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Series 1 |
| 1 :01x01 - The Con is On (Feb/24/2004) |
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Top London con artist, Mickey Stone - "He's in a class all his own, a long con player" - is out of prison (for GBH on his wife's new boyfriend), and keen to get back in the game. His old team-mates have been busy while he's been inside: Ash doing the flop, Stacie the dip, and Albert's just continued being Albert - but Mickey wants them back together. This will be Mickey's last score before he retires, so it's important he has the right team.
Danny Blue is a short-con artist, playing the cards, Find the Lady, Poker, anything to improve his skill. But he's desperate to do a long con. Whilst hanging out at London's renowned con artists' bar, Eddie's, he learns that Mickey 'Bricks' Stone is out. Keen to learn from the master, Danny sets off in search of the man behind the legend. However, despite his ability to talk the talk, Danny can't blag his way into Mickey's hotel room. He'll need a better in, if he's going to join this team.
"This crew is not about conning little old ladies out of their pension - they're strictly major league."
Back at the hotel, Albert's got a mark. Peter Williams is a greedy businessman, keen on making money in shares. The con's a go. Albert ropes him, brings him in, introduces him to the insideman (Mickey) and it's all going to plan - until a knock at the door. It's Danny Blue.
Stacie and Albert are unsure. They're at a crucial stage in the scam; Williams has gone for the convincer and they can't risk losing him now, but Mickey lets Danny have his say. Turns out Danny's good - he's worked out they're doing 'the rag' and joins in, backing up Mickey's story. If he wasn't before, Williams is now convinced - he wants in. Danny's also in - he's made it in to Mickey Bricks' gang.
However, Danny comes down to earth with a bump when he's picked up by two police officers, who are investigating the team. Mickey and his hustlers are going down, there's nothing he can do about that, but the question is - does he go down with them? Danny's offered a deal; tell them everything he knows, or suffer like the rest of them. It's not the easiest of choice.
At the hotel, the culmination of all their work - Williams has arrived with a briefcase full of £50s. Danny arrives, tries to say something to Mickey but they're interrupted by armed police running in. Thing is, will Danny remember the advice Mickey gave him?
"First rule, Danny. Look after number one. If you don't, no-one else will..."
It's not so easy when your team of grifters become family...
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/hustle/ | | | |
| 2 :01x02 - Faking It (Mar/02/2004) |
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Mickey and the team get a call - Albert's been beaten up. The perpetrator: one Frank Gorley (played by guest star Robert Pugh), a renowned thug, who happens to own a top London casino. Albert picked the wrong man to cheat at cards with. Gorley's a loner with no real vices. It'll be difficult wreaking revenge, but Mickey's not to be deterred. He sends Ash off to find an 'in'. "No-one puts their hands on Albert."
As Ash discovers, it seems their only way 'in' to Gorley is via his laptop. Danny, desperate to prove himself, following his monumental cock-up in an earlier pigeon con, determines to work something out. Using a deft combination of eye drops, sparkling water and car alarms(!), Ash and Danny not only access Gorley's computer, but download its memory too. It's only a couple more short moves before they discover that Gorley is a film fanatic.
"Showtime!"
Ash calls in several grifters - and favours, Stacie recreates herself as the new Audrey Hepburn and Danny asks Mickey for his promised chance to be the 'Insideman'. Once everything's in place, Mickey gives Danny his final words of wisdom: "Eyes are the window to the soul Danny…. Look in his eyes, think like he thinks…"
Then, posing as American film producer, Jason Elliott, Danny tips up at Gorley's hotel in a flashy car, 'borrowed' in Mickey's own inimitable way. An intrigued Gorley can hardly wait to meet his movie hotshot guest, and invites Danny along for a drink that very night. He's soon introduced to Danny's fellow 'producers', Mickey and Ash, and between them they convince Gorley to invest in a quick scam, involving extras agencies. Having already read up about Jennifer Cole 'the new Hepburn of the movie world', Gorley's very excited to meet her on the set of her latest film. Of course - to any of us - Jennifer looks remarkably like Stacie in an elaborate costume, but Gorley's none the wiser...The deal goes ahead and Gorley makes £10,000 profit in half an hour.
