Cops and Robbers was the fourth episode in the first series of the BBC crime drama Hustle, which aired on March 16th 2004.
Synopsis[]
Mickey is blackmailed by former police officer-turned-bank security manager, who threatens to send Danny to prison for a crime he was involved in, unless the crew can arrange for a bank robber to be sent down. The stakes are high, as the crew's target has a personal grudge against the bank.
But as the con is being prepared, Mickey soon realizes things are not as they seem. Not only is their target actually seeking revenge on the bank for bankrupting his father into suicide, but the effort to entrap him could lead the crew to losing a leader if it continues to completion.
Full Plot[]
Cold Open[]
Late at night, a man uses a power drill to break into the vault of a major bank. Once inside, he begins to remove a few wads of banknotes for himself, before donning a gas mask and removing a tube from his possession. The tube's contents, a clear liquid, is spilled over the remaining banknotes in the vault, causing them to steam up into a vicious mist,
Episode[]
Whilst enjoying his morning coffee at Eddie's Bar, awaiting the arrival of Albert, Mickey finds his peace and quiet rudely interrupted by Jack Maher (David Calder) - an ex-fraud squad officer, now working as the head of security for Moores Bank thanks to his performance record leading to a 100% conviction rate on every fraudster he pursued, including Albert. He explains that he needs Mickey's assistance to put a stop to a bank robber who has been hitting branches of Moores across the country - Sam Richards (Richard Harrington) - and is set to hit his final target: the Moores branch in London. Still maintaining contacts with his former colleagues, Maher has arranged for an alarm expert that Richards was set to meet to be detained, stating that this will be Mickey's means to get close to him to arrange for his entrapment.
Mickey naturally refuses to assist in this, until Maher reveals he has evidence - a security tape - that links Danny to a robbery he assisted his uncle with. Realizing he is being blackmailed, Mickey sternly watches him leave when he makes clear he expects him to get to work on his request; Albert, having noticed the pair together when he arrives, stays out of sight, until Mickey is alone. He quickly warns his student not to let Maher get what he wants, pointing out that Maher's request is not what it seems to be, and that they need to send Danny away for his own safety. Having never liked being told what to do, a core trait of his personality, and unwilling to send Danny away, Mickey decides to steal the evidence from Maher's office, and uses his skills to infiltrate the London branch. However, Maher proves to have prepared for this, knowing what he would do when Mickey reaches his office and finds a folder with a card stating "Nice try, but no cigar". A gloating Maher reveals how much he planned for this, before making clear the tape will be only handed over to him if Mickey's accedes to his request; though not before stating that there are no copies, because he knows Mickey will do as he asks. As Mickey leaves, Maher points out he himself has to follow orders, before gloating more with a chessboard in his office.
Albert, knowing Mickey would not win, is outside the bank when his protege exits the building in defeat. Left with no choice, Mickey agrees to go ahead with the job, with himself and Albert meet with the crew in their hotel suite; neither of them are aware that Ash caught Danny and Stacie playing strip poker while waiting for a mark. The crew are informed about Richards' plans and that they are going to assist in his next job; Mickey states that Albert will rope him in, while Ash is to make out that he's an alarm expert so they can join him on his heist. Danny is a little put-off that he and Stacie aren't going to be needed and that their next job isn't sounding like a con; Mickey states they need some cash to tide them over, and this is all they got on at the moment. After the briefing, with the others getting to work on their jobs, Mickey reveals that he actually wants Stacie to keep Danny out of the way, stating he will explain the reason why at a later point.
On their own, Danny and Stacie spend some time talking with each other, to which Danny decides to talk about his family life - he points out how most of his family are crooks, and that he never liked how they operated, deciding to become a grifter because he wanted to be someone better. The conversation soon delves into each other asking about their first con. Stacie naturally decides to show off her first con. The pair pull off a short con that Stacie did the first time she became a grifter, targeting a snobbish fashion shop owner by making out she has lost a valuable bracelet and is offering a reward, which Danny finds when he visits later, conning the owner into paying him off for a fraction of what he was offered. Afterwards, Danny decides to pull off a short con he loved as a classic - "dog in the bar" - targetting a greedy pub owner into buying a dog they had borrowed off its owner, making out its a breed that is valuable.
In their absence, Albert meets up with Richards at his hotel, where he claims to be a company executive who called upon a crooked alarms expert and a thief to figure out a fictious crime that his company experienced, offering to introduce the mark to them. Ash manages to prepare for the meeting, with some training on alarms, before he and Mickey meet Richards to discuss his planned heist. However, Ash throws a curveball by revealing that Moores' London branch has a sophiscated security system that includes dual retinal scanners - something requiring two people to work. When he remarks on how much Richards might have to leave behind, he and Mickey are stunned when their mark reveals his plan is to break into the vault, but not steal any cash; instead, he plans to steal an uncut diamond the bank have, that once belonged to his family.
