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Well, they do say all good things must come to an end. There were a fair few upset fans when it emerged that Hustle will be ending after the eighth series, but let's look on the bright side - we get six brand new episodes to enjoy before we wave goodbye to our favourite grifters!
Yes, Hustle begins its final run this week, so we figured it would be a good idea to catch up with the hilarious Kelly Adams and Matt Di Angelo for a bit of a chat.
Read on to find out whether the pair have ever put their con tricks into action in real life, whether that long-rumoured Hustle movie will ever make it to cinemas (hint: don't start buying popcorn just yet) and which guest star caught Kelly's eye...
What's your favourite ever con from Hustle?
Kelly: "Oh lord! I know mine, for sure. Mine was in our first year - it was a diamond one with Patrick Bergin. It was about the swapping of a diamond necklace, the Josephine diamond. And it was one of those ones, every year they give you a storyline, you know - there'll be Matt's episode. That was kind of my episode, so I had lots to do. It was very exciting. Trapped in a dungeon."
Matt: "Patrick Bergin was quite scary."
Kelly: "He was quite scary because he lived in America. Have you seen the film Sleeping With The Enemy? He's in that and he's a real baddie in that. Anyway, that was my favourite, and yours was...?"
Matt: "Mine was when our dad came back. He kind of popped up and we conned our long-lost father. That was good because there was lots of words, and lots of acty acty crying crying."
Kelly: "Lots of crying. Tears. Instead of being cooly cooly we were acty acty! Drama schooly."
Matt: "We were acting mouses. Mice. A gaggle of little acting swans. But yeah, that was good. I felt like we really kind of worked. You don't often get a personal storyline in Hustle. Usually it's about the con, you never bring any personal stuff into it."
Kelly: "If there is they kind of cut round it and make it very light. Well, not cut round it but they always want it to be light."
Matt: "This was quite heavy. It's quite fun. Is it sad that our favourite episodes were in our first series? The last three years..."
Kelly: "He's being silly!"
Matt: "They were two really good episodes, both of them."
Have you learned any tricks of the trade from working on Hustle?
Matt: "My biggest lesson I've learnt is not to work with Kelly Adams again! Tricks-wise, yeah, to get a wallet out of someone's pocket is quite easy, actually. I often find myself on a train or a tube and I see someone and know they've got their wallet there because I can see the bulge."
Kelly: "You want to tell people with their bags and stuff."
Matt: "I want to get the wallet!"
Kelly: "Oh! You see people on the tube with their bags open, and you're like, 'Love... I could do that, I could definitely do that'."
Matt: "'And I'm an actor!'"
Kelly: "'So you should sort that out!'"
Matt: "Yeah. But it's quite easy. You really do worry for people, because to have your wallet... you need to keep it somewhere safe. It's so easy to see where it is. I've got your purse already!"
Kelly: "We've been taught sleight of hand things and bits and bobs. That's Adrian's forte - he's always playing with cards and doing sleight of hand stuff, that kind of thing. But normally you just have to choreograph how to do it and by the time you've done the take 500 times you're actually ace at it."
Matt: "But they do just say to you, 'Can you actually just take the wallet?'"
Kelly: "They expect you to be able to do it!"
Matt: "It's like, 'What? How?'"
Kelly: "How do you do it so the camera can see? But then you end up being really good at it."
Matt: "It's really weird because sometimes you find yourself having to direct the other actor who's got the thing to take, because you have to tell them how to stand and the angle and put some tissue in the pocket. You put newspaper at the bottom so the wallet's slightly higher up so you can get it a lot easier than going in and faffing around. But I had to swap hotel cards in the last series - you weren't there but it was... phew! It's a little credit card thing in a pocket and I had to take that one out and put that one in whilst walking out of an elevator as they were walking in."
Kelly: "Swapping the hotel numbers this year. Something simple can kill you. Swapping some signs on a hotel thing should be easy - can't do it for anything. And of course you have to do everything with an air of cool so all the outtakes are of us going, 'Hang on', walking away and dropping something onto the floor."
Matt: "Double sided tape that's been used too many times and you close the door and it falls off. That's just showbiz, that's just what it's like. But I've learnt a few things."
Kelly: "I have!"
Are you ever worried about giving viewers ideas?
