List of Hustle episodes
Hustle is a British television drama series made by Kudos Film & Television for BBC One in the United Kingdom.
Series overview
| Series | Episodes | Series premiere | Series finale | DVD release dates | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | |||||
| 1 | 6 | 24 February 2004 | 30 March 2004 | 5 September 2006 | 18 April 2005 | 11 February 2008 | |
| 2 | 6 | 29 March 2005 | 3 May 2005 | 13 February 2007 | 19 September 2005 | 2 April 2008 | |
| 3 | 6 | 10 March 2006 | 14 April 2006 | 10 July 2007 | 23 April 2007 | 11 December 2008 | |
| 4 | 6 | 3 May 2007 | 7 June 2007 | 22 January 2008 | 28 April 2008 | 2 April 2009 | |
| 5 | 6 | 8 January 2009 | 12 February 2009 | N/A | 11 January 2010 | 4 March 2010 | |
| 6 | 6 | 4 January 2010 | 8 February 2010 | N/A | 10 January 2011 | N/A | |
| 7 | 6 | 7 January 2011 | 18 February 2011 | N/A | 9 January 2012 | 7 March 2012 | |
| 8 | 6 | 13 January 2012 | 17 February 2012 | N/A | 18 June 2012 | N/A | |
Episodes
Series 1 (2004)
| No | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | UK viewers (million)[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Con is On" | Bharat Nalluri | Tony Jordan | 24 February 2004 | 7.23 |
| Michael Stone (aka "Mickey Bricks") has just been released from prison, having served a sentence for attacking his wife's boyfriend. Mickey is an expert at the "long con", and upon his release, decides to assemble his old team of fellow hustlers to pull off one last con, before he retires for good. His team is diverse in talent, experience and skill; ranging from old hand and mentor, Albert Stroller (the Roper), to the alluring Stacie Monroe (the Banker and Lure), and the jack-of-all-trades Ashley "3 Socks" Morgan (the Fixer). Their "mark" for this last job is a greedy businessman who they plan to hit with a "stock market" con, but as things progress well and go to plan, short con player, Danny Blue, suddenly enters the picture, in his attempt to try and join the team, even by being part of the con itself. But in doing so, he could also jeopardize the score for the others; for unbeknown to the crew, two police detectives have got them, primarily Mickey, under full surveillance, and are eager to imprison Mickey before he retires. When they target Danny as the weak link in the scam, he finds himself put in a difficult position, loyalty or survival... | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Faking It" | Bharat Nalluri | Tony Jordan | 2 March 2004 | 7.16 |
| Albert is viciously beaten by a local gangster, after he is caught cheating at cards. Initially, Frank Gorlay, a crooked casino owner, and the one responsible for putting Albert in hospital, seems untouchable. However, Danny (seeing this as his opportunity to show what he can truly do) helps them to discover a way in; Gorlay has a passion for the movies, the classics, so the gang subsequently attempt to con him into investing in a film (through the 'Angel' scam), with Danny playing the inside as a budding film producer, Stacie as an attractive cast member of the new film, and Mickey and Ash as the investors, with the latter playing the disgruntled member who gets kicked out. Their plan is to make Gorlay invest in an upcoming film, with Ash supposedly taking their money for being "kicked out". But as the team's plan works to perfection and towards the "blowoff" (getting the mark to believe he won't get his money back if he even tries pursuing the matter), their knowledge of the mark may have overlooked how violent he can really be... | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Picture Perfect" | Bharat Nalluri | Matthew Graham | 9 March 2004 | 5.75 |
| Albert and Ash inadvertently ripped off an honest but desperate businessman for his last savings, whilst Mickey was in prison, which goes against the first rule of the con - "Never Con a Honest Man". In order to make amends, since Mickey now believes that the team is now jinxed thanks to the previous troubles they've had (such as the police surveillance and Mickey's wife asking for a divorce), the gang decide to create a "fake" new painting by the artist Piet Mondrian, making out that he had created the style of cubism before Pablo Picasso did. The gang try to sell it to a ruthless art collector and gallery owner, Meredith Gates, a woman with a huge passion for all of Mondrian's work; Danny had found out about her whilst leaving from the same hospital she'd been in. Danny ropes her into the con, posing as a fellow collector who's looking to buy it. However, hurdles lie ahead for the team in the form of a brilliant, but completely untrustworthy artist who likes to set mentally cruel puzzles and games, and an art journalist who Mickey starts to have doubts about as the con progresses; after all, Mickey did believe that they were jinxed... | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Cops and Robbers" | Minkie Spiro | Tony Jordan | 16 March 2004 | 5.81 |
|
Mickey finds himself being blackmailed by a former cop-turned-bank security manager, Victor Maher (a man whose career at bringing down grifters, was a great success), who threatens to send Danny to prison if Mickey doesn't help him to catch a bank robber. The robber, it seems, has targeted various branches of the bank that Maher works for, all across the country, and is soon expected to hit the London branch. Albert warns Mickey not to comply with the ex-cop, as he fears Mickey is falling into a trap; Albert had been one of the grifters, Victor had caught, and knows better than Mickey does. But when Mickey discovers that the bank robber lost his father, a diamond cutter, to the bank's crooked ways, thanks to a major debt they had, the matter becomes complicated. The robber reveals, that having sought back every penny stolen from him, his last target holds a valuable family heirloom, an uncut diamond, which the bank took and kept for themselves to write off the debt, despite the fact that the gem was worth more than the debt was. Mickey decides to help, but finds himself needing a plan to outsmart his blackmailer, and it's not easy when you don't keep your team in the loop... Guest starring: David Calder, Richard Harrington, David Walliams, Phil Smeeton | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "A Touch of Class" | Minkie Spiro | Ashley Pharoah | 23 March 2004 | 6.74 |
