7.5 I mention this only because this story and the character in it bears an uncanny resemblance to Mervyn Lloyd in that season. Except in this instance he’s called Don Coleman and he’s played by the ever resourceful RADA graduate, David Harewood (Tuck in Robin Hood). What these two performances have in common is some pretty outrageous, yet massively entertaining, overacting. But, from the outset, this story is presented like the cast is playing to the furthest rows on at the back of the auditorium, as Robert Glenister’s Ash is allowed to set the scene by extolling his love of football, and his anger at his local team’s demise at the hands of an unscrupulous agent. What I’m not going to do is pick holes in the plot, even if quite a few exist, or reveal the humorous twist when, as it always does at some point, the long con goes predictably wrong. Because I really enjoyed it, despite the show’s predilection for reworking already furrowed territory or strangely similar scenarios. David Harewood was marvellous as Don, being as outrageously duplicitous as most people probably think football agents probably are. In the long list of things that most sports fans consider are wrong with football, agents come a close third, usually behind FIFA and the performance of our own national side. As much as I enjoyed the generally glossy panto that is the Hustle experience, it comes with a very large caveat. Specifically, that, as soon as you’re really starting to get with the Hustle vibe, the season abruptly ends! In seven years of production, Hustle has only accrued 42 stories, which is less than most American shows would have under their belts in two seasons. There’s an argument that suggests they couldn’t maintain the quality if they did more, but I’d suggest that the other side of this coin is that they can’t really get much syndication love with such a small number of episodes to ply. I hope this isn’t the final Hustle series, as I don’t really think with six episode seasons it can every realistically overstay its welcome. In the season finale I’m reliably informed a down at luck grifter turns up in a box delivered to Eddie’s Bar, and sets in motion the sort of challenge that only Mickey and his associates are best equipped to meet. Game on! Read our review of episode 4, Benny’s Funeral, here.
