KOOL TV BABE OF THE WEEK: 'HUSTLE's KELLY ADAMS

In the business of deception, Kelly Adams of HUSTLE certainly has our attention. Image: BBC/KUDOS/GRESHAMBLAKE.COM

In the real life world of modern London, distraction crimes by thieves and con artists are sadly on the rise: a fact which is both annoying and frightening for the victims who suffer it on a daily basis. However, if I was ever to be distracted by anyone within the make believe, alternate fantasy world of London, as seen in the hit BBC/KUDOS series HUSTLE, please let it be by the lovely English actress Kelly Adams, who, as stilettoed vixen and razor sharp con artist/femme fatale Emma Kennedy, knows how to help her teammates (including younger brother and fellow grifter, Sean (Matt Di Angelo)) hit their creative mark and make sure that their mission to rob from the best (well worst) of society comes to successful fruition! Along the way, she's also been a mistress of disguise, appearing as anybody from a cleaning lady or leggy secretary to Aussie megastar Kylie Minogue, whom she did an uncanny impersonation of-and looked stunning, too!- during the opening episode of Season Six a couple of years back.

Memorably impersonating Kylie Minogue in HUSTLE Season Six. Image: BBC/KUDOS.

Almost pixie-like in size, with a cute sense of mischief on screen, and most definitely one of the boys on numerous occasions, the lovely Miss Adams, who previously appeared in the long-running BBC hospital soap HOLBY CITY and recent films like the Tom Hardy starring BRONSON, has much in common with her HUSTLE counter-part in the likes of intelligence and charm, too. With her model looks, if she'd been acting in the sixties she'd have made a great AVENGERS girl, or a fine DOCTOR WHO companion now. And, as HUSTLE comes to its end this season, the actress is about to depart England to make way for sunnier climes and a career launch in the US (the right time for her to do it, too, what with the current success of HUSTLE on the BBC AMERICA channel).

Kelly as Emma, with her HUSTLE team-mates for the final series. Image: BBC/KUDOS.

Having stolen British men's hearts, KOOL TV wishes Miss Adams success for the future, and looks forward to seeing her in equally popular series to rival or improve on HUSTLE.


Previous seasons of HUSTLE are available on DVD. The final season continues its run on the UK's BBC 1 HD channel.

KOOL TV REVIEW: "HUSTLE" SEASON SEVEN

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.

HUMANITY'S LAST HOPE: "OUTCASTS"

A brave new world for Ashley Walters and Hermione Norris in the new sci-fi drama series OUTCASTS. Image: BBC TV/KUDOS.

The evocative idea of colonising a new world- and all the struggles to survive and civilisation building that accompany it-has long been the brilliant stuff of classic sci-fi novels, but now the UK's BBC and production company KUDOS are creating a live action event TV series of this fascinating high concept idea: OUTCASTS, starting an eight part season run from next week on the BBC 1 and HD channels, with the opening two episodes being shown over two nights next Monday and Tuesday. In this new series, our worst nightmare prediction has come true: planet Earth has finally been devastated by a nuclear holocaust and humanity, in the best STAR TREK-like tradition (but without the feel good characters and incredible technology-this series is more like ALIEN and STAR WARS in its used universe like visual feel), have journeyed into the stars to find their new home. Home being Carpathia, where Earth's often unlikely first pioneers will tread their first delicate, though bold, steps of living and adapting to the brave new world around them. And despite Carpathia's intriguing beauty and its distinctive two moon sky, life will still not be easy, as man, as ever, lives or dies by its emotions in this new world, as power struggles emerge and human decency finds itself at odds with corruption, greed and murder. Can mankind ultimately overcome its petty vices to survive and prosper alongside its weighty idealism?