| A rich, bitchy, and recently divorced woman (Tamzin Outhwaite) is the target of the team's next con, having ended her marriage over the rows and actions between herself and her ex (such as being locked in a lift when her ex knew she was claustrophobic). The team decide to do the Congreve con (defrauding a vengeful woman) and everything goes according to plan, until Mickey's feelings for the woman start to get into the way, conflicting with his role as a con artist. Eventually, he decides not to continue with the con, even revealing who he is to her, and for a moment it looks like the group will be walking away from this one. But when the mark suddenly offers him money to set up her former husband, in regards to certain activities that were occurring in the hotel chain he now owns, Mickey may not be thinking as straight as he should, because he soon accepts. "Always beware a woman scorned"... | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "The Last Gamble" | Robert Bailey | Tony Jordan | 30 March 2004 | 6.14 |
| The stress of grifting has reached a high point for the team, so Mickey decides they should do one more con before going on vacation. The crew picks a greedy fat-cat as their next mark; a recently resigned CEO of a major utility company (David Haig) from where, after performing some seriously bad mismanagement, he left with a golden handshake of £500,000 (much to the annoyance of the workers). For the team, they perform a con that uses his two secret weaknesses he hides from his wife – prostitutes and gambling on horses – "the Wire", with the team luring him in with promises they have a guaranteed way of making serious money gambling on the horse races. But unbeknown to the crew, a previous mark who seeks getting payback on them, after they falsely sold him the London Eye, is on their tail, and is soon eager to steal whatever they make out of this score... | ||||||
Series 2 (2005)
| No | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | UK viewers (million)[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 1 | "Gold Mine" | Otto Bathurst | Tony Jordan | 29 March 2005 | 5.94 |
| The team are back from their holidays and quickly looking for a new mark, when Eddie tells them that a friend of theirs has just been arrested whilst grifting. Harry Holmes, an old time grifter, had been nailed by a cocky property broker, a man who thinks that he can't be conned, after learning everything about the grifting game since being conned before. Despite Mickey and Albert declaring that the man is untouchable, Danny is not convinced. He believes the developer should be conned, to prove he still can be, and bets Mickey 50 pence that he can do it. Upon the discovery that the broker lost out on a recent land sale, which later turned up gold artifacts (much to his anger), Danny reveals his plan: to sell a plot of land to the broker, convincing him that there's literally a gold mine underneath it. However, Danny has to chuck out the conventional setup of the con to get at the mark, which Mickey and Ash fear will lead to disaster. However, for Mickey, he must decide whether to teach Danny a lesson (if it means putting the crew in jail) or bailing him out... | ||||||
| 8 | 2 | "Confessions" | Otto Bathurst | Matthew Graham | 5 April 2005 | 5.62 |
| The gang are working on a con with several marks to sell fake religious books, when Albert (who should be doing his part) goes AWOL, with a good enough reason. A close friend of his recently died in hospital, leaving him with immense grief and uncertainty about his future, and causes him to head to a church to comtemplate things. When he returns, he apologises for his actions and, to make up for this, he provides a new mark, a former gangster turned famous chef, that he met at the church. With a bad heart, and fears about his health, he is eager to find his long lost son, kidnapped whilst he was still a baby. While Danny plays the part of the mark's prodigal son and impresses the mark, Mickey and Ash begin to worry about Albert's state of mind, especially when he starts losing at cards... | ||||||
| 9 | 3 | "The Lesson" | Alrick Riley | Tony Jordan | 12 April 2005 | 5.26 |
|
Danny has discovered a potential new member for the crew and decides to bring him in to the team and with their latest con, but Mickey is not convinced until Danny's persistence finally pays off, and the new kid is let in. Their con is simple: to swindle a Nigerian arms dealer. The mark is a collector of rare currency notes, and is eager to acquire a rare Confederate $1,000 bill, of which one is owned by the former elderly wife of a now dead collector in London. The team decide to sell the mark a fake copy of the note using the original as a template. However, when the con goes wrong, and the fake note is lost while en route to the mark, the new member is blamed for the loss and the costly mistake, and promptly kicked out. But the crew are unaware of how greedy and devious he is, as the sneaky grifter decides to steal the original and sell it, claiming the team's just reward for himself. This is certainly a grifter who gives others a truly bad name... Meanwhile, Stacey finds out, that a sneaky bank manager has cheated the team of money for certain charges they shouldn't have gotten, and decides to get revenge, asking Albert to help her con him, and make him know exactly what happens when you try to swindle a team of grifters... | ||||||
| 10 | 4 | "Missions" | Alrick Riley | Howard Overman | 19 April 2005 | 6.14 |
| The team has just recently bought the "Mona Lisa" of comic book artwork at auction: the front cover of Black Storm, Issue One. Their latest con is to sell a forgery of the artwork to one of two avid collectors at the next auction by switching it with the original, after they get verified before its sale, whilst selling the original piece to the other collector after the auction, with Albert and Stacie enticing the pair to up their bids, so to increase their profit. But there's a spanner in the grifter's works: DI Samantha Phillips, a crooked cop who bullys, intimidates and frames people and crooks, so to extort cash from them. Her latest victim, Eddie, has just pointed her on to Mickey, in order to save his own skin. With a bent cop sticking close to both him and Danny, and looking to take any money they make, Mickey is eager to do anything to get rid of her. But she's not someone who can be easily fooled by the simplest of tricks.... | ||||||
| 11 | 5 | "Old Acquaintance" | John Strickland | Julie Rutterford | 26 April 2005 | 6.54 |
| The team are working on a score at a casino, when Stacie spots her ex-husband, who has reappeared in London after leaving her five years ago. When he left her, he cleared out their apartment, their savings, and left a few parting gifts she's never liked. The gang decide that revenge is a dish best served cold. They learn that Stacie's ex has developed a talent for poker, especially Texas-Hold'em, and decide to take his money by luring him into a rigged game of cards, that they are setting up, with Mickey playing as himself for once, Albert as the man setting up the game and Danny as a persistent but bad gambler, alongside two genuine players they've roped in. Everything goes to plan with the grifters removing each real player from the game, and Danny as planned, until only Mickey and the mark are left, but Stacie's feelings for him, soon start to conflict with the con. Would she betray her fellow grifters and leave with him? That's the question, even Mickey does not know the answer to.... | ||||||