Kelly: "No, that's The Real Hustle. That show's mental! I can't believe that show exists."
Matt: "They're doing what we want to do. They're telling people, 'Don't leave your wallet there' and stuff like that, aren't they?"
Kelly: "But don't they show people how they can do it? Don't they show people how they can scam other people? I want people to stop thinking I'm the girl from that because they all get really excited and then they go, 'Oh'."
Matt: "People see us filming and they go is this The Real Hustle? I say, 'Look at this lighting, these cameras, 400 crew members... No, this is just Hustle'."
Kelly: "But somebody did [copy Hustle]. It was in the paper."
Matt: "I don't think they watched Hustle and then decided..."
Kelly: "No, they said that they did. It was one of those things like the selling of the Eiffel Tower where you pretend that you own something and you just sell it but you don't own it at all. And they did, they got the idea from Hustle from last year. It worked and then they found him and it didn't work. But he got millions. To be frank, if somebody's that confident they can pull it off."
Matt: "Anyone can do it. Confidence is an amazing thing. If you are a confident person you can get away with murder. If you believe what you're saying 100% then it's fine. I went to a nightclub in Los Angeles - we had no guest list whatsoever, we should not be able to get in there whatsoever. I walked up to the door and he's like, 'Can I help you?' and I go, 'Yeah, you can start by opening the rope, I'm thirsty'. Literally that rude and confident slash arrogant, and he's gone, 'Sorry' and we're straight in. If I'd gone, 'Ooh, yeah, we're wondering if it would be alright to have a drink', he'd have gone, 'No'."
Kelly: "That's amazing!"
Matt: "Brilliant. We were in there like... [opens his mouth in awe]"
Kelly: "When you got inside - 'Let's go to the toilet!'" [both squeal excitedly]
Matt: "Brilliant. But I'll tell you the truth, when I got in there - $100 a round, so I was out of there in a shot. I was out of there quicker than I was in there. Anyway, confidence is the trick. It's all about confidence."
Hustle always has good guest stars - who's coming up this series?
Matt: "Pat Sharp, Mark Wright, Tamara Ecclestone. This year we're only going to guest people that have been in reality TV programmes."
Kelly: "Can you imagine! We've got Paterson Joseph, Sheila Hancock was ace, Martin Kemp was ace."
Matt: "Paterson Joseph is really good as well. He's very, very funny."
Kelly: "John Barrowman - exactly as you think he's going to be. Very, very funny. Aggressively camp like you don't understand, but he's funny."
Matt: "Is John Barrowman gay? Is he? Sheila Hancock, who I have a love interest with."
Kelly: "She was awesome, so funny. It's brilliant."
Matt: "Mark Williams."
Kelly: "I never did a single scene with that man."
Matt: "I did a few. He's pretty hilarious as well. Jaime Murray..."
Kelly: "Who's that?!"
Matt: "Patrick Baladi, the guy from The Office."
Kelly: "Oh yeah, he was really funny as well."
Matt: "Brilliant, funny, an ace guy. My favourite guest, Patrick. I was just talking about The Office with him all day. He's the first person - after meeting quite a few people in my time - I ever asked for a photograph. I didn't even wait until I was mates with him. I actually just went, 'Hi Patrick, nice to meet you, can I have a photograph?' He probably thought I was off the street to be fair. I've still got that in my phone. I was so excited. He's Neil from The Office! That's amazing!"
Kelly: "All the guest stars are really, really funny, brilliant comic actors this year."
Matt: "They do show quite a different side to them. Patrick was supposed to be this really, really mean, nasty cop."
Kelly: "He played it brilliantly. Really sexily."
Matt: "You get in a bit of trouble in that episode, don't you?"
Kelly: "Yeah, he arrests me. It's wrong, I enjoyed it. I was like, 'So how rough are you going to be?' I shouldn't say this. He was like, 'What are you talking about? Get here!' I was like, 'Ooh!'"
Matt: "I love that. You got Patrick and I got Sheila Hancock. We've both had love interests."
Kelly: "Except mine wasn't real. I made it up in my head."
You mentioned that Jaime Murray is back - how does that happen?
Matt: "Well a writer will write a script, a producer will call an agent..."
