doing a dance routine and then the next thing I know I'm whacking out several different accents and I just thought, 'I'm in heaven, this is great!'"
Jaime Murray
Jaime Murray
Jaime Murray is an English actress, best known for playing Stacie Monroe in Hustle and Lila Tournay in season two of the Showtime series Dexter. She has also had recurring roles as H.G...
completed the lead actors, playing Stacie Monroe
Stacie Monroe
Stacie Monroe is a character in the British television series Hustle played by Jaime Murray. Stacie is the only female member of a team-cum-family of "long con" artists.-Background & Personality:...
who, as the grifters' only female member, is self-styled as "the lure". Murray, described by one of the Hustle production team as "that rare specimen – a stunningly beautiful actress who can actually act", and who auditioned in platform shoes to match her 5 ft 7in height with Stacie's description as having "legs that go on for miles", was reportedly "terrified" to be working with the more famous actors Vaughn and Lester, saying "when we were filming the first couple of episodes I was absolutely petrified and was convinced that it would be really obvious on screen. So when I watched some of it on tape I was totally amazed that you couldn't see how frightened I really was. I kept thinking, 'Oh my God! I'm working with Adrian Lester and Robert Vaughn. Any time now someone is going to tap me on the shoulder and ask me to get my coat!'"
In addition to the lead actors, the production team recruited a number of actors, both major and minor, to play the marks in each episode; including David Haig
David Haig
David Haig is an Olivier Award-winning English actor and FIPA Award-winning writer. He is known for his versatility, having played dramatic, serio-comic and comedic roles, playing characters of varied social classes...
, Tamzin Outhwaite
Tamzin Outhwaite
Tamzin Maria Outhwaite is an award-winning English actress. She became known for her role as Melanie Owen in the British soap opera EastEnders, whom she portrayed from 1998 until 2002.-Early career:...
, and David Calder
David Calder (actor)
David Calder is a British actor.Calder was born in Portsmouth, England, and trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. His most high profile TV roles include Det. Insp...
.
| Character | Actor | Years | Series | Episode Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone | Adrian Lester Adrian Lester -Personal life:Lester was born in Birmingham, England, the son of Jamaican immigrants Monica, a medical secretary, and Reginald, a manager for a contract cleaning company. He sang as a boy treble in the choir of St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham... |
2004–2006, 2009–present | 1–3, 5–present | 36 |
| Ash "Three Socks" Morgan | Robert Glenister Robert Glenister Robert Lewis Glenister is a British actor known for his roles as con man Ash "Three Socks" Morgan in the British TV series Hustle, and Nicholas Blake in the BBC spy drama Spooks.-Career:... |
2004–present | 1–present | 42 |
| Albert Stroller | Robert Vaughn Robert Vaughn Robert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in... |
2004–present | 1–present | 41 |
| Sean Kennedy | Matt Di Angelo Matt Di Angelo Matt Di Angelo in London, England is an English actor and singer.He is mostly known for playing fictional character Deano Wicks in the popular British soap EastEnders, and for his current role of Sean Kennedy in the BBC series Hustle.-Education:He attended Southgate School, and started studying... |
2009–present | 5–present | 18 |
| Emma Kennedy | Kelly Adams Kelly Adams Kelly Adams is an English actress.A pupil of North Kesteven School in North Hykeham, Adams trained at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in Wood Green, London.... |
2009–present | 5–present | 18 |
| Danny Blue | Marc Warren Marc Warren Marc Warren is an English actor, known for his British television roles as Danny Blue in Hustle, Dougie Raymond in The Vice and Dominic Foy in State of Play.-Career:... |
2004–2007 | 1–4 | 24 |
| Stacie Monroe | Jaime Murray Jaime Murray Jaime Murray is an English actress, best known for playing Stacie Monroe in Hustle and Lila Tournay in season two of the Showtime series Dexter. She has also had recurring roles as H.G... |
2004–2007 | 1–4 | 24 |
| Billy Bond | Ashley Walters | 2007 | 4 | 05 |
| Eddie | Rob Jarvis Rob Jarvis Rob Jarvis is an English television and film actor. He is most known for his regular role as Eddie on Hustle, the long running BBC television programme; from Liverpool, he is frequently cast as a scouser.-Filmography:-Other Work :... |
2004-present | 1-present | 40 |
Filming
With the cast and crew in place, filming for the first Hustle series took place in London between August and November 2003. The lead actors were given professional instruction in sleight-of-hand and pickpocketing; "all the tricks of the trade from card-shuffling to stealing watches", according to Lester. The cast found the experience informative; Murray explained, "I realised that most cons are all about diversion – while you're trying to con somebody you're doing something to distract them in the opposite direction so they don't notice and that's exactly how pickpockets work".Several members of the cast described Hustle's filming schedule as incredibly hectic. Vaughn said that "[the role] was offered to me, and I was told to get on a plane an hour after I got the phone call and start shooting the following day". Speaking in 2009 after filming four series of the show, Lester explained that "when we start shooting Hustle we film two episodes concurrently, with the scenes out of sequence. Knowing where you are in the intricate plots at any one moment is... challenging". Murray, by contrast, claimed that the hardest scene to film was from the fourth episode, when Danny loses spectacularly to Stacie in strip poker
Strip poker
Strip poker is a party game and a variation of the traditional poker where players remove clothing when they lose a round. Any form of poker can be adapted to a strip form; however, it is usually played with simple variants with few betting rounds, like five card draw...
and ends up entirely naked. "It was the toughest scene for me of the entire six months we spent filming the series... Stacie is supposed to be calm, cool and collected... she looks down, checks him out and casually and suavely makes a comment. I kept looking down, dissolving into fits of laughter and was almost unable to deliver my line. So all you'll see is me laughing".