| 12 | 6 | "Eye of the Beholder" | John Strickland | Tony Jordan | 3 May 2005 | 5.42 |
| No one has ever attempted to steal the crown jewels since Thomas Blood, let alone succeed. Mickey plans to change that, with an audacious plan: to steal a part of the set, the 530-carat Star of Africa, which has been removed from the jewels to be part of a special exhibition. The crew are not eager at first to take part, but eventually become swayed with the idea to go ahead with it, with the team setting up for it. But a close friend of the crew, whom they've worked with on a few occasions, gets arrested for handling stolen goods. Not eager to face his crimes or go to prison, he rats out their plan to the police, in order to escape the charges. A special surveillance team is formed to monitor them, including a familiar DS who is eager to not only foil the heist, but lock up Mickey for his part in it, after the mess he made of their previous case against him.... | ||||||
Series 3 (2006)
| No | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | UK viewers (million)[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 1 | "Price for Fame" | Otto Bathurst | Tony Jordan | 10 March 2006 | 6.48 |
| The crew are back and working their way back up after losing everything in a brief spell in Las Vegas, thanks to Danny (they're banned from every hotel in London and have lost all their money). After their original target has a heart attack, Albert finds a replacement at the hospital: people-trafficker, and violent pub owner, Benny Frazier, who, whilst he lavishes his wife with jewellery(often violently undercutting the dealers he buys from), is more interested in Joey, his son, of whom he will do anything to help him, as Joey is an aspiring (but rather bad) rap artist. The team decide to convince the mark that they represent a record company which can make the kid a star, getting him into an award show and even recording a demo that is played on the radio. Everything seems to go smoothly, but an oversight by a member of the team (namely Albert) could soon prove costly when Danny fears the mark might be onto them, though Mickey does not think so... | ||||||
| 14 | 2 | "Albert's Challenge" | Otto Bathurst | Tony Jordan | 17 March 2006 | 5.90 |
| Flaws are revealed in the gang's leadership as the rivalry between Mickey and Danny escalates to breaking point. To solve this dilemma, Albert suggests that the pair take part in the "Henderson Challenge". Dropped naked in the middle of London and given six hours to grift as much money as possible, it becomes a test of pure grifting skill between Danny and Mickey, with Stacie helping Danny while Ash works with Mickey. But while Danny starts to get ahead of his opponent, Mickey decides to do what he's best at, the Long Con. Meanwhile, Eddie asks Albert to teach him how to do the grifting game, but he may regret asking that... | ||||||
| 15 | 3 | "Ties That Bind Us" | Colm McCarthy | Steve Coombes | 24 March 2006 | 5.74 |
|
The crew come to the assistance of American con artist, James Whitaker Wright III, descendant of the legendary James Whitaker Wright I. Whittaker Wright was a brilliant grifter of his time until he attempted to float a fake mining company with the merchant bank, Cornfoots, which soon led to his downfall, but also one of the most brilliant "cackle bladders" of all time; faking his own death. His grandson is now eager for revenge, so the team decide to con two of the bigwigs of the bank: they set up a fake company, "Chad mining", in order to crash the bank, when their marks decide to sell the company shares before it has floated; an action that is highly illegal, and which the gang knows they will pay for, when the marks can't get the shares back. However, "JW3" was cunning and smart to find and recruit them all, and the team certainly have doubts about whether to trust him or not, but even they can't expect how things will truly end... Guest starring Richard Chamberlain | ||||||
| 16 | 4 | "A Bollywood Dream" | Colm McCarthy | Danny Brown | 31 March 2006 | 5.64 |
| The first law of the con: you can’t con an honest man. But what about when a mark becomes an honest man halfway through the con? Kulvinder Samar is an amoral sweat-shop owner, but he has a weakness: as a teenager, he wanted to go into acting, but was dissuaded from doing so by his strict father, who insisted he do a ‘proper’ job. Even now, though, he loves the Bollywood film industry of which he still longs to be a part. The grifters seize upon this by using a film-investor con and even offering him the chance to act in the movie alongside Stacie, who they’ve convinced him is the up-and-coming Bollywood starlet of the moment. However, in a moment of rare oversight, they have failed to take into account the fact that Samar is a perfectionist, and as such is the first to recognise that this setup is too perfect by far. Just as they’re about to seal the deal, Kamar sees through the plot and realises that he’s about to be conned; unfortunately, he chooses to mention this while Danny is driving, and the unexpected revelation causes him to write off the car. At first the crew think they have no choice but to walk away; but then it transpires that Kamar has lost his short-term memory, and in a moment of inspiration, they realise that this might be their opportunity to make grifting history - to pull off the same con, on the same mark, twice. They have to act quickly, as there is no way of knowing when Kamar’s memory will begin to come back; but when it begins to do so, Kamar is a changed man, so much so that the crew now have a moral dilemma on their hands ... | ||||||
| 17 | 5 | "The Hustler's News Of The Day" | SJ Clarkson | David Cummings | 7 April 2006 | 5.34 |
| A tabloid newspaper, the Weekend World, prints a story falsely accusing a close friend of Stacie's of embezzling funds from the charity for which she works and holds dear. As a result, Stacie's friend attempts suicide. After visiting her friend in hospital, Stacie relates the story to the rest of the gang, who unanimously agree that the editor and chief reporter of the Weekend World must be taken down. Looking for an 'in', they learn that the pair have a particular love of stories involving the Royal Family, which leads the grifters to concoct a tale about the late Queen Mother having been replaced with a lookalike during the Second World War. By way of providing living 'proof' of their story, Albert acts as the son of the impostor, still living in the East End of London. All is going well until MI5 intervene, telling Mickey summarily to discontinue his plan to discredit the Queen Mother immediately upon pain of imprisonment. As if this weren't bad enough, the newspaper editor demands a DNA test to prove Albert's heritage. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Mickey must think of a solution that will satisfy both MI5 and the newspaper editor, without landing him and his team in prison for a very long time ... | ||||||
