Hustle: Season 4

The return of Hustle to the BBC schedules is nothing much to cheer. Lacking the dramatic thrust of Spooks and the vitality of classier American imports, Hustle very much wears its tired Britishness television credentials on its sleeve.

This season loses Mickey (a part turned down by Clive Owen, but well played by Adrian Lester in the previous three seasons) and thus removes a crucial part of the show’s appeal and dynamic. The replacement is Ashley Walters (ex-So Solid Crew and a far better actor than he ever was singer) as the swaggeringly confident Billy Bond (could they really not think of a better surname?) and so the team is back to full strength again by the second episode in this tranche.

The main hook of this brief 6-episode run is the American trips that bookend the proceedings - the first a flashy encounter in Hollywood that allows Robert Wagner to chew the scenery wonderfully and the last a predictable mob encounter escapade around Las Vegas. However, the spark has gone from the writing and the mildly diverting thrill of the con-men is now thoroughly sanitised as the bad guys that are swindled are so archly bad that you know how things will pan out before they really start.

Extras: The Hard Way – a 40 minute Behind The Scenes Special.

Released on 28th April 2008 by BBC DVD.

Written by Simon Cole.