Although the programme typically contains few non-trivial stunts or dramatic special effects, the first episode includes an example of Ash Morgan's favourite con, known as "The Flop": having previously received a fractured skull in a bar brawl, Morgan deliberately steps in front of moving cars and exaggerates the accident. Although not actually hurt, X-ray scans show his fractured skull, and the driver's insurance company pays out a compensation claim. Glenister balked at doing the entire stunt himself, saying "I got a stunt man who did all the smashing against the windscreen stunts but I did everything else... We all like doing the stunts involving driving fast because it's boy's-own stuff but when it comes to the dangerous stunts I'm quite happy to leave it to someone else!"
Release
The first episode of Hustle was broadcast on BBC OneBBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
on 24 February 2004, driven by a strong advertising campaign organised by Abbott Mead Vickers, surrounding its slogan, "the con is on". The programme was an immediate success, attracting over 6.7 million viewers, and attracting favourable reviews (see below). Before the first series had finished airing, the BBC had sold rebroadcast licenses to TV channels in twelve countries, including Italy, Norway, Germany, Israel, Russia and the Netherlands. Anita Davison, Commercial Director for BBC Worldwide, claimed that "The series [had] all the hallmarks of a huge international hit". The series was later licensed to broadcasters in India and South America.
Later series
In response to the extremely positive reaction, the BBC recommissioned the show for a second series on 17 March 2004, after just three episodes had aired. The second series retained much of the initial production team including Jordan as lead scriptwriter, and introduced Karen Wilson as producer; all of the show's lead actors agreed to reprise their roles.Series two
Filming for the second Hustle series took place in mid-2004, again in and around central London. Lester described the second shoot as "much easier" than the chaotic first series. "On the first series we didn't know each other... we were trying to work out what roles we were going to play and the scripts were still being written as we were shooting it; it was all a case of finding out what exactly Hustle was going to be.. second time around it was much easier, much quicker... when we were reading the script you could really hear the other actors doing their lines because you knew kind of how they were going to do them..." With the success of the first series, Hustle's team of writers were able to be more inventive in creating new plots for the second six-episode run.The programme retained all of the lead actors from the first series; guest actors appearing the second run included Lee Ingleby
Lee Ingleby
Lee Ingleby is a British film, television, and stage actor.He is perhaps best known for his roles as Detective Sergeant John Bacchus in the BBC Drama George Gently and as Stan Shunpike in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban...
, Fay Ripley
Fay Ripley
Fay Ripley is an English actress and recipe author. Born in Wimbledon, London, Ripley is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama . Her first professional role was in the chorus of a pantomime version of Around the World in 80 Days...
, and Robert Llewellyn
Robert Llewellyn
Robert Llewellyn is an English actor, presenter, and writer. He is best known as the mechanoid Kryten in the hit sitcom Red Dwarf, and for his role as presenter of Scrapheap Challenge.-Early career:...
. The second series was broadcast on BBC One from 29 March 2005, to a first-night audience of 6.7 million.
Series three
In the wake of the equally-successful second series, the BBC took Hustle to the American marketTelevision in the United States
Television is one of the major mass media of the United States. Ninety-nine percent of American households have at least one television and the majority of households have more than one...
, securing a licensing deal with AMC
AMC (TV network)
AMC is a cable television specialty channel that primarily airs movies, along with a limited amount of original programming. The letters originally stood for American Movie Classics; however since 2002, the full name has been deemphasized as a result of a major shift in programming...
. In addition to exclusive broadcast rights to the first and second series in the United States, AMC also took the position of co-production partner on the third series, already in pre-production, with the option
Option (finance)
In finance, an option is a derivative financial instrument that specifies a contract between two parties for a future transaction on an asset at a reference price. The buyer of the option gains the right, but not the obligation, to engage in that transaction, while the seller incurs the...
to take the same position on a fourth series. The BBC described the move as "Securing the right platform... essential for a series to succeed in the competitive US market...". The first two series premiered in the US in January 2006, erroneously billed as an "AMC original series". The BBC also secured new licensing deals with broadcasters in Australia and New Zealand.
Capitalising on Hustle
The Real Hustle
The Real Hustle is a BBC television series made by Objective Productions and written by Alexis Conran and Paul Wilson. The show demonstrates confidence and magic tricks, distraction scams and proposition bets performed on members of the public by presenters Conran, Wilson and Jessica-Jane Clement...