| 18 | 6 | "Law and Corruption" | SJ Clarkson | Tony Jordan | 14 April 2006 | 6.08 |
|
The crew have just been arrested by the police, after they supposedly 'find' cocaine in a suitcase Mickey was carrying from their last con. Detective Chief Inspector York, a man who likes the publicity from big arrests and doing whatever he can to ensure that happens, makes a 'deal' with the crew; while Albert is kept in prison, the rest of the crew must devise an entrapment scheme against a notorious thief, Adam Rice, who has plans to steal a valuable Hans Christian Andersen manuscript. Of course, the theft will be right in the region of another police detective's area, one that York doesn't want to arrest Rice, as his rival officer has been getting more publicity than him recently. But how do you gain the trust of someone nicknamed "The Ghost"? Well as the gang finds out, it's not that easy at all, but as they will also find out, York is even harder to trust... Temporary departure of Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone | ||||||
Series 4 (2007)
| No | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | UK viewers (million)[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 1 | "As One Flew Out, One Flew In" | Alrick Riley | Tony Jordan | 3 May 2007 | 5.74 |
|
With Mickey heading off to Australia to help pull off a major con with other grifters, Danny feels that it's time for himself to take the lead. To prove he's ready for it, he comes up with an ambitious plan to sell the Hollywood sign to Texan film memorabilia fanatic Anthony Westley (Robert Wagner), a devious and corrupt man who often uses blackmail to get his way. Once the crew arrive in LA (since the con has to occur there), Danny convinces Westley that the sign is being put up for sale to be replaced with a brand new one. Westley's willing to pay big money to get his hands on the sign and will stop at nothing to ensure he wins the bid. When a problem arises mid-con, Danny manages to overcome it swiftly, only for another one to occur that he doesn't expect. When the mark becomes cautious about parting with his cash, he decides to keep eyes and ears on his money at all times ($500,000), after he has given it to Ash (whilst he is in character). Danny must devise a calm and well thought out plan to sneak it from right under the mark's nose... First episode not to feature Eddie | ||||||
| 20 | 2 | "Signing Up to Wealth" | Lee MacIntosh | Tony Jordan | 10 May 2007 | 5.75 |
|
Back in the UK, Danny is convinced that the team needs a new grifter and begins interviews to find one, but the candidates he's looking through, aren't quite what the rest of the team are expecting. Meanwhile, Dickie Brennan, a ruthless porn baron, and the team's new mark, is keen to own a prize-winning horse, since all his previous ones have failed badly. Of course, our gang of con artists are willing to oblige to the mark's greedy desire, despite knowing nothing about horses at all. To add to their list of problems, is a young and talented grifter, Billy Bond, who wishes to join the group and prove his worth, but just like Danny, he nearly messes up the con when he follows them. Then when the mark pulls a fast one on Ash (much to his shock), the group are forced to ensure that his new "purchase" wins a major race... First appearance of Billy Bond | ||||||
| 21 | 3 | "Getting Even" | Lee MacIntosh | Tony Jordan | 17 May 2007 | 5.42 |
| The grifters' favourite barman, Eddie, is in serious trouble, and the team offer to help him (in exchange for their bar tab being ripped up, of course). His Father's nursing home has just been taken over by Veronica Powell, a ruthless businesswoman in property, who is conning the residents out of their homes after putting up the living costs, and then selling them for a handsome profit. But she has a weakness, that the team decide to use: her wine collection that she is totally fond of. However, she's wilier than most marks, as the team soon finds out, and, with time running out for Eddie's father, Danny must think of a decent con, one that will outwit their mark. A proper test, indeed, for a new leader... | ||||||
| 22 | 4 | "A Designer's Paradise" | Stefan Schwartz | Colin Blytheway | 24 May 2007 | 5.76 |
| Clarissa Bartwell is an immoral woman, who holds pricey charity events, but keeps most of the proceeds secretly to herself, spending it on her greatest passion, all things fashionable, though each item she gets often goes out of fashion before she wears it. This gives the crew an idea, to sell her the next big thing about to come in, and using the Emperor's New Clothes as inspiration for the con, Billy steps up to play the inside with Danny. However, there's someone hanging around who's threatening to expose his past, unless Billy hands over £20,000 in cash. And to make matters worse, the team soon have a meeting with their target's financial assiociate, a man who is much harder to impress than the mark, and who could, literally, put a spanner in the grifters works unless they can outwit him as well... | ||||||
| 23 | 5 | "Conning the Artists" | Stefan Schwartz | Nick Fisher | 31 May 2007 | 4.97 |
| The team are celebrating another successful, and lucrative, con back at Eddie's bar. Seems like nothing can go wrong but when Eddie pops out to get back a phone he lost, the team find themselves enduring their longest day, when a man arrives and accuses them of dishonoring his family, claiming that Eddie is his hostage. The team suspect a connection to their recent mark, a Japanese restaurant owner, who dabbled in black market goods. This time the gang must do everything they can to outsmart their tormentor and get Eddie back. However, the scenario they experience, isn't what it seems to be as the team will soon find out... | ||||||
| 24 | 6 | "Big Daddy Calling" | Alrick Riley | Tony Jordan | 7 June 2007 | 5.60 |
|