It's not long before they pull him in for the big con - investing £200,000 in Jennifer Cole's big movie deal in Asia. Gorley's not keen at first but a quick 'reminder' from Danny of James Cagney's vaudeville training and Gorley's convinced.
The deal goes ahead and Gorley hands over a banker's draft for £200,000 - just leaving the team to 'blow him off'. As Danny prepares for his first 'shoot-out', everyone's nervous, but no-one has guessed quite how far Gorley's prepared to go to impersonate his screen idol, Cagney, and it lands one of the team in hospital with Albert.
However, revenge is ultimately sweet - but what is Albert's special surprise…?
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/hustle/ | | Guest Stars: Robert Pugh (2) as Frank Gorley | | | |
| 3 :01x03 - Picture Perfect (Mar/09/2004) |
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Danny overhears art collector, Meredith Gates (played by Orla Brady), talking big figures and - ever the hustler - pays her gallery a visit. His grifting instincts are right - Meredith's an ideal mark. She's unscrupulous, greedy and selfish, and a huge fan of artist Pier Mondrian, having just bought one of his paintings for £250,000. Mondrian famously went from picture-postcard paintings to abstracts some time after Picasso. As Danny explains to the team, IF a Mondrian painting were discovered in the Abstract style pre-dating Picasso, it would turn the art world on it's head.
"We fake the right painting, and all we gotta tell her is how many noughts we want on the cheque."
It's an interesting proposition, but Mickey has other things on his mind. While he was in prison, Ash and Albert roped a mark and conned him out of £50,000. Only thing is, the mark was broke and now his factory's about to go into receivership. They're jinxed and - according to grifter lore - the jinx will only be lifted if they put things right. They need to find £50,000 NOW. Mickey decides not to tell Danny, and goes along with the art con for a while - to see if it has legs.
Certain his scam's a winner, Danny introduces Mickey to art journalist, Bea Watson, as someone with an interesting art 'discovery'. Mickey tells her there's no story, but this just intrigues Bea more.
"She wasn't interested until she thought I wasn't interested. Now she's intrigued."
Art forger, Tip Jones, is a renowned conman, known for his inimitable forgeries but, disappointingly, Mickey, Albert and Danny find him in a vegetative state following an operation gone wrong. Ever-astute Albert isn't so quick to believe and whispers in Tip's ear he's got a job needs doing. It'll pay £100,000. Suddenly Tip's alert. He agrees to paint a new Mondrian pre-1902, but he's going to need an original work, if they want it done properly. Using a combination of flirting, good timing, glue and toilets, Mickey and Stacie manage to steal a Mondrian without anyone even realising it's missing. Tip begins work on the 'new find'.
Meredith Gates (played by Orla Brady) still needs to be hooked. Thinking he's a fellow art collector, she meets Danny at his 'import/export warehouse'. Gates agrees to match his £250,000 if the new Mondrian painting's proven to be genuine in initial tests.
It all goes to the wire, and there are a few surprises along the way. They just have to lift the jinx, and preferably without Danny realising.
"He hasn't sussed that we're just following a different set of rules to everyone else."
What will he do when he does suss though?
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/hustle/ | | Guest Stars: Orla Brady as Meredith Gates | | | |
| 4 :01x04 - Cops and Robbers (Mar/16/2004) |
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Mickey's morning coffee is rudely interrupted by Albert's nemesis, Victor Maher (played by David Calder) - an ex-fraud squad officer, and the only man to have ever put Albert away. Maher 'has something' on Danny, which he'll hand over to the police unless Mickey helps him catch the bank robber who's been plaguing the bank for which he is now head of security.
"When the chance comes to lock horns with the great Mickey Bricks, it's too good an opportunity to miss.""