, which premiered on 10 February 2006. The documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
follows three genuine hustlers – a magician and professional gambler, a glamorous actress, and a professional sleight-of-hand artist and crooked gambling consultant – as they pull short-cons on unsuspecting businesses and members of the public. The BBC described the series as an attempt "to reveal how the scams work so that the viewer can avoid being ripped off by the same con".
All five of the lead actors again reprised their roles in the third series, which featured guest stars including Richard Chamberlain
Richard Chamberlain
George Richard Chamberlain is an American actor of stage and screen who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare .-Early life:...
, Linford Christie
Linford Christie
Linford Cicero Christie OBE is a former sprinter from the United Kingdom. He is the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions open to British athletes: the Olympic Games, the World Championships, the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games...
, Sara Cox
Sara Cox
Sara Cox , known as "Coxy", is an English TV presenter and radio DJ, most well known for presenting the breakfast show on BBC Radio 1 between 2000 and 2003...
and Paul Nicholls. The series premiered on 10 March 2006, running until 14 April. The second episode, featuring Danny and Mickey running naked through Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
, attracted a viewing audience of 6 million. Lester described the scene as one of his most embarrassing moments on-set, saying "you forget just how many phone cameras there are... we thought [the Square] was fairly deserted, but as soon as someone shouted 'Action' there was a tourbus behind us and the whole top deck suddenly started filming".
Series four
With the backing of AMC, a fourth series of Hustle was virtually guaranteed, and by late 2006 it was clear that the cable network was taking a commanding role in the show's development. Despite the increased funding AMC provided, which allowed the writers to set episodes in Las VegasLas Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
and Los Angeles, the series was quickly mired in casting concerns. It was first rumoured in April 2006 that Adrian Lester might not reprise the role of Mickey Bricks in the fourth series; the BBC confirmed his departure in September that year, casting Ashley Walters as a replacement lead character. The BBC was quick to dispel any suggestion that Lester's resignation was connected to the shift in production focus, stating "it is a shame that, due to his current filming commitments, Adrian cannot join us this time round...", while Lester explained his action as "need[ing] to do something else, be associated with something else". However, Lester also admitted that he felt that the series "just got a little bit too 'light'".
Series five
Series Five debuted on 8 January 2009 with the return of Adrian LesterAdrian Lester
-Personal life:Lester was born in Birmingham, England, the son of Jamaican immigrants Monica, a medical secretary, and Reginald, a manager for a contract cleaning company. He sang as a boy treble in the choir of St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham...
and the departure of cast members Marc Warren
Marc Warren
Marc Warren is an English actor, known for his British television roles as Danny Blue in Hustle, Dougie Raymond in The Vice and Dominic Foy in State of Play.-Career:...
and Jaime Murray
Jaime Murray
Jaime Murray is an English actress, best known for playing Stacie Monroe in Hustle and Lila Tournay in season two of the Showtime series Dexter. She has also had recurring roles as H.G...
, and the arrival of Matt Di Angelo
Matt Di Angelo
Matt Di Angelo in London, England is an English actor and singer.He is mostly known for playing fictional character Deano Wicks in the popular British soap EastEnders, and for his current role of Sean Kennedy in the BBC series Hustle.-Education:He attended Southgate School, and started studying...
and Kelly Adams
Kelly Adams
Kelly Adams is an English actress.A pupil of North Kesteven School in North Hykeham, Adams trained at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in Wood Green, London....
as their replacements. With the return of Lester's character, Mickey Bricks, Ashley Walters didn't reprise his role from series 4. The series resumed production in the summer of 2008. AMC reports it will not broadcast this or future series of Hustle.
Series six
Series Six started 4 January 2010. All of the fifth series cast returned with production that moved to BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, despite the show retaining its London setting. The series once again consists of 6 episodes.
Lolita Chakrabarti
Lolita Chakrabarti
Lolita Chakrabarti is an actress and writer based in London, United Kingdom.As an actress she has worked extensively on stage and screen...
(Lester's real-life wife) made a guest star appearance as Museum Curator Nishika Baboor in this series' third episode, "Tiger Troubles". Other guest stars in this series included Mark Benton
Mark Benton
Mark Benton is an English actor, perhaps most famous for his roles as Eddie in Early Doors and Howard in Northern Lights.-Life and career:Benton was born in Guisborough, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England....
, Simon Day
Simon Day
Simon Day is a British comedian most famous for his roles in the sketch show The Fast Show, sitcom Grass and a series of comedic adverts for Powergen.-Life and career:...
and Danny Webb
Danny Webb (actor)
Danny Webb is a British television and film actor. He may be best known for his role as the prisoner Morse in Alien 3. He has appeared in many famous British television programmes including The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Emmerdale Farm, Our Friends in the North, A Touch of Frost, Agatha...
.
