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The Con is On was the first episode in the first series of Hustle, which was broadcast for the first time on 24 February 2004.

Synopsis[]

Mickey "Bricks" Stone, one of the best long con artists in the business, has just been released from prison for an unrelated crime. Assembling his old team of fellow con artists, he decides to pull off one last long con before he retires. With a diverse team, including his old mentor, the team's mark is a greedy businessman who would certainly wish to avoid scandal if caught up in a fraudulent scheme.

All seems to go according to plan, until short con player Danny Blue enters the picture to try and join the team. Along with the police hot on their trail, will Mickey and his crew be able to pull off the con successfully, or will Danny bring it all crashing down? One thing is for sure - the con is on.

Plot[]

Top London con artist, Michael Stone (alias Mickey Bricks), is a grifter - the preferred term for con artists - whose speciality is in the long con: lucrative schemes with big rewards, but big risks involved. Although never having been caught by the police, having a high level of notoriety to his name, Mickey has spent the past few years in prison after being found guilty of grevious bodily harm when he took a baseball bat to the boyfriend of his estranged wife Rachel. Now back on the streets, Mickey is eager to pick up where he left up - by pulling off another long con.

Seeking out his crew, Mickey tracks down his fixer - Ashley "Ash" Morgan, nicknamed "Three-Socks" - as he is conducting a short con known as "The Flop". Delighted to see him, the pair spend some time conversing about current affairs, to which Mickey reveals he intends for their next score to be his last, despite Ash hinting that the police are likely keeping tabs on him since his time in prison. Regardless of this, Mickey states that he intends to go ahead, revealing that they have a mark, but that they need a hotel as a base for the crew. At the same time, Mickey's mentor Albert Stroller - a former inside man who began his life of crime from the American Midwest, and who serves the crew as its roper - cultivates a relationship with Peter Williams, a greedy businessman who seeks to increase his wealth. Meanwhile, the crew's banker, Stacie Monroe, busy herself with distracting a police detective and seducing him to a private room.

Whilst this is going on, the Metropolitan Police's Fraud Squad, led by DCI Mullens, is visited by a new detective - DI Martin DePalma - with word about Mickey's next target, pointing out that Williams is consider a potential scandal in the making if he is conned. With reluctance, Mullens assigns him to take charge of the surveillance operation on Mickey, with his subordinate, DS Terri Hodges, working under him. In the briefing about the latest con, Hodges outlines how police across the country have been after Mickey for years; that he is strictly major league with his fraudulent schemes and considers himself in a "class of his own". She makes clear to her colleagues how they must be the ones to capture him this time round, following his spell in prison, after being made aware that he will go underground once this job is complete.

At the hotel, Albert reunites with Mickey and Ash in the crew's penthouse suite, and reveals to them their mark, whereupon they set it in motion. Albert ropes in Williams, by pretending to find a discard wallet and luring the mark up to their hotel suite. Mickey plays out his part as an investment banker named Mark Hamiliton, who delighted to get his wallet back, offers to make a small investment on behalf of Albert and Williams, promising a huge return for them both. Williams agrees, falling for the crew's convincer. Whilst discussing the working capital needed for the con, once Williams has left, Mickey hears a knock at the door during the conversation. Answering it, he finds himself encountering Danny Blue outside the suite - a short-con artist looking to learn more about being a grifter, and guided to Mickey by the crew's favourite bartender, Eddie. Danny is eager to join the crew and get in on their latest con, but Mickey is unwilling to allow it, flatly rejecting his request.

The next day, the crew split up to make some money for the convincer - Stacey employs her looks to pickpocket marks; Mickey and Albert use their own skills to secure money; while Ash tampers with a cash machine's dispenser in order to make users be unable to withdraw money, so as to collect it all later when he uses the machine. With the money in place, Williams is called in for a meeting to collect his returns on his investment. Convinced that Mickey can make him money, the mark proves unexpectedly unwilling to partake further, until Danny turns up out of the blue, and weaves a convincing story about how he invested into Mickey's work and made 400% return. Relunctantly, Mickey plays along with the scenario, making out that Danny is an investor client named Mr Redford, and is slightly impressed the scene helps convince Williams to invest again into his scheme. After the mark leaves, Mickey smacks Danny in the face, before accepting him into the crew.