Maher wants Mickey to befriend the robber, Sam Richards (played by Richard Harrington), then help catch him as he breaks into the London branch. Albert advises Mickey not to get involved - "You can't outsmart him or out manoeuvre him, he knows every trick we do and more besides". But Mickey agrees to the deal.
He thinks it best to tell the team it's just another job, not revealing exactly what's at stake, but asks Stacie to keep Danny out of the way for a while. Albert ropes Sam in, just like any other con and tells him how he knows a dodgy alarms man. Sam's hooked and before long, Albert arranges a meet - with Mickey.
Ash plays the alarms expert and, before long, Sam is telling them how he plans to break into the bank. He explains how his father died while he was just a child, something that rings true for Mickey. Moores Bank robbed his father blind in his hour of need and Sam wants to recover the money his father was owed, together with his priceless diamond.
"I know it sounds stupid, but this isn't about the money."
There's a problem though: Moores' security system needs two people to override it - Mickey agrees to go in with Sam. The second problem: there'll be no way out.
Albert counsels Mickey that, in order to beat Maher, Mickey must tell the rest of the team what's at stake. He does. Danny can't believe that the job is all to save his skin. The team go at the bank job with a new vigour - they want to beat Maher (played by David Calder), save Danny and help Sam Richards, but can they do all three?
The night of the break-in: Mickey and Sam are in the bank and Albert arrives to collect the tape of Danny. Once Sam and Mickey make it into the vault, Maher rushes down to catch them both. But when he gets there - there's nobody in the vault, and no sign of a break-in.
Maher spots a CCTV camera and, finally, he begins to think about the possibilities. Has he actually taken on something - or someone - bigger than he is? Is it possible that Mickey and his team have achieved the impossible and conned him right under his nose?
Later, after Mickey and Sam have said their fond goodbyes, Mickey has one last surprise for Maher, the griftbuster...
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/hustle/ | | Guest Stars: David Calder as Victor Maher, Richard Harrington as Sam Richards | | | |
| 5 :01x05 - A Touch of Class (Mar/23/2004) |
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Mickey sees a newspaper article about a recently divorced businesswoman, Katherine Winterborn (played by Tamzin Outhwaite), who's accused of wreaking revenge on her ex-husband. Katherine is perfect bait for the 'Congreve', an old con which targets bitter, rich women. Albert goes off to do his stuff, and rope her at an art class.
"When he was younger, Albert was the doyen of the 'Congreve'. He could sniff out a vengeful woman like a pig with a truffle."
The team's desperate for a lucrative con, particularly Ash. Mickey's shocked to discover that Ash's ex-wife, fellow con artist June, recently suffered brain damage, whilst doing 'the flop' . Ash has been paying for her care bills in a nursing home, but his money is about to run out. Mickey tells Ash they'll all help to pay - after all, "she's family".
It doesn't go well at the art class. Katherine (played by Tamzin Outhwaite) is rude, cold, and refuses to fall for Albert's charms. It's time for plan B - blatant sex appeal. Danny's obviously keen to give it a try(!) but the con requires experience, so it's up to Mickey to reel Katherine in. She's terrified of lifts, so Ash orchestrates the ideal situation: Mickey and Katherine in a lift, when it suddenly breaks down. The lift is out of action long enough for Mickey to break down Katherine's barriers and by the time they reach ground level, she's offering to take him out for dinner.
Over dinner, Mickey tells her the tale: he's setting up a spa business, to rival her ex-husband's. Katherine wants to help - she knows how spas work, what makes them special, and she also wants to impress Mickey. There's a real spark between them.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team go about setting things up - Danny's meeting architecture students, Stacie's arranging business space and Ash is designing a website. Katherine finally agrees to invest £100,000 in the new spa business but, when Mickey brings her the contract, she's changed her mind.