Series seven
The seventh series of Hustle began airing on 7 January 2011. All main cast members from series 6 have reprised their roles. This was the second series to be filmed in Birmingham, the fourth in HD and the third series featuring all of the current cast. Episode 2 was partially set in Birmingham when the gang follow a crooked women's trick to the city. Guest stars in this series included Anna ChancellorAnna Chancellor
-Family:Chancellor was born in Richmond, London, England, the daughter of the Hon. Mary Alice Jolliffe and John Paget Chancellor. Through her mother's mother, Lady Perdita Rose Mary Asquith, Chancellor is the great-granddaughter of The Hon. Raymond Aquith and the great-great-granddaughter of Prime...
, Angela Griffin
Angela Griffin
Angela Griffin is a British actress and television presenter.-Acting career:She appeared in the popular long-running British soap operas Emmerdale and most famously in Coronation Street as Fiona Middleton from 1993 to 1998...
, Clive Swift
Clive Swift
Clive Walter Swift is an English character comedy actor and songwriter. He is best known for his role as character Richard Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances. He is less known for his role as character Roy in the British television series The Old Guys...
, Hannah Gordon
Hannah Gordon
Hannah Cambell Grant Gordon is a Scottish actress who is well known in the United Kingdom for her television work, including Upstairs, Downstairs, Telford's Change, My Wife Next Door, Joint Account and an appearance in the final episode of One Foot in the Grave.-Early life:Gordon was born in...
, Claire Goose
Claire Goose
Claire Goose is a British actress. She is best known for her role as nurse Tina Seabrook in the BBC television drama Casualty and later as DS Mel Silver in Waking the Dead.-Life and career:...
, Denis Lawson
Denis Lawson
Denis Stamper Lawson is a Scottish actor and director. He is known for his roles as John Jarndyce in the BBC's adaptation of Bleak House and as Gordon Urquhart in the film Local Hero, but is best known for playing the part of Wedge Antilles in the original Star Wars trilogy.-Early life:Lawson was...
and Roger Lloyd Pack
Roger Lloyd Pack
Roger Lloyd-Pack is an English actor known for his roles in the TV shows The Vicar of Dibley, Only Fools and Horses and The Old Guys.-Career:...
. Series 7 is the most watched series yet, with viewing figures reaching 7.2 million.
Series eight
An eighth series has been confirmed, however creator Tony Jordan has said that this will be the last for at least a while and the last with the current cast. Guest stars featuring this season will include Sheila HancockSheila Hancock
Sheila Cameron Hancock, CBE is an English actress and author.-Early life:Sheila Hancock was born in Blackgang on the Isle of Wight, the daughter of Ivy Louise and Enrico Cameron Hancock, who was a publican. Her sister Billie is seven years older...
, Martin Kemp and Paterson Joseph
Paterson Joseph
-Career:Born in London. Attended Cardinal Hinsley R.C High School in North West London. Joseph first trained at the Studio '68 of Theatre Arts, London – 1983–85 with Robert Henderson, then at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art . In recent years he has had a high number of roles in...
. Peter Polycarpou
Peter Polycarpou
Peter Polycarpou is a British stage and TV and film actor, best known for playing Chris Theodopolopoudos in the television comedy series Birds of a Feather.-Career:...
and John Barrowman
John Barrowman
John Scot Barrowman is a Scottish-American singer, actor, dancer, musical theatre performer and media personality. Born in Glasgow yet growing up in Illinois after his family emigrated to the United States when he was eight years old, Barrowman was encouraged to further his love for music and...
have also revealed on Twitter that they will have guest roles in series eight. This will be the third series to be filmed in Birmingham, the fifth in HD and the fourth series featuring all of the current cast. Adrian Lester is also set to direct an episode, in which Mickey is kidnapped. Other cons will see the team take on the world of slimming pills and pull off a gold heist. Lester said series eight is likely to also be shown in January 2012.
Format
Each one-hour programme follows the team of grifters as they practise the "long con", an extended deception practised against one or more "marks". Speaking in a documentary video, Adrian Lester described the difference between the long con and more common confidence tricks: "where you take a mark and convince them of a certain situation or a lie, and you send them away to get more money and come back and give it to you". In the first series, Stacie explains to Danny the reason such long cons tend to work: unlike the more obvious short cons, "most marks don't report a con because they think they've done something illegal, or better still, they don't know they've been conned in the first place".The team adhere to the credo "you can't cheat an honest man", with all of their marks being people who have some kind of illegal activity in their pasts or simply demonstrating a fundamentally negative personality; in one episode, Mickey stated that he selects marks that he personally has reason to dislike in order to ensure that the con is never exclusively about the money. Some episodes have even featured the crew performing cons that benefit people they have befriended over the course of the episode rather than having them be the sole benefactors of the con; examples include them faking a jewel theft from the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
and allowed a member of the cleaning staff to discover it after she showed sympathy for team member Ash Morgan while he was working undercover as an immigrant worker (Eye of the Beholder), leaving the money stolen from a highly secure slot machine in a casino to a security guard at the casino who had advised Stacie Monroe
Stacie Monroe
Stacie Monroe is a character in the British television series Hustle played by Jaime Murray. Stacie is the only female member of a team-cum-family of "long con" artists.-Background & Personality:...
during her brief employment (Big Daddy Calling), stating that they will 'return' an apparently stolen painting only after the rights to the security system that protected it had been returned to the wife of the original inventor (The inventor having committed suicide after he was cheated out of the patent) (New Recruits), and arranging for the niece of a friend to get a modelling contract with an agency that has a rivalry with the company that cheated her out of her money in her original application.