Filmed totally on location in the hot and beautiful climes of the wilderness of South Africa, and with a varied international cast including SPOOKS Hermione Norris, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's Jamie Bamber, ASHES TO ASHES Daniel Mays, UGLY BETTY's Eric Mabius and HUSTLE's Ashley Walters, this series is a big and expensive gamble for its makers, but it has potential and certainly looks visually splendid from the trailers so far. But beyond the marvellous concept, what about the characters and storylines themselves? How good they prove to be will surely, ultimately determine its longevity. Hopefully by no means a dud like the BBC/KUDOS previous co-production, the James Nesbitt starrer THE DEEP, early UK press reviews have indicated that the first episode of OUTCASTS is pretty heavy going and gloomy in places, and KUDOS itself has on several occasions allegedly tried to play down any notions that the series is sci-fi (a bad sign of insecurity), instead strengthening its publicity more towards the name stars and the character aspects of the series. Let's hope that OUTCASTS can spread its wing pasts its opening installments and indeed become an interesting, possibly memorable, and exciting series long term, with aforementioned characters that we'll hopefully find intriguing and respond to. If not, the men and women of the planets Forthaven settlement may find life even more lonelier and hostile if no ones tunning in for the next seven weeks!

Look out for KOOL TV's review of OUTCASTS in the near future...

MAYHEM IN MAJORCA: "MAD DOGS"!

Off to sunny Spain, and unaware of the nightmare to come, the four stars of MAD DOGS. Images: SKY ONE. 

SKY ONE’s continuing flirtation with making and selling its own unique drama programmes has been operating since the late nineties (anybody out there remember THE STRETCH, with EASTENDERS stars Leslie Grantham and Anita Dobson, or the weird and largely unfunny drama/comedy THE STRANGERERS from RED DWARF creators/writer Rob Grant?) and has been strengthened in recent years with their involvement with and adapting of several of fantasy author Terry Pratchett’s DISCWORLD books and, most recently, with flavour of the month actor David Morrissey in his playing Detective Thorne in TV adaptation of the famous books by Mark Billingham. Now from the Isleworth Industrial Estate based company comes what looks set to be a modern iconic new four part drama/thriller, with a mix of black comedy thrown in: MAD DOGS, about a group of guys on a Jolly Boys Outing to Spain which soon becomes the holiday reunion from hell, from a story pitched by several of its stars determined to break through into both realms of the acting and scripted storytelling medium and create more noteworthy TV projects not only for them to work in but for audiences in general whose viewing habit boats, especially in the UK, find themselves sailing within a current sea of largely dross modern drama...

Much anticipated by their respective fan bases, the ultimate heavyweight acting combo/pedigree of LIFE ON MARS' Philip Glenister and John Simm, HUSTLE’s resident Jack the Lad con man Marc Warren, and SURVIVORS prison break hero Max Beesley are brought together by their long time pal Alvo (played by Ben Chaplin), basically the lynch pin of the opening episode, for what turns out to be a series of unfortunately painful and bizarre events which will test their ties of loyalty and responsibilities towards each other, and as a group, to the limit, against a sun and sangria atmosphere contaminated with murder and deception. One thing’s for sure, life will never be the same again for any of them, in what looks set to be a production peppered with a strong sense of style and tone not seen since the likes of Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley’s gripping cult hit, SEXY BEAST, and which will surely prove to be a big winner this year for SKY ONE (and HD), whose marketing/production team must have been knocked off their seats when these actors decided to join forces with them to bring MAD DOGS to life, and making the company ever more keen to create further successful and lucrative home grown productions of this ilk to match the quality imports they’ve been buying from the US.

The series poster promo for the new four part series.

Can MAD DOGS live up to the pre-transmission hype and its prior stylish photo/advertising campaign-trailers directed by the outrageous and clever VANITY FAIR photographer David LaChapelle (teaser link: http://sky1.sky.com/Sky1-HD-Mad-Dogs-New-David-LaChapelle-Promo), and featuring a creepy Tony Blair face masked, gun wielding assassin? Let’s certainly hope so!

Look for a KOOL TV review of MAD DOGS, starting next Thursday on SKY ONE (and HD), soon...