Hustle Thursday 03 May
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC1
As it enters a fourth series you might expect some of the shine to be rubbing off BBC1's tale of lovable grifters. Are there any con tricks they haven't pulled off against the odds? Any plot twists we haven't seen before (and seen coming)? Nope. And to make things worse, Adrian Lester, who played lead trickster Mickey, has bailed out, leaving a gaping dramatic hole where his rivalry with Danny (Marc Warren) used to be. Remember when the pair of them ran naked through Trafalgar Square for a grifting contest arranged by Albert (Robert Vaughn)? Those were the days. As if to compensate, the producers have upped the ante, shifting the action to LA. Palm trees, limos, roof-top pools - it feels like our heroes' natural habitat. And to top it, the villain of the piece is Robert Wagner, playing a scumbag who falls for the gang's wheeze of selling him the Hollywood sign. As usual, a paper-thin plot is rescued by sky-high production values: it's still a con, but a cool one.
RT reviewer - David Butcher
VIDEO Plus+: 1777
.