The series frequently breaks the fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
(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 are oblivious to what is going on. Examples of this can be seen in the pilot episode (The Con is On
The Con is On
"The Con is On" is an episode in the British television drama series Hustle that was first broadcast on 24 February 2004. It is the first episode of the series created by Tony Jordan, and made by Kudos Film & Television for BBC One in the United Kingdom....
), the first episode of the second series (Gold Mine) and the second episode of the fourth series (Signing Up to Wealth). 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
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
musical or a silent movie
Silent Movie
Silent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...
, for example.
Each episode also amounts to a confidence game played upon the viewers through the use of misdirection 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. However, even if a con does fail, the characters usually come out on top in some way or other.
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 con men possess and the ease with which short cons can be played.
Each episode of Hustle is a stand-alone program, with usually little or no connection to other episodes in the series; however, it has contained some continuity before, for example:
- An ongoing storyline of Mickey's wife wanting a divorce and a settlement in the second and third episodes of the first series.
- The team going on a holiday at the end of the first series and returning at the start of the second.
- The team being caught using a fake credit card and having to vacate their hotel place at the end of the second series and still being homeless at the start of the third.
- Billy gradually moving up in his position in the team during the fourth series.
- Mickey going to Australia at the start of series 4 to sell the Sydney Opera House and getting caught doing it, then escaping back to England in series 5.
- A police officer featured in the first episode of series one trying to arrest the team headed by a fake police officer whom the team had hired, she later appeared in the last episode of series two when she was recruited for the same job due to her prior knowledge.
- Lucy Britford, a Detective Chief Inspector, was outsmarted by the gang in series 6 episode 1 after an attempt to bring them to justice reappeared in the series finale when the gang are blackmailed into a heist. They outsmarted the police, however Lucy didn't actually reappear to the gang, she was just seen via a video message.
- In series 5, the team conned Harry Fielding and Carlton Wood, two obnoxious businessmen, out of £500,000. The two returned to con back the gang in the series 5 finale. However Mickey and the crew knew Harry and Carlton's plan and turned the con on them.
Broadcast history
| Series | UK Broadcast | Average Audience |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 February – 30 March 2004 | 6.47 million |
| 2 | 25 March – 3 May 2005 | 5.82 million |
| 3 | 10 March – 14 April 2006 | 5.86 million |
| 4 | 3 May – 7 June 2007 | 5.54 million |
| 5 | 8 January – 12 February 2009 | 6.07 million |
| 6 | 4 January – 8 February 2010 | 6.27 million |
| 7 | 7 – 28 January 11 – 18 February 2011 | 6.79 million |
In October 2005, it was announced that the BBC had sold United States screening rights for the first two series to cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
station AMC
AMC (TV network)
AMC is a cable television specialty channel that primarily airs movies, along with a limited amount of original programming. The letters originally stood for American Movie Classics; however since 2002, the full name has been deemphasized as a result of a major shift in programming...
, who joined as a production partner for the third run. The series is also screened in Spain and Portugal through the People+Arts
People+Arts
Liv is an entertainment television channel in Latin America. It is jointly owned by Discovery Communications.The channel was launched in October 1997 as the local version of Travel Channel...
channel, partially owned by the BBC. The first two series aired back-to-back on CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
in Canada during the summer of 2006. The third series premiered on CBC on 13 February 2007.
Series 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 on 18 April 2007, prior to airing in the UK. As a result of AMC's increased involvement, the first and final episodes of series 4 were filmed on location in Los Angeles and Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
. The series has also been shown in other countries such as New Zealand, Australia (both on ABC1
ABC1
ABC1 was a United Kingdom based television channel from Disney using the branding of the Disney owned American network, ABC.The channel initially launched exclusively on the British digital terrestrial television platform Freeview on 27 September 2004. On 10 December 2004 it was launched on...
and Foxtel
Foxtel
Foxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating cable, direct broadcast satellite television and IPTV services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between Telstra and News Corporation....
's UKTV), Japan, Sweden on SVT, Italy on La7
La7
La7 is an Italian television channel owned by Telecom Italia Media and operated by Telecom Italia.-History:In 2001, Lorenzo Pellicioli and Roberto Colaninno, of Telecom Italia announced they had acquired Telemontecarlo, in order to create a strong competitor against the six other national channels...
and Finland on MTV3
MTV3
MTV3 is a Finnish commercial television station owned by Bonnier. It had the biggest audience share of all Finnish TV channels until Finnish Broadcasting Company’s YLE1 took the lead. The letters MTV stand for Mainos-TV , due to the channel getting its revenue from running commercials...