In the heat of the moment, when both are feeling vulnerable, Mickey breaks all the rules and makes love to Katherine. When Mickey goes to leave, he tells her he's a con man, there was never any spa for her to invest in. "You were rich, bitter, angry, obsessed. You were ripe to be plucked." Shocked, Katherine offers Mickey £250,000 to destroy her ex-husband instead - "a rat to catch a rat".
The team agrees that, if Stephen Winterborn played by Ben Miles) is as bad as Mickey says he is, it's morally OK for them to go ahead. After all, they need the money. But how can they destroy Stephen? An embarrassed Danny has the answer. He's 'discovered' that prostitutes work at the spa. If this information were made public, it would destroy him, his business and his stock market flotation.
Stacie orchestrates a meeting with Stephen, played by Ben Miles), then introduces him to her 'PR associate' - brilliantly played by Ash. Stephen's presentation is consequently doctored and it's just a case of waiting, then watching his very public downfall.
But during the launch party, alarm bells start ringing for the team. Slowly they realise that Katherine has conned Mickey into thinking that Stephen, played by Ben Miles) is the bad person, when it's really her! Katherine, played by Tamzin Outhwaite) has been pulling the strings all along; not Mickey. Could it be that, on this occasion, the con man has been conned...?
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/hustle/ | | Guest Stars: Tamzin Outhwaite as Katherine Winterborn | | | |
| 6 :01x06 - The Last Gamble (Mar/30/2004) |
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Karen Wilson, Script Editor on Hustle series 1, provides the full episode update:
Mickey and Danny complete their deal on the 'sale' of the London Eye. Fairground owner, Arthur Bond (played by Philip Jackson), is chuffed with his new star attraction, a bargain at a few thousand quid! Mickey and Danny are happy too - it's another easy con, another job done.
Onto their next mark: Anthony Reeve (played by David Haig), a greedy fat cat who's just got the cream with a golden handshake worth £½ million. A secret gambler and a weakness for prostitutes: the team have their 'in'. Reeves is the perfect bait for 'the wire'. But ...
"No-one's worked the wire in a hundred years".
However, not a team to turn down a challenge, Ash sets up a fake gambling club ('the big store') where the races are delayed by a vital couple of minutes so they see the results before the punter. Fill the club with grifters posing as customers and who'd spot the difference?
Albert's already befriended Reeves through his gentleman's club, so it's just a case of offering him the bait. Enter Danny, as a rogue nephew with insider racing knowledge. A winning tip impresses Reeves (played by David Haig) and Stacie's killer charm as girlfriend 'Yvonne' soon has him chomping at the bit.
Time to reel him in. When Danny 'confides' that Yvonne, actually a high class escort, can provide names of the winning horse before a race is even run, Reeves wants in. Danny offers to show him his private gambling club, where the bets have no limits.
At the club, the team are all in place: Mickey's the Manager, Ash the man behind the counter, while Albert and Stacie keep tabs in the back office. The plan goes sweetly with Reeves winning £72,000 on a race. Danny and Stacie help him celebrate, but Reeves is cautious - he wants to try another race before betting big.
The team are forced to block him out. Danny takes Reeves (played by David Haig) back to the club, Stacie calls with the winner's name, but they run the race just as Reeves tries to place the bet. He's too late. Watching the horse romp home he can't believe he's missed out. Next day and it's time for the big one.
"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, sir. It's now or never."
Stacie makes the call to Reeves who bets £1/2 a million on the horse to win. When the horse only comes third she claims she told Reeves to place the bet not to win. He's distraught but it's too late to get his money back.
To add salt to his wounds, he's besieged by 'journalists' interrogating him about his golden handshake and gambling habit. Reeves makes a hasty retreat, a beaten (and broken) man.
As the team celebrate, gunshots are heard. It's Arthur Bond, demanding the London Eye money he was scammed. It's simple: pay up or get killed. They look from one to the other: any bright ideas?...
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/hustle/ | | Guest Stars: Philip Jackson (1) as Arthur Bond, David Haig as Anthony Reeve | | | |
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