Richards reveals to the pair that his family ran a business specialized in cutting and selling diamonds, and had done well until rival businesses forced his father to try to modernize the business. This required a loan, which he took out with Moores, but the interest payments proved steep; so steep, that he missed his repayments too much and was forced to declare bankruptcy, which in turn led to him committing suicide - killing himself just as a young Richards came to see him. The bank claimed the uncut diamond for themselves, as it was put up as collateral - but didn't sell it when they wrote off the debt, even though the gemstone was worth far more than the value of the loan. Richards, believing Moores had ruined his family by ripping them off, explains his heists had been to reclaim the money that the bank chain owed, and that the diamond will be the last thing they will lose. However, despondant that the security system is too complex, Richards despairs at achieving his goal, knowing the diamond is due to be moved soon. Mickey, shocked to discover Richards' past, offers to help, knowing that his own father killed himself living a honest life just a few days before his retirement; something that made Mickey bitter about the companies and corporations of the world.
Reuniting with the crew, he finds Danny and Stacie having a slight disagreement, not knowing that they had just kissed each other before the latter felt the move had been unwise. Neither are willing to stick around, seeing offput by current affairs. After they leave the crew's hotel suite, Mickey notices an envelope containing a security tape. Playing it, he finds Albert had had a meeting with Maher, where he begged him to back off from his protege. Feeling angered at Albert's actions, Mickey confronts him over this, revealing the whole meeting had been recorded. Albert, however, chastises Mickey, stating that he underestimated Maher. Albert reveals that Richards' heists have placed pressure on him by his bosses to put a stop to this, and that Maher likely picked on him because of the talk about him he likely had when out with his former colleagues. Mickey realizes Maher took advantage of his character flaws to manipulate him into doing one thing he hadn't planned for - that by entrapping Richards, Mickey must go with him to the vault to tackle it security, where he will be arrested with him.
Angered by this, Mickey reveals he intends to prevent Maher achieving what he wanted - Mickey's arrest - by ensuring Richards' heist goes as planned. Albert points out that he could have avoided the situation if he had relied on his one great strength, his crew, but his desire not to use them fully had been a huge mistake: Ash knows little about what he was doing; Stacie was not trusted to know what was going on; and Danny could have helped to provide a solution, rather than being shut out by Mickey because of the danger he faces. Mickey, understanding Albert's reasoning, calls a meeting with his crew, revealing the situation he is in, and that they need to work together to avoid things going as Maher plans them to go; Mickey later confronts him over this when revealing Richards is prepared to move in that night. The crew set about their own tasks: Danny and Stacie take interest in a shop within the building for Moores Bank, claiming to be police officers needing the backroom for a surveillance job; Albert helps create a distraction for Ash and Richards, who work to tamper with the security cameras; while Mickey arranges for something at the Royal Albert Hall.
That evening, Maher prepares his security team for the break-in, and heads to the bank's security control room to watch the camera feeds, joined soon enough by Albert, who is there to collect the evidence against Danny. Mickey and Richards soon break-in, to which the cameras are switched to those for the vault. Maher gloats in delight as the pair reach it and begin working to break in; once Mickey shows his face, Maher considers this all he needs to bring him down, and hands over the evidence he has to Albert. Before he and his guards proceed to the vault, the group watch on as smoke suddenly begins obscuring Mickey and Richards, prompting Maher to order his men to put on gas masks, but when they arrive before the vault, they find no smoke before the door, let alone their targets. Confused, Maher and one of his guards sue the retinal scanners to open the vault, but find it virtually undisturbed. Panicked, Maher becomes suspicious of the cameras at the vault, checks a closet containing their wires, and realizes Mickey had had them rerouted. Following where they went, he swiftly discovers the grifters had conned him into believing Mickey and Richards were at the vault; in reality, they had broken into the bank, but gone into the shop next door, where the crew had rigged up a duplicate vault door.
Mickey and his team had figured out how to avoid Maher's trap - by simply conning him into thinking he could get Mickey entrapped with Richards, the crew knew that not only could they get the evidence on Danny from him, they could also get him and Stacie into the vault by tricking Maher to open it himself. Inside, the pair swiftly recover the diamond, leaving behind a chess piece - a Black King - for Maher to find. On the street, Mickey and his team hand over the diamond to Richards, who had been warned of the situation before the heist. Delighted, the group drop him off at a train station, in order to get out of London, but not before Mickey thanks Richards for his heist helping him to remember his core strengths. After Richards leaves, Mickey calls up Maher, mocks him for his plan, before revealing he left behind a surprise gift for him - a girthy female opera singer who performs an aria, mimicking the saying "It ain't over until the fat lady sings".
At their suite, Danny prepares to get some rest, before Mickey stops him and has him search for any money he might have taken from Moores, when Stacie reveals he nearly forgot to leave the chess piece in the vault. Danny, although annoyed, learns the crew were teasing him about this, as Stacie reveals she took money to cover the team's expenses. Danny, however, reveals had taken one extra wad of cash that the group didn't find on him properly, leading to the group calling him out as a "thief", before cheering their success with champagne.
Characters[]
Team[]
- Mickey Bricks
- Stacie Monroe
- Danny Blue
- Albert Stroller
- Ash Morgan
- Samuel Richards (not entirely in)
Mark[]
Quotes[]
Maher: Do you play chess, Michael?
Mickey: I prefer Snakes & Ladders.
Trivia[]
- The mark of the episode is Jack Maher.
- The soprano sings an aria from La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi.
External links[]
- Cops and Robbers on Internet Movie Database
- Cops and Robbers at the Hustle series 1-4 archive at BBC Online
- Cops and Robbers at TV.com
Gallery[]