. Currently series two is aired to the middle east (Mostly KSA, Oman & UAE) by Dubai One, a channel based in Dubai UAE. Virgin Media TV bought the rights to broadcast Hustle on its flagship channel Virgin 1
Virgin 1
Channel One was a television channel owned and operated by British Sky Broadcasting. The channel was launched on 1 October 2007 at 21:00 on Freeview, Virgin Media and Sky as Virgin1, replacing Ftn...
.
The series received a spin-off documentary, The Real Hustle
The Real Hustle
The Real Hustle is a BBC television series made by Objective Productions and written by Alexis Conran and Paul Wilson. The show demonstrates confidence and magic tricks, distraction scams and proposition bets performed on members of the public by presenters Conran, Wilson and Jessica-Jane Clement...
, in which Paul Wilson
R. Paul Wilson
Ronald Paul Wilson is a close-up magician,and television presenter. He lives and works between London, Los Angeles, and his home in Scotland. He lives in Glasgow with his wife Julie and their two children Conner and Cameron...
, Jessica-Jane Clement
Jessica-Jane Clement
Jessica-Jane Clement is a British glamour model, actress and TV presenter.-Education:...
and Alexis Conran
Alexis Conran
Alexis Conran is a British actor, writer and stage magician. He was born in Paris, France, and moved to Greece when he was a child.He is co-writer and star of the BBC hit series 'The Real Hustle' on BBC Three...
travel the country demonstrating cons to real people with the aid of hidden cameras. It is aired regularly on BBC Three
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
.
The title sequence, created by Berger & Wyse, was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award (2005), a BAFTA
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...
(2006) and an Emmy (2007). The title music, composed by Simon Rogers
Simon Rogers
Simon Rogers is a British musician and composer, notable for his chart success both as a musician and as a producer as well as for his considerable portfolio of television soundtrack work.-Biography:...
was also nominated for the Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music Emmy in 2007.
Following much media speculation, including reports of the programme being cancelled and a motion picture spin-off, the BBC announced on 12 June 2008 that Hustle had been recommissioned for a fifth series with series 1–3 star, Adrian Lester
Adrian Lester
-Personal life:Lester was born in Birmingham, England, the son of Jamaican immigrants Monica, a medical secretary, and Reginald, a manager for a contract cleaning company. He sang as a boy treble in the choir of St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham...
returning to the show alongside Robert Glenister
Robert Glenister
Robert Lewis Glenister is a British actor known for his roles as con man Ash "Three Socks" Morgan in the British TV series Hustle, and Nicholas Blake in the BBC spy drama Spooks.-Career:...
and Robert Vaughn
Robert Vaughn
Robert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in...
. Due to scheduling conflicts, Marc Warren
Marc Warren
Marc Warren is an English actor, known for his British television roles as Danny Blue in Hustle, Dougie Raymond in The Vice and Dominic Foy in State of Play.-Career:...
and Jaime Murray
Jaime Murray
Jaime Murray is an English actress, best known for playing Stacie Monroe in Hustle and Lila Tournay in season two of the Showtime series Dexter. She has also had recurring roles as H.G...
did not feature in series five, with Matt Di Angelo
Matt Di Angelo
Matt Di Angelo in London, England is an English actor and singer.He is mostly known for playing fictional character Deano Wicks in the popular British soap EastEnders, and for his current role of Sean Kennedy in the BBC series Hustle.-Education:He attended Southgate School, and started studying...
and Kelly Adams
Kelly Adams
Kelly Adams is an English actress.A pupil of North Kesteven School in North Hykeham, Adams trained at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in Wood Green, London....
joining the cast.
Future
In June 2006, 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
acquired the film rights to Hustle; a film adaptation of the programme is currently being written by creator Tony Jordan, who has written several drafts but is still developing the script. In February 2009, executive producer, Simon Crawford Collins stated that the movie is to be produced by a major US studio.
Cast
- Adrian LesterAdrian Lester-Personal life:Lester was born in Birmingham, England, the son of Jamaican immigrants Monica, a medical secretary, and Reginald, a manager for a contract cleaning company. He sang as a boy treble in the choir of St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham...
as Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone (series 1–3, 5–present), the group’s leader and 'inside man'. An ambitious, intelligent and driven conman, Stone watched his father struggle to make an honest living for many years, before dying just prior to the retirement he had looked forward to his whole life. Stone is presented as a world-renowned long-con expert with a careful eye for detail and for studiously "covering all the angles"; series 1-3 regularly contrasts this meticulous style against Danny Blue's much more laissez-faire and spontaneous approach. Several episodes reveal romantic tension between Stone and Stacie in the early series, and with Emma Kennedy in later series; it is rumoured that he and Stacie "had a thing once". Lester's departure for series four required Stone to be written out; the writers indicated that he had gone to SydneySydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia, leading a long con to short-sell the Sydney Opera HouseSydney Opera HouseThe Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
. During the fourth season, Danny took over his vacant position as team leader. The first episode of series five indicates that the con was foiled at the last minute; Stone abandons the money, steals a Royal Navy officer's uniform, and escapes to the UK on an aircraft carrierAircraft carrierAn aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
. He regains his old position as leader after Danny's departure from the fourth season.