The team fly out to grifters heaven, Las Vegas, when they find out Albert's been beaten up by Mafia boss, Johnny Maranzano, for disrespecting his father's decision to ban him from his family's casino years ago. Not content on letting Johnny get away with it, Danny searches the place and locates the gem of the mark's eye – the Big Daddy fruit machine, on display in the casino, with a $5 million jackpot, a tribute to Johnny's late father. But there's a catch, the casino maintains a high level of security on it, cameras, guards and security doors, all operating 24/7. The only weakpoint they find is that the jackpot is displayed behind a giant fish tank which has to be maintained on a monthly basis. The team use that in their plans for the heist, but even if they get the money, they have to find a way of sneaking it out of the casino, and to keep the mafia off their backs. Because for the mafia, an insult like this, can only be dealt in one way. Death... Second episode to not feature Eddie Last regular appearances of: Danny Blue and Stacey Monroe. Last appearance of Billy Bond | ||||||
Series 5 (2009)
| No | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | UK viewers (million)[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | 1 | "Return of the Prodigal" | James Strong | Tony Jordan | 8 January 2009 | 6.26 |
|
Mickey has returned to London after narrowly avoiding the Australian police (though losing all the money he made, "selling" the Sydney Opera House, in the process). When he does, he finds his crew have separated thanks to the credit crunch; even Eddie has lost his bar and now has to work at a restaurant. After speaking to his mentor Albert (who is in prison after being caught), he learns of a mark to help him pass the time: Ruthless, and corrupt property developer, Sara Naismith (Kelly Adams), who's in the city looking to make some easy money with her assistant, Aaron (Matt Di Angelo). After recruiting Ash, who has been doing short cons (Danny and Stacey are still away in America), the pair pose as city traders, offering the mark her chance to join what appears to be insider dealings on the stock exchange, but the con soon starts to unravel for the pair when they find out something is not right. Meanwhile, a ruthless gangster is on the hunt for two grifters who conned him a while back... Return of Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone First appearance of Sean Kennedy & Emma Kennedy | ||||||
| 26 | 2 | "New Recruits" | James Strong | Tony Jordan | 15 January 2009 | 5.90 |
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Emma and Sean Kennedy have just become the new team members in Mickey's new crew and are shown what a long con often involves. New marks, Carlton Wood and Harry Fielding, have stolen a security system through their patent company, and driven its inventor to commit suicide. Mickey sends Sean to gather information on the marks so as to find a way in, though that nearly ends badly (Sean ends up passing out drunk twice). The group soon learn that the pair need a PR gimmick to sell their stolen system, so Mickey devises a unique scheme. After trying to sell off an "idea" to the marks (that they soon steal), they have to overcome the new system after it is attached to a valuable painting, but when Ash reveals the system, called "Spider's Web", was cleverly designed and cannot be beaten, Mickey must come up with a way of still making the pair of marks suffer and pay up... Albert Stroller does not appear in this episode | ||||||
| 27 | 3 | "Lest Ye Be Judged" | Julian Simpson | Fintan Ryan | 22 January 2009 | 6.30 |
| With only a few days to go until Albert's release from prison, Mickey decides to help him celebrate with something special, by tricking a judge, the last of the "old guard", into thinking that they can lead him to a fortune that was promised to him by a deceased criminal: a haul from a major bullion job. Apparently the crook had promised his share as a bribe to get himself a reduced sentence, and his partner supposedly took exception to it, for he died before revealing the location. The other, escaped prison several years later and soon committed suicide, and it is this person Mickey uses for the basis of the con. While it's on, Ash tries to teach Sean some important rules of the grifting game at a local casino. But unbeknown to the gang, as they work on their tasks, Albert is facing trouble from a ruthless new prison governor, who is determined to uncover any of the illegal activities he's been doing while in prison, so he that he won't be leaving anytime soon... | ||||||
| 28 | 4 | "Diamond Seeker" | Julian Simpson | Chris Hurford & Tom Butterworth | 29 January 2009 | 5.73 |
| A jeweller who is helping the team out by providing them with a fake piece for a con, accidentally gives them the wrong item, and they find they now have a stolen diamond necklace in their possession. When they try to return it, they find that the rich recluse who ordered the theft, Toby Baxter, has hired a tracer to find it, one who has just beaten up the people who lost it. Mickey realises they're in immediate danger while they have the necklace with them, so comes up with a rather risky plan to deal with the problem: to create a false story backed with fabricated evidence, and hope the recluse will buy it so that he won't pursue them any further, while they keep the necklace and sell it to a rival collector. But for Emma, who has to tell the story to the recluse, the risk may be greater than she would like... | ||||||
| 29 | 5 | "Politics" | Martin Hutchings | Fintan Ryan & Marston Bloom | 5 February 2009 | 5.95 |
| The gang get mistaken for solicitors, after they complete a con, by the head of a local social group. The community centre they use was a listed building until it was bought, and the listing was shortly removed afterwards. Now with the threat of demolition looming ever closer, the social group look set to lose their usual hangout. Mickey decides they should help, and believes that Rhona Christie (Kate Fleetwood), a Labour MP who thwarted efforts to save the building, may be involved in doing illegal deals in secret. Sean is sent undercover into her offices, with a scheme to determine if she is corrupt. When they get their evidence, the team must formulate a plan to not only con her, but to save the community centre as well. A tall order indeed, especially when Sean becomes concerned about the relationship between Mickey and Emma... | ||||||
| 30 | 6 | "The Road Less Travelled" | Martin Hutchings | Tony Jordan | 12 February 2009 | 6.27 |
