Hustle: Series 6 (2010)

Hustle's 6th series finished a couple of weeks ago, and it's mostly already disappeared into the depths of my memory, as each episode does almost as soon as I've watched it. But that's the joy of Hustle - it's pure silly, escapist nonsense that is put together so prettily and with a knowing humour that is rare in the drama put out by UK television. It's made by the company behind Spooks, which shows in the glossy American feel, yet it's much less afraid to revel in it's own daftness.

One of the highlights of this series and the last was the introduction of Kelly Adams and Matt Di Angelo as young siblings Emma & Sean, after Marc Warren and Jamie Murray left the show at the end of series 4. The two new grifters brought a youthful energy to the series, and along with the return of Adrian Lester's Mickey Bricks after a series 4 hiatus, these past series have been great. I'm a particular fan of Sean, as Matt Di Angelo proves to be a bright young talent, and a hot one to boot! Series stalwarts Robert Vaughan (Albert) and Robert Glenister (Ash) continue to be my favourite characters, and Rob Jarvis is ever a delight as put-upon barman Eddie.

Sometimes the cons this series have been a bit predictable, and the writers seem to have gone out of their way to great some particularly unlikable 'marks' this time round, in order to justify our heroes ripping them off. While the marks have been a bit hit and miss, the cons have been great. I enjoy Hustle for the escapism, and the lack of seriousness, and nothing emphasised this more than the opening moments of the series when the show openly parodied the fact that Kelly Adams bares a striking resemblance to Kylie Minogue - Emma posed as Kylie in a fantastic recreation of the 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head' video in order to con some businessmen, and then she didn't understand why, since she thinks she looks nothing like Kylie. It was a bit reminiscent of the bit when Julia Roberts' character pretends to be Julia Roberts in Ocean's Twelve, except with more wit.