- Robert GlenisterRobert GlenisterRobert Lewis Glenister is a British actor known for his roles as con man Ash "Three Socks" Morgan in the British TV series Hustle, and Nicholas Blake in the BBC spy drama Spooks.-Career:...
as Ash "Three Socks" MorganAshley Morgan (Hustle)Ashley Morgan is one of the five lead characters in the popular BBC television series Hustle. He is played by Robert Glenister.Ashley Morgan, known simply as Ash to his own crew, and “Three Socks” Morgan to the wider grifting circle, is a seasoned grifter, and the team's "fixer"...
(series 1–present), the team's 'fixer', responsible for setting up the locations, people and items needed to convince the mark of the con's legitimacy. Morgan is portrayed as an exceptional all-round grifter who can turn his hand to any job, and is seen at various points acquiring vast amounts of foreign currency, rigging sophisticated security systems, and impersonating everyone from an oil consultant to the American ambasador to the United Kingdom. The first episode of series one introduces Morgan working 'The Flop': deliberately stepping in front of a moving car and passing off an old skull fracture obtained in a bar brawl as a fresh injury, in order to make an insurance claim. He is the only character to have appeared in every episode of the show.
- Robert VaughnRobert VaughnRobert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in...
as Albert StrollerAlbert StrollerAlbert Stroller is a character in the BBC TV series Hustle. He is played by Robert Vaughn.Albert is a member of a crew of grifters. He is the group roper; his role is to identify people as targets and lead them to the inside-man...
(series 1–present), the team's 'roper', responsible for identifying and then ensnaring potential marks. A legendary, but semi-retired, 'old-school' grifter, Stroller is portrayed as a mentor and grandfather-figure to the group, of whom they are extremely protective.
- Rob JarvisRob JarvisRob Jarvis is an English television and film actor. He is most known for his regular role as Eddie on Hustle, the long running BBC television programme; from Liverpool, he is frequently cast as a scouser.-Filmography:-Other Work :...
as Eddie (series 1–present), the owner and proprietor of Eddie's Bar where the group often plan cons. Fully aware of the group and their dealings, he usually adopts a "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" attitude. The petty grifts played on him by the crew whenever they want to get out of paying their bar tab, make a point to someone, or are just plain bored, are a recurring theme through the series, and often serve as a Chekhov's gunChekhov's gunChekhov's gun is a literary technique whereby an apparently irrelevant element is introduced early in the story whose significance becomes clear later in the narrative. The concept is named after Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, who mentioned several variants of the concept in letters...
for a trick which will be important later in the episode.
- Matt Di AngeloMatt Di AngeloMatt Di Angelo in London, England is an English actor and singer.He is mostly known for playing fictional character Deano Wicks in the popular British soap EastEnders, and for his current role of Sean Kennedy in the BBC series Hustle.-Education:He attended Southgate School, and started studying...
as Sean Kennedy, and Kelly AdamsKelly AdamsKelly Adams is an English actress.A pupil of North Kesteven School in North Hykeham, Adams trained at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in Wood Green, London....
as Emma Kennedy (series 5–present). Replacing the departed characters of Billy Bond and Stacie Monroe, the Kennedy siblings are less-experienced grifters, and newcomers to the long con. The first episode of series five, in which Stone returns to find Albert in prison and attempts to complete a con with only a two-man team, turns out to be a setup by Albert, who has separately encouraged Sean and Emma to try and con Mickey and Ash; both groups successfully escape with each other's money, all of which turns out to be fake. Subsequent episodes focus on their development as con artists, and some back-story exposition; their father, played by Danny WebbDanny Webb (actor)Danny Webb is a British television and film actor. He may be best known for his role as the prisoner Morse in Alien 3. He has appeared in many famous British television programmes including The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Emmerdale Farm, Our Friends in the North, A Touch of Frost, Agatha...
, is the target of a gold brick scam in series six episode four, and Emma's childhood sweetheart makes an appearance in series seven episode two, played by Joe ArmstrongJoe Armstrong (actor)Joe Armstrong is an English actor. He played Allan A Dale in the BBC series Robin Hood. He plays Hotspur in the forthcoming BBC production of Henry IV, Part 1 and he will appear in the film Closer to the Moon by Nae Caranfil...
. Their mutual protectiveness is also an occasional theme.
- Marc WarrenMarc WarrenMarc Warren is an English actor, known for his British television roles as Danny Blue in Hustle, Dougie Raymond in The Vice and Dominic Foy in State of Play.-Career:...
as Danny BlueDanny Blue (Hustle)Danny Blue is a fictional character in the popular BBC television show Hustle. He is played by Marc Warren.-Background & Joining the crew:...
