Why the early noughties BBC series, Hustle (2004–2012), is still #worthawatch
What’s the best way to describe the early 2000 tv series, Hustle, currently available to Canadians on Amazon Prime?
The UK’s answer to Ocean’s 11, maybe? Though the soundtracks, the labyrinthine twists and turns of the plot and the sharp dialogue are also somehow stylistically reminiscent of Snatch.
It’s a show about a crew of con artists in London that manages to be consistently funny, intellectually stimulating and yet light and easy to watch.
Its tight, labyrinthine plots are crafted with care; as you follow the elaborate scams that its cast of tricksters pull off, overcoming all sorts of obstacles, even North American audiences used to crime shows with bigger budgets won’t mind. This is something that has become synonymous with British TV drama. And it only adds to the charm.
The production value did improve as the series went on, and even in the early episodes, it made up for this by using clever and creative camera pans and slow motion effects. But you’ll already be hooked following along the fast paced plots led by the suave and classy Adrian Lester.
Each episode can be watched as a one-off, as there is often a resolution within each of the 50-ish minute episodes. The con artists are generally painted as Robin Hood-type characters stealing from the greedy, the selfish or from those lacking manners. In the first episode — time victim is paused, frozen in time and space, while the con artists talk directly to the audience via the camera lens: “You see the first rule of the con is that you can’t cheat an honest man.”
The show is self-reflexive and aware of the opportunities and limitations within its genre.
It went for eight seasons and consistently got good reviews. It starred Robert Glenister, Adrian Lester, Marc Warren (who Band of Brothers fans will recognize) – household names to a British audience. The late, great, American legend Robert Vaughn will also be familiar to a North American audience. He starred in The Man From U.N.C.L.E in the 1960 and was certainly brought panache and energy to this humble, British series, elevating it to a show that still warrants inclusion on streaming services in 2021.
Like all shows that are more than a decade old, it has aged. But this is something I watched as an early teen on a Sunday night in the UK. In my pyjamas with a cup of tea. It inspired me as a young, 14 year-old as it offered a world of opportunity; not just for those who wanted to be conmen. Rewatching some 15 years later offers a heady mix of nostalgia, as well as a freeze frame of a London that no longer exists. A London that seems… well… smaller. It takes you back to a time before mobile phones were checked every ten minutes. Before most cons were carried out online.
It also came out around the time there were a lot of documentary-type shows – in the UK at least – about con artists and how not to fall prey to them. Croupier (1998) had also come out a couple of years earlier; a stylish-noir-heist feature length movie starring a young Clive Owen. And though not similar, for a little while British gambling/ heist movies were in vogue.
So give it a go if you’re looking to relive a time before the pandemic where the future only looked bright.
