Hustle: Season 1 (2 Discs)

Hustle series one set the bar far too high for its successors to follow. From the moment it starts we are introduced to each member of the team in turn without knowing that we are seeing them set up their next con - a very clever piece of writing. But it doesn't stop there, episode after episode we get twist after twist, some of which you may see coming, but then there's the side story of Mickey's failed marriage and divorce as well as the fact that the team is being hunted by the fraud investigators, which helps keep the series in the band of believability. The techniques that are used to portray the story are very clever and prior to Hustle I had never seen them before, yet they come off better thanks to the class writing and the actors that are present. Adrian Lester is perfect as the 'leader' and the way that he and the brilliant Marc Warren (Danny Blue) play off each other is classic - the first episode springs to mind. Robert Vaughn is also a fine piece of casting as 'the man… more »

Hustle series one set the bar far too high for its successors to follow. From the moment it starts we are introduced to each member of the team in turn without knowing that we are seeing them set up their next con - a very clever piece of writing. But it doesn't stop there, episode after episode we get twist after twist, some of which you may see coming, but then there's the side story of Mickey's failed marriage and divorce as well as the fact that the team is being hunted by the fraud investigators, which helps keep the series in the band of believability. The techniques that are used to portray the story are very clever and prior to Hustle I had never seen them before, yet they come off better thanks to the class writing and the actors that are present. Adrian Lester is perfect as the 'leader' and the way that he and the brilliant Marc Warren (Danny Blue) play off each other is classic - the first episode springs to mind. Robert Vaughn is also a fine piece of casting as 'the man behind the curtain' as so to speak as he often helps with the outcome of the con and has the experience the rest of the team lack. Jamie Murray is sexy and stunning as Stacie Monroe two attributes that help her reel in the marks and Robert Glenister is also fantastic, especially his facial expressions and accents he puts on. Series one on the whole is a great achievement for the BBC, it's just a shame that it set the bar too high for the next five series that followed, as they were not as strong as this.