(series 1–4). Lacking a particular role within the group, Danny Blue is initially described as a 'floater', a term he abhors. A seasoned short-con artist, Danny's brash self-appointment to the group forms the overall plot arc of the first series; after proving his loyalty he is allowed to stay on and learn from Mickey, who is the "only man in London who can teach him anything". Later series explore his challenge to Stone's authority and contrast his spontaneous and self-assured grifting style with Stone's careful attention to detail. When Warren did not return to the show for the fifth series, the character was written out, staying in the United States with Stacie in order to pull off some more cons.
- Jaime MurrayJaime MurrayJaime Murray is an English actress, best known for playing Stacie Monroe in Hustle and Lila Tournay in season two of the Showtime series Dexter. She has also had recurring roles as H.G...
as Stacie MonroeStacie MonroeStacie Monroe is a character in the British television series Hustle played by Jaime Murray. Stacie is the only female member of a team-cum-family of "long con" artists.-Background & Personality:...
(series 1–4). Stacie uses her sex appeal to manipulate potential marks, and in smaller short cons to raise funds for the team's activities; she is also shown acting as the team's banker. She is portrayed as extremely intelligent and an accomplished grifter, described in the first episode of series one as being "maybe even in [Michael] Stone's league". A previous romantic connection with Stone is occasionally explored; her ex-husband, a fellow short-con artist who ran away leaving her destitute, is the target of a rigged poker game in series two episode five. Written out along with Danny Blue at the end of series four, Murray's last appearance is in series four episode six, remaining in Las Vegas to continue pulling cons in the United States.
- Ashley Walters as Billy BondBilly BondBilly Bond is a character in the popular BBC television show Hustle. He is played by Ashley Walters.Billy Bond was the newest member of the Hustle crew. He joined in series 4 after Michael Stone departed the group...
(series 4). Billy enters the crew in much the same way that Danny did – as a rookie, with a natural hustling instinct and a master of the short con, but with little knowledge or experience of the long con. Portrayed as an astute and likable character despite prior involvements in drug dealing and street gangs, he knows that his inclusion within the crew is his chance to make it big. Walters did not return for the fifth series, which instead marked the return of Adrian Lester; the final whereabouts of his character are not well explained.
Critical reception
The first series of Hustle, broadcast from 24 February to 30 March 2004, attracted generally favourable reviews and audience figures. The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
described it as "defiantly high-concept, tightly plotted, knowing stuff... a laugh; slick, glossy, and smart certainly, but a laugh all the same", and The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
remarked that it had "the snap and style of a series that has been cryogenically frozen in the 1960s and brought back to life, like The Clangers
The Clangers
Clangers is a popular British stop-motion animated children's television series of short stories about a family of mouse-like creatures who live on, and in, a small blue planet . They speak in whistles, and eat green soup supplied by the Soup Dragon...
... The wonderfully absurd result is a drama series that takes itself far less seriously than almost anything since The Persuaders
The Persuaders!
The Persuaders! is a 1971 action/adventure series, produced by ITC Entertainment for initial broadcast on ITV and ABC. It has been called "the last major entry in the cycle of adventure series that had begun eleven years earlier with Danger Man in 1960", as well as "the most ambitious and most...
". A later review from the same paper summarised the series as "an engaging, well-acted, snappily directed drama... sleekly edited, flatteringly lit, and stylishly executed... Will you remember a single moment of it five minutes after you’ve watched an episode? Probably not. But who cares?" The first three episodes attracted an average audience of 6.2 million, peaking at over 30% of the total audience.
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 Series 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 some time afterwards. The revised edition has a 15 certificate whereas the cut DVD has a PG certificate. The back of the revised case also contains the words "Each episode approx. 59 mins" under "Run Time" in the information table. The first four seasons have been released in Region 1 (North America), but BBC Video has yet to issue further seasons to DVD in that part of the world.| Individual series | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Region 2 Release Date | Region 1 Release Date | Australian Release Date | No. of discs | BBFC Rating |
| Hustle Complete Series One | 18 April 2005 | 5 September 2006 | 6 February 2008 | 2 | 15 |
| Hustle Complete Series Two | 19 September 2005 | 13 February 2007 | 3 April 2008 | 2 | 12 |
| Hustle Complete Series Three | 23 April 2007 | 10 July 2007 | 11 December 2008 | 2 | 15 |
| Hustle Complete Series Four | 28 April 2008 | 22 January 2008 | 2 April 2009 | 2 | 12 |
| Hustle Complete Series Five | 11 January 2010 | 4 March 2010 | 2 | 12 | |
| Hustle Complete Series Six | 10 January 2011 | 8 August 2011 | 2 | 12 | |
| Compilations | |||||
| Title | Region 2 Release Date | Region 1 Release Date | Australian Release Date | No. of discs | BBFC Rating |
| Hustle Complete Series One to Four | 28 April 2008 | 12 August 2008 | 8 | 15 | |
| Hustle Complete Series One to Five | 11 January 2010 | 10 | 15 | ||
| Hustle Complete Series One to Six | 10 January 2011 | 12 | 15 | ||
External links
- Series one, episode 1 script at BBC Writers Room