| Embittered from their previous experience of Mickey and the gang, which ended up costing them half a million pounds, Carlton Wood and sidekick Harry Fielding have recruited three other ex-victims in a bid to get even by beating Mickey at his own game. If Wood’s seemingly foolproof plan is successful, they will take back double what they lost. Having researched the mechanics of the con at some length, the plan is to place a fake ‘mark’ - Wood’s old school-friend, upper-class twit Alfie Baron (Tom Goodman-Hill) - in one of Albert’s card games. Baron - accurately described as ‘not the sharpest knife in the drawer’ - will tell the grifters the tale of a recent inheritance of four million pounds, which he is looking to invest despite having virtually no business sense or experience whatsoever. The grifters take the bait as expected, putting up one million pounds of their own money - everything they have - as the ‘convincer’. The final part of Wood’s plan falls perfectly into place as Alfie gratefully takes the case full of cash, makes his excuses, and leaves before Mickey and Sean have the chance to finish the job. Wood, Fielding and their new-found partners in crime have been waiting in the wings, and now - their own con complete - they confront Mickey to revel in their success. However, they’ve overlooked perhaps the most important detail of all: in the world of the hustle, nothing is ever as it seems ... | ||||||
Series 6 (2010)
| No | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | UK viewers (million)[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | 1 | "And This Little Piggy Had Money" | Iain MacDonald | Tony Jordan | 4 January 2010 | 6.84 |
| Their last con having successfully capitalised on Emma’s resemblance to pop princess Kylie Minogue, the gang are on the lookout for a new mark. Ex-banker Piggy Richardson (Patrick Ryecart) was rewarded for bringing his company to the brink of ruin - costing hundreds of jobs in the process - with a half-million-pound annual pension, for which the press have hounded him relentlessly. The perfect target, it would seem; a fact which has also come to the attention of one DCI Lucy Britford ( eloquently dubbed ‘Bitchface’ by the not-at-all-jealous Emma ). DCI Britford has done her homework, and wastes no time in telling Mickey so over dinner. Recently appointed to the Economic Crimes Squad, she has acquired a reputation for cracking high-profile cases - and they don’t come much higher than Mickey Bricks. For a while it seems that Mickey has allowed Britford to do exactly as she’d intended - to get under his skin and ‘make it personal’, causing him to make a mistake and thereby get caught along with the team. After a pep-talk from Albert, Mickey realises that he needs to quickly re-think the plan; but when Britford and her men walk in whilst the transaction is taking place, it is apparent that Richardson has been tipped off in advance. But tipped off by who ...? | ||||||
| 32 | 2 | "The Thieving Mistake" | Iain MacDonald | Fintan Ryan | 11 January 2010 | 6.74 |
| Albert has decided it's time for a break so he's off to Sin City to try his luck at the casinos. While the crew are at the airport, seeing Albert off, they're greeted by a familiar face, 'Liability' Finch, a bumbling, ex-grifter mate of Ash's from back in the day, who needs their help in retrieving a painting he stole in Brazil, but had to leave in an Airport locker as he was leaving, considering he hadn't thought things through when he did the job (the clues in his name). Now in trouble with the client who hired him, his problems have been worsened by a tough, ruthless customs agent, who is eager to finger him for the job, especially when he had Finch tailed. And when the same agent targets the crew and threatens to make their life a misery unless they help him, Mickey comes up with a plan, one that not even Finch can mess up... | ||||||
| 33 | 3 | "Tiger Troubles" | Sarah O'Gorman | Chris Bucknall | 18 January 2010 | 5.89. |
| Albert is in Chinatown to close a deal with current mark Phil, but finds that his brother-in-law is notorious hard-man Czech Charlie. Then Phil collapses dead, so Albert tries to cut his losses and leave the con, but Charlie demands the return of the "original investment" by the end of the week. With the crew desperate for a fast mark, Sean finds Luke Baincross, an ageing dishonest playboy facing money trouble after a divorce. Amongst his possessions is a jewel-encrusted tiger that he cannot sell because of a clause in an ancestor's will. The team decide to pretend they are a specialist heist outfit who could steal the tiger so Baincross can claim the insurance. Just as they manage to convince Baincross however, they discover he is already on a insurance watchlist and there will be no payout for taking the tiger from his family home. Mickey must now figure out how to get the money before Albert's time runs out... | ||||||
| 34 | 4 | "The Father of Jewels" | Sarah O'Gorman | Mark Chappell & Fintan Ryan | 25 January 2010 | 5.84 |
| The gang are about to close a short-con worth £50,000, when Sean, doing the switch, is distracted by someone he spots, a person whom he has been waiting to settle a score with. Emma is also shocked when she recognises the man; their father, who walked out on them 25 years ago just before their mother died and left them orphaned at a young age. Sean has been eager to get revenge, and decides the team should con him, by making out that the land their father is looking to sell (he's since become a property broker) is hiding a valuable treasure lost during WWII. Mickey is decidedly concerned that Sean does not know what he really wants, especially when things do not go according to his plans... | ||||||
| 35 | 5 | "Conned Out of Luck" | Luke Watson | Tony Jordan | 1 February 2010 | 5.95 |
| What should have been the start of a holiday for the grifters begins with the team finding out that Mickey has been conned by a fraudulent product. Albert reveals that for a grifter to be conned by such a small-time scam will lead to serious bad luck. His point is proven, when Mickey rolls "snake eyes" with every throw of dice, gets the lowest card of those picked by the team, and the team find out Eddie has had a stroke of good fortune. The team decide to go after the person responsible for conning Mickey: the CEO of Dreamfixers, a businessman with no moral ethics (he sells dodgy gear that he re-labels), and seriously bad wordplay. Their scheme is to sell a product that will be the next big thing, and because of Mickey's bad luck, Ash must take the lead, but he finds making the con is not easy without their leader's help.... | ||||||
| 36 | 6 | "The Hush Heist" | Luke Watson | Tony Jordan | 8 February 2010 | 6.36 |
| The team finish what they think was a straightforward con, until they find out the mark is an undercover police officer. Mickey and the team are locked up, but mysteriously get given a job from two MI6 officers, one of whom happens to be friends with DCI Britford, in exchange for the charges against them being dropped. Their task is to break into the National Bank of Syria and retrieve the unknown contents of a security box in one of two vaults, whilst they are allowed to take whatever money they want from the other – the only problem they face is the security is state of the art, almost like Fort Knox. Worse still, the MI6 officers are eager for them to steal the money, knowing they can charge them with that instead. However, the pair don't really know Mickey as well as they should... | ||||||