Kelly: "We didn't know for that last episode - we all knew it was the absolute end end end of the series, never to be seen again. They had loads of different stories all up in the air and we were not told which one because they had to keep it secret. And then we found out Jaime was coming back. I thought there might be people thinking it's a bit weird, but she was ace. She was so funny and just laughed at herself. It was nice to see her come back because she knew the guys from before."
Matt: "I was about to give something away so badly - I should just not talk! The dynamic with the group changes completely and Kelly's character and Jaime's character couldn't be any further away. Jaime's character will happily go and do the whole booby kind of 'look at my bum' kind of thing to distract them whereas Kelly's character sort of hates that. So the dynamic with that was nice, and also the group - the way that Mickey reacts to Jaime and the way I react to Jaime is particularly... funny. So it's a different dynamic. But it's a bit weird because it's the last episode ever but a completely fresh dynamic, so it's pretty bizarre actually. I think that's what felt weird - it was like the beginning of something at the end of something."
Kelly: "That's exactly what it was, because somebody new's come in right at the very last minute and you go, 'Oh, this could do that, but oh, it's finished'. It's great that last whole new energy."
Are there any other treats for fans since this is the final series?
Matt: "You're not going to get a bigger treat than seeing Jaime."
Kelly: "And what she's wearing, that as well. Phew! I learnt a thing or two about what not to eat. What other treats? Just the guest artists."
Matt: "Just more of me, really. That's a treat for everyone!"
Kelly: "Robert Glenister has a very good story halfway through. That's a treat, a secret treat, but it's very funny. He's great. We have many outtakes of Matt laughing a lot in that. Just the end - episode six is going to be a big treat. Hopefully everyone will like it. There are a lot of people to please so I hope it does."
Matt: "It's like a whole new series, so many different things. Obviously it's episodes of crazy, kooky cons. But yeah, more of the same."
Kelly: "More of the same? Matt!"
Matt: "What? It's true! More of the same!"
Kelly: "'Any treats this year?' 'Mm, just more of the same'."
Matt: "It is! It is more of the same!"
Kelly: "You don't say that!"
Matt: "Why not? We've finished, we've filmed it, they've bought it, it's all done, it's all tied up, I can say what I like! No, but it is more of the same, but I meant than in terms of such a high quality show. There's so much great stuff."
Kelly: "More Hustle gold."
Matt: "Yeah, more Hustle gold. More of the same! I'm going to get a T-shirt saying that, 'More of the same'. 'So Matt, this new show you're doing, what character are you playing?' 'Oh, I don't know, it's more of the same'. 'What's it like, Matt?' 'Oh, more of the same'."
How are you feeling about Hustle coming to an end?
Matt: "It's finished. It's kind of done for us, so we crossed that bridge a couple of weeks ago now. I keep saying, 'Oh, I've just wrapped on Hustle'."
Kelly: "Yeah, I do!"
Matt: "'What are you doing?' 'Just wrapped on Hustle'. It's been a month! Just trying to drag it on for a little bit. For a whole month afterwards you say, 'Oh, I just wrapped on Hustle' and a month before you go, 'I'm just getting ready to shoot Hustle'. You stretch that f**ker out as long as you can! I think this sums it up best - we're sad that filming's finished because of the people that we've made friends with and we're going to miss the people, whereas the job, we kind of thought it was finished last year. Our contract was up. And it's a job - you're an actor to play different parts on different shows. If you wanted to stay on the same thing all year round every year for 20 years, you're better off doing a soap or something that's definitely going to continue. So the job's finished. Everyone feels the same - the actors, the writers - everyone feels it's time for it to finish and go out on a high, but we'll miss the people."
Kelly: "We've worked with the same crew and cast and everything - it's been one big family for the last three or four years."
Matt: "The make-up girls, the chef, the drivers. You just make friends with everyone. It's like any job really - whatever you do, if you're there for four years you're going to make good friends. So it's going to be sad to not see them. I might even miss Birmingham a bit. I never thought I'd say that!"
Kelly: "No, I'm not going to miss Birmingham! We were contracted for three years so we were mentally prepared to finish last year and they said, 'Oh, it gets such massive ratings, everyone loves it so much, would you all be prepared to come back and do some wonderful ending stories?' and we all said yeah. And this year we all socialised like mad and got drunk lots and had loads of meals because we knew it was the end. Every so often on the set we'd go [sob]. So I'll miss everybody but it's onwards and upwards I think."