For the next stage in the con, Mickey and the crew infiltrate an investment firm, securing an empty office to use for Hamiliton's workspace, while Stacey secures some footage for their tale. After Williams is borught in, Mickey advises him that his work is illegal - he uses computer servers to manipulate stocks so as to make transactions before their price changes on the stock market. Williams proves entirely greedy and willing to invest, to which Mickey arranges a date for their deal at the hotel. As the crew leave, they are unaware of DePalma and Hodges watching them, noticing that Danny is working with the crew, prompting them to do a background check on him. Following the meeting, the crew spend time at Eddie's Bar, where Stacie notices that Rachel has turned up, wishing to see Mickey. As the crew's leader is absent, Stacie offers to pass on a message to him when she sees him.

That evening, at the hotel, Mickey questions Danny over his reasons for wishing to join the crew, whereupon he learns that the young talent before him aspires to prove himself. However, Mickey notes he lacks the understanding behind what the crew do, only that he thinks it is about the money. After Danny leaves, Mickey questions Albert over how he found them, suspecting his mentor had a hand in the matter. Albert reveals he heard of him, did some research on him, and found him to possess the potential to be a great grifter like Mickey did, including possessing a unique trait known as "Grift Sense" that would make him invaluable. As they talk on while playing cards, Ash arrives in their penthouse suite with a pair of watermelons, but with no explanation for this. Meanwhile, DePalma and Hodges pick up Danny, pointing out they intend to charge him with fraud, after the victim of a short con he pulled off finally decided to report the matter to the police. However, the pair offer him a way out - his immunity from charges, in exchange for giving up Mickey and the others. Danny leaves their custody, deeply worried.

The following morning, Williams is brought to the hotel to meet with Mickey, ready to make the exchange. Unknown to him, the Fraud Squad prepare to move in, including with firearms. Danny arrives, not willing to let the crew be brought down, but after arriving and using Mickey's actual name in the presence of the mark, armed police officers storm the suite. Williams panicks, as DePalma reveals he is being conned, whereupon Mickey hits Danny for betraying them. In the commotion, he secures Hodges' gun as she retrieves the money for evidence, and threatens to kills Danny. DePalma intervenes, shooting Mickey dead, before ordering the others removed, with Danny knocked out when he accuses the detective of murder. At the station, Hodges is processing the suspects and evidence they have. When questioning Williams about what happened, she finds him un-cooperative and eager to leave without the press learning of what has happened. Relunctantly, she is forced to let him go, relying on DePalma to wrap things up.

Danny, slowly regaining consciousness in the hotel suite, is informed by DePalma that their deal is still open; all he must do is signed a written statement of what the others did. Danny flat out refuses, declaring he is not a grass and is willing to go down with the others. DePalma, seeing he can't get him to do as expected, calls in his colleagues - all of whom turn out to be Mickey and the crew itself. Danny is confused at first, and shocked, to find Mickey alive, but the group reveal that they were actually running an additional scam on the police to end their surveillance work on Mickey. The crew reveal that DePalma is an imposter - the real DePalma was detained by Stacie and kept out of the way, while a fellow grifter named Neil Cooper used his identity to infiltrate the police operation. He thus ensured the money was not removed from the scene, and freed the others from custody. The killing of Mickey was staged - Cooper used blanks, while Ash had rigged up a device to simulate a bullet wound; the watermelons helped him to ensure the effect was realistic.

Mickey's choice of mark was planned, as Williams would have no desire to be caught up in a scandal of being nearly conned. When Danny questions if the police will come after them, Mickey states they are unlikely to do so, without facing a public scandal for letting one of the accused lead the investigations; his point proven with Mullens and Hodges destroying all their evidence against Mickey in the face of this humilation. Finding they are home-free, Danny realizes the crew are not in it for the money, to which Mickey declares he has learnt his first lesson. The crew swiftly celebrate with champagne, as they toss up the money they earned into the air.

Characters[]

Team[]

Mark[]

Trivia[]

  • The marks of the episode are Peter Williams and DS Terri Hodges.
  • We learn in this episode that Ash Morgan's nickname is "three socks", which he got in prison after visiting the community shower.
  • The only hit of BBC's new dramas. It hit 6.7 Million viewers, which beat out ITV's 5.5 Million viewers for "The Football."
  • Upon first meeting Danny, Mickey comments "I bet you've even watched The Sting". Later in the episode, when Danny gate-crashes the con, Mickey introduces Danny as 'Mr Redford'.
  • The last episode of Hustle "The Con is Off" name references this episode.

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