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| London or bust. The likable grifters of HUSTLE. Image: BBC/KUDOS |
Receiving the best audience ratings its had in several years, the seventh series of the enjoyable and always glamorous looking confidence tricksters drama HUSTLE, showing on BBC 1 in the UK, was indeed a great improvement over the previous year (in a series that had already prior peaked with Season Three), with a far better storytelling balance and visually looking as lively as ever (Finally being able to set an episode in the ever blossoming city of Birmingham, where the show has been made to look like London on a weekly basis for the last two years, was an idea that actually worked in the shows favour, though the occasional scenes actually filmed in London must be changed if they carry on making the series: the HUSTLE teams constant walking down Waterloo/Lambeth road opposite Westminster is getting all too monotonous!).
The regular cast, which has thankfully remained unchanged for the last three years, were as good as ever, with Robert Glenister, a fine actor, always the chameleon as the multi-talented fixer Ash, with equally fine Adrian Lester as Mickey Bricks mixing confidence and adaptability with just the right amount of coolness, and with the occasional hint of insecurity thrown in, that never borders too much on the side of smug. Kelly Adams returned to add the female factor in all her pixie-like, leggy beauty as Emma and Matt Di Angelo finally seemed a bit more confident and relaxed in his role as the youngest grafter, and Emma’s brother, Sean. And as for old-time con Albert Stroller, as played by the ever reliable Hollywood great Robert Vaughn? Well, more on him shortly…
This year it was great to have a consistent run of fun and ingenious scripts that clicked with viewers and ably proved that there was still lots of life in the old series yet, backed up with some great baddies for our heroes to hustle. Cheers, in particular, to ex-DEMPSEY AND MAKEPEACE star Michael Brandon, who was an excellent antagonist in episode three, playing a casino owner who knows the grifters and is determined to have them revealed to the world, and break the spirit of Albert Stroller, with whom he has a particular personal score to settle. This was an episode with some great twists, and a superior script that made it easily the stand-out of the season, as well as the last few seasons in general, and who wasn’t rooting for Vaughn, rightly taking centre stage as his character is determined to avenge the past mis-deeds done to his great, great grandfather in the American West by Brandon’s family run, equally crooked, casino heritage. As well as Brandon there were some equally nice turns from some of the best British TV talent around, including Denis Lawson as a grafter out for revenge, Posh Totty Anna Chancellor as a cruel model agent/manager with ideas above her station and Angela Griffin proving surprisingly good as a trashy loan shark boss desperately wanting to be posh. The only weak villain of the season was David Harewood, and it wasn’t that he was a bad actor- far from it, and the episode was very enjoyable (it had a great comedic twist, with Ash, receiving a head injury, going LIAR, LIAR and not being able to lie at a critical point in the con) - it’s just that his character was too likable to be an ambitious, tread on everybody sports agent. Many real-life sports agents are sharks that are much, much worse!
In general, the always cool ex-UNCLE’er Robert Vaughn had much more to do this season, and seemed to get younger as the episodes went on, which was great to see. Beyond his standout episode three, he was an important fixture of the series finale episode, too, as, after the teams previous happy, we’re going on holiday type season end shenanigans of previous years, this year concluded on an intriguing, more downbeat note, with Stroller, immersed and distracted in the central con, losing his final opportunity to be with his old flame (Hannah Gordon) and their daughter (played by Claire Goose). I’m sure there wasn’t one member of the viewing audience not feeling sorry for him at the end. Ahhh…
So, despite seeing the occasional pain and loneliness that comes with living the life of a grafter, I think it’s safe to say that this was a fine and fun year for the show, its cast and its production team. Barring the capricious whims of a new BBC 1 controller, let’s hope that an eighth year for the show-perhaps a final wrap up affair- is not too far off…
KOOL TV OVERALL SEASON RATING: 3.5 out of 5
The first six seasons of HUSTLE are currently available on DVD.
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