There are always rumours of a Hustle movie - would you go back for that?
Matt: "We're in talks at the moment."
Are you?
Matt: "No! Trust me, none. They wouldn't do it with us."
Kelly: "They've talked about it for years but they would do it with the original cast because they were talking about how the gang got together, I think, as the original concept."
Matt: "It would be a prequel."
Kelly: "You'd have to go back in time and give everybody Botox and a facelift to do that. Everybody from 11, 12 years back - how the gang first, first got together, they'd have to be in their 20s."
Matt: "Maybe I could go back and play a young Ash. That would be nice. Then you'd see me doing a completely different character."
Kelly: "They've been talking about it for years and I think people in America bought the rights to it and there were talks that it was going to happen but it's on the back burner."
Matt: "But people in America have got the rights to everything. It's just buying it up. I don't think there'll ever be a Hustle film. If Tony Jordan doesn't want to write another series I don't think he'd want to write a film. It would only be more of the same anyway!"
Hustle is a very glamorous show - do you enjoy getting all dressed up?
Matt: "I like the clothes. I had more shoes than Kelly this year."
Kelly: "I was like, 'What?! How did you...?' You never even see our feet!"
Matt: "The clothes are really good and we like going along to our costume fittings. It's a bit different for you [Kelly] because you don't dress as similar to the character because she's so glamorous all the time and obviously in daytime you have jeans on. Kelly doesn't make a lot of effort in the day! I on the other hand like my clothes. I wear similar clothes to Sean so I pretty much buy all my costumes. And then I try not to wear it in the show so when I buy it and want to wear it in real life there's no crossover. The costume department spent £800 on a jacket for me and I'm going, 'I don't want to wear it'. 'So why the f**k did I buy it then?' So that's really fun. Unless I've got to go to court, when else would I be in a suit? Deaths, funerals, court."
Kelly: "This show's been like training for me. I know you're going to laugh because I dress like a scruffbag, Uggs and things that normal girls wear in normal life, and in this it's high heels, tight things, things you have to suck your stomach in for, things you're freezing in, things you're uncomfortable in, things that you can't even breathe in. And then because you wear that for four months it's second nature, and then you just wear it in real life as well. Mix the two. Make more of an effort in real life. Everything I'm wearing now is costume. You get used to the way you feel."
Matt: "Good for you!"
Kelly: "Thank you!"
Can you tell us anything about the marks and cons coming up this series?
Matt: "No. Next question! No, we've got stock market stuff, some gold bullion con stuff."
Kelly: "The one with the blooming painting. The most complicated..."
Complicated?
Kelly: "Oh my God. Episode two. I read it and read it and pulled it apart and was still like, 'Anyone? Anyone?'"
Matt: "I still don't get it. Honestly, I didn't understand the script. It's really complicated, so Sky Plus that one and rewind it."
Kelly: "You'll still be like, 'Really?'"
Matt: "It's fine. My character's not supposed to get it."
Kelly: "Also, Albert's building he lives in that's being knocked down - a building scam."
Matt: "An inheritance scam."
Kelly: "The John Barrowman one with the two evil property guys."
Matt: "Diet pill stuff."
Kelly: "That's great!"
Matt: "Some new stuff, but mainly more of the same!"
Kelly: "No it's not!"
Matt: "All cons are based on three types of con and they're just variations of that basic con, but I think it's the characters and the marks themselves that make it interesting, The con, if you strip it down to the foundations it would be the same setup, but this year the kind of characters we have and the comedy, actually it's a lot funnier than I think it's been."
Kelly: "It is a lot funnier."
Matt: "And also a lot more danger and a lot more drama than there usually is, so it's gone to quite an extreme for the last series."
Kelly: "For the ending it goes to a new dangerous level of very very high stakes."
So you think it's a fitting ending?
Kelly: "Yeah, there were quite a few different endings and no-one could decide which one it was. And I just hope... I think people will like it."
Matt: "I think the ending's mental."
Kelly: "It is mental. In a really good way!"
Hustle returns for its final series on Friday at 9pm on BBC One. The Hustle season 7 DVD is out now, courtesy of Warner Home Video.
