Hustle
- Ash
Morgan (Robert Glenister)
"Whatever
you want, Ash Morgan will find it. He got a skull fracture in a
bar room brawl ten years ago, uses it to work The Flop …"
 Robert
Glenister, by his own admission, is not the most computer literate
of men so when he landed the role of Ash Morgan, technical genius,
safe cracker and alarm silencer for the Hustle team, he was a little
daunted at having to learn lots of technical jargon and convince
people he knew exactly what he was doing.
But
as Glenister points out, acting is all about conning people.
"I
found it quite difficult because some of the time you don't actually
know what you're talking about!" laughs Glenister.
"I'm
not particularly computer literate certainly with things like complicated
alarms and the like. I think the important thing is making it look
and sound convincing so it seems you know exactly what you're talking
about, that you're completely on top of your subject.
"Lets
face it that's what the team in Hustle are doing anyway. There is
a comparable parallel between me as an actor trying to convince
the audience I know what I'm talking about and me as a con man convincing
the mark I know what I'm talking about.
"I
never know how people in Holby or Casualty or E.R. do it, how they
learn reams of technical stuff. Maybe they write it down and stick
it on patients foreheads or something!"
Ash
Morgan is known as 'the fixer', he is responsible for doing the
initial ground work for the scam and preparing all the props and
he's in charge of all things technical.
"When
they embark on a big con then it's up to Ash to find the locations
that they are going to operate from and the gang's accommodation
– whichever hotel they want to stