Now in its fifth season, Tony Jordan’s slick drama Hustle returns to the BBC.

We must admit to a little excitement to see Adrian Lester revive the Mickey ‘Bricks’ Stone character after an absence, and to see the long overdue removal of the So Solid Crew man; clearly we are suckers for BBC trails (well apart from the Life of Riley one obviously).

The first in the series finds Mickey Stone looking up his old crew members in hope of a reunion, but with Marc Warren and Jaime Murray now working on other film and TV projects, Robert Glenister and the venerable Robert Vaughn are all that remain from the original group of lovable rogues.

Joining the regulars are Matt Di Angelo of ‘annoying guy from EastEnders’ fame and Kelly Adams, whom some of you may recognise as Mickie Hendrie from Holby City – she scrubs up well. But by far the nicest surprise was a cameo from Bill Bailey as a fried food eating informant called Cyclops (he wears comedy glasses).

It is always a pleasure to witness Jordan’s excellent recreation of natural and flowing dialogue, though there did appear to be one exception with Robert Vaughn’s unconvincing “I know everything” line.

That aside, the Jordan signature plot twists were a delight, as was the photography and the overall opulent feel of the programme. It is reassuring to see that the beeb isn’t tightening its belt too much at the cost of quality content. And fear not, the walking in formation is still ever present, which seems to be a trademark of Kudos productions (see Spooks).

This series is definitely worth watching, even if just to see Matt Di Angelo’s character receiving some punches as he did towards the end of the first episode.

[story by Keith Emmerson]

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