Series 7 (2011)
| No | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | UK viewers (million)[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37 | 1 | "As Good as it Gets" | John McKay | Tony Jordan | 7 January 2011 | 6.84 |
| Albert has gotten three new marks lined up for the team to work on – arrogant aristocrat, Viscount Manley; greedy and corrupt MP, Jeremy Garret; and shady and immoral judge, Stanley Mead. The group cannot decide which mark to pick and so take a vote. Meanwhile, Eddie is looking after his niece who is attending a meeting for a potential job as a model, only to find her dreams dashed after she is conned by the fashion agency. A deeply upset Eddie soon has the team hunting the owner of the agency, a spiteful two-faced women who, having watched her former business partner completely eclipse her, is desperate for her own glory. The team offer her that chance, and lure her into the "Spanish Prisoner" con, though they discover her to be exceptionally stingy with money. The real challenge faced by the team, however, is rather more elaborate... | ||||||
| 38 | 2 | "Old Sparks Come New" | John McKay | Chris Lang | 14 January 2011 | 7.04 |
| The Hustle gang are near to closing a small con in a café until Joe Ryan – an old flame of Emma's – turns up unexpectedly and blows their cover. Intrigued to see what he has been up to since the pair last met, Emma learns that Joe has had a great job, house and family, until his wife unexpectedly passed away. While grieving, he found himself in debt and took out a short term loan from a company called Do$h4You, not checking the small print about their interest rates, which are ridiculously high to the point of being immoral; Joe is now close to losing his house after falling behind on his repayments. Emma believes the team should go after the owner, whose base of operation is in Birmingham, Joe's hometown. While Albert stays behind in London as the base man, the others discover their mark is eager to rise in class, so they offer her the very best – a title and a castle – the elaborate "Eiffel Tower" con. Working fast, the team come up against two problems; Emma starts to have renewed feelings for Joe, and the mark makes a unsuspected move... | ||||||
| 39 | 3 | "Clearance From A Deal" | Roger Goldby | James Payne | 21 January 2011 | 6.84 |
|
Mickey and Albert are paying a visit to the first Wendell Casino to open in Britain. The Wendell family have a history of running casinos for generations, notorious for their strict policy on cheaters and grifters, always vowing to take down anyone who tries to con them. The no-nonsense family loathes them so badly, they add their photos to their very own wall of shame once they have been caught, to ensure their days of dishonesty are over. Albert is eager to get one photo back – that of his great-grandfather, who got caught supposedly cheating, but claimed he was innocent. The pair get the team to work on a plan to bring down the current Wendell family member, who sadly, knows them all very well. They decide to take advantage of his desire to get back a piece of his family's legacy, the Wendell Wheel. But with someone who knows grifting well, Mickey may be playing a dangerous game... Guest starring Michael Brandon. | ||||||
| 40 | 4 | "Benny's Funeral" | Roger Goldby | Chris Bucknall | 28 January 2011 | 6.97 |
| Albert, Mickey, Ash, Sean and Emma are paying their respects to one of their own, whose funeral they are attending – fellow grifter, Benny. Benny had quite a history with the gang, particularly Mickey whom he had helped out of a sticky situation many years ago and nearly took Ash's place in the group. However, Ash finds that Benny isn't exactly dead as its seems, when he runs into him. Benny reveals that his days of grifting have gone, after one too many strokes of bad luck. He soon went on to spread-betting, and borrowed money from an Iranian gangster called Danush, a violent man, nicknamed 'The Dentist' on account of his favourite hobby of extracting teeth from those who don't pay up; Benny had to fake his death after running up a high debt with the man. When the rest of the team finds out, they agree to help Benny out, by conning Danush. But he's a tricky person to find a way in on, until they learn that he's having trouble finding a replacement supplier for smuggled cigarettes. The team devise a good scheme to sting Danush on, but on the day the exchange occurs, something unexpected and bad happens, something Mickey was not expecting – a double-cross... | ||||||
| 41 | 5 | "The Fall of Railton FC" | Colin Teague | Chris Lang | 11 February 2011 | 6.87 |
| When Ash finds out that the local football club where he grew up has gone bust and is set to be closed down, he suggests the Hustle gang should tackle the greed that has taken over the great game. Railton FC fell at the hands of Don Coleman, a ruthless football agent who is prepared to step over anyone who gets in the way of him making money. Coleman pulled a clever trick on the football club using the small print in a talented young player's contract. As a result, the club didn't get a transfer fee when the player left, leaving it in piles of debt it couldn't pay off. The team begin with Sean posing as Brandon Casey, a star striker from Canada looking to relocate to England, with Ash acting as his manager. The pair gain Coleman's trust by involving him in a transfer deal which will make him some serious cash before Mickey, who plays the role of an investment facilitator, goes to reel him in on the true con; an 'investment' opportunity. When Ash has an accident, however, and develops a rare condition that means he can't lie, even when he is directly questioned, it looks like it won't just be the con that's over but Ash's days as a grifter as well. The group try to rework the con as best they can, but when the mark gives Ash a direct question, it could all be over.... | ||||||
| 42 | 6 | "The Delivery" | Colin Teague | Tony Jordan | 18 February 2011 | 6.16 |
| After an all-night card session, the team arrive at Eddie's bar to find a box containing Cool Hand Cooper – a well-known character in the grifting world. He posted himself to the bar as part of an elaborate prison break and is now in grave trouble. Once the best safe-cracker in the game, Cooper has been in prison for a decade for stealing some diamonds, having buried them just before he was put inside. Cooper is desperate to unearth the sparklers after discovering they belong to well-known Mafia family the Baccinis, who have already killed the other members of Cooper's gang. Adverse to the danger posed by the Mafia, Mickey decides to back out, but when Eddie's bar is set on fire, he realises that he does not have a choice. Just as things look like they could not get worse, the crew learn the somewhat inconvenient burial place of the diamonds; under a police station. As the team start to set their plan into action, Albert has an unexpected visitor from his past who has some news that will change his life forever... | ||||||
Series 8 (2012)
| No | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | UK viewers (million)[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43 | 1 | "Gold Finger" | Alrick Riley | Tony Jordan | 13 January 2012 | 6.51 |
| The grifters are back, and Albert has found a new mark: gold dealer Dexter Gold (played by Paterson Joseph). The mark has been parting the elderly from their jewellery for a pittance, while also trading stolen gold at profitable prices. His position in known criminal circles means the team have to devise a scheme that will see they do not get pursued by him after the con is done. The gang, upon learning of one of the mark's favourite loves, war films, masquerade as a renegade British army unit, looking to offload a consignment of looted Libyan gold. It sounds promising, but the group have to find a way of fooling the experts, and then convincing him he will not get payment for it. Meanwhile, the gang are barred from Eddie's after defacing the barman's favourite picture. | ||||||
| 44 | 2 | "Picasso Finger Painting" | Adrian Lester | Tony Jordan | 20 January 2012 | 5.88 |
| Ash and Mickey have tried to capitalise on the theft of a rare Picasso by selling a fake to a well-known collector, Petre Sava (Peter Polycarpou), a vicious Eastern European gangster. They learn too late that Sava who owned the stolen original. Mickey is taken prisoner by Sava, leaving Ash and the others with just a few hours to return the real stolen painting, otherwise Mickey is a dead man. With their usual contacts unable to give any clues, except only the word that a Scottish crew were behind the theft, the gang visit renowned Picasso forger Dolly Hammond (Sheila Hancock) (the one who helped to create the fake). She points them in the direction of the McCrary brothers, the thieves in question, and are told that they stole the original painting for another renowned gangster, Harry Holmes (Martin Kemp). Time is ticking and Mickey is edging closer to death; if the group can't find the real painting, Ash will have to devise a plan that can get him back... | ||||||
| 45 | 3 | "Curiosity Caught the Kat" | Roger Goldby | Ryan Craig | 27 January 2012 | 5.84 |
| Corrupt police detective, DI Fisk (played by Patrick Baladi), is bribed into bringing down Mickey Bricks by a shady character. Unaware of Fisk’s watchful eye on them, the gang move in on their latest mark, Linda Runcorn (played by Nina Sosanya), the crooked CEO of an online hotel and restaurant guide, who threatens small businesses with closure unless they pay a tidy sum to her. They decide to sting her with an inheritance scam: they convince Linda that a wealthy heiress has left her valuable jewellery and an impressive estate. In order to keep tabs on Mickey, Fisk arrests Sean’s ex-girlfriend, pickpocket Kat (played by Skye Lourie), on false charges of drug offences, blackmailing her into spying on the team, otherwise she risks having social services being called by him, to take her three-year-old daughter from her. Left with no choice, Kat persuades Sean to let her join the con to spring Fisk's trap. | ||||||
| 46 | 4 | "Eat Yourself Slender" | Roger Goldby | Chris Lang | 3 February 2012 | 6.13 |
| When the grifters’ friend, Carol (played by Jodie Prenger), suffers a heart attack after their latest con, the gang discover that she has been on a sham diet plan run by American fraudsters: Dr Dean Deville (John Barrowman) and his wife, Dana (played by Raquel Cassidy); their list of fraudulent products is quite large, and the pair have managed to avoid trouble for quite a while, though its getting harder for them, now that they reside in the UK. Determined to put the corrupt fraudsters through their paces, Mickey hatches an elaborate weight-loss scam, to sell them what they think will be a miraculous diet pill. First though, he needs to gain their trust with an elaborate convincer, based on their love of artwork, whether acquired legally or illegally. He decides to lure the couple in by claiming that he and a specialist team can steal a much-desired Fabergé egg, while Ash, dressed up in a fat suit, speedily loses weight with each meeting he has with them. However, Sean is arrested, and the con seems dead in the water.. | ||||||
| 47 | 5 | "Ding Dong That's my Song" | Alrick Riley | Chris Bucknall | 10 February 2012 | 6.10 |
| Albert decides to pay a nostalgic visit to an old haunt, only to find out that it’s been pulled down by a ruthless property tycoon, and former 80's game show host, Dale Ridley (played by Mark Williams), a man who pays backhanders to close deals and uses rookie staff as scapegoats to avoid charges. The gang decide to make him pay, and use his past as a benchmark for the con. Posing as international businessmen, the team convince Dale they are purchasing the television studios that fired him for his greed in his showbiz heyday. Since Dale has always hated the studio for that, he is eager to take advantage of what looks to be a worthy deal. A spanner, however, is thrown into the works, with the unexpected arrival of Ash’s 11-year-old godson, Alfie (Sammy Williams), who wants to be part of the con. He winds up alerting the mark that something fishy is going on, and when the crew realize this, they have to figure out a new plan to take his money, especially with how close they come to getting it... | ||||||
| 48 | 6 | "The Con is Off" | Alrick Riley | Tony Jordan | 17 February 2012 | 6.80 |
|
After a long time of pulling one long con after another, Mickey has finally gotten tired of grifting. He informs the others that he has devised a con so large the crew can finally retire; all of them agree to help Mickey out, but soon discover this con will be their most dangerous. It involves cheating a vicious multi-millionaire businessman out of £10 million in a stock market scam. However, Madani Wasem (Abhin Galeya) is the kind of mark they usually avoid; he is more than prepared to use violence, and employs an enforcer to maim, torture, and kill any opponent of his business plans. Mickey will need a truly brilliant idea to escape. Last appearance of all remaining cast. Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone, Ashley Morgan, Albert Stroller, Emma and Sean Kennedy and, in the final clippet, Eddie the barman. Special Guest Appearance: Marc Warren as Danny Blue; Jaime Murray as Stacie Monroe. This is also their last episode. | ||||||
References
- "Hustle episode synopses". BBC Press Office. 7 March 2005. Retrieved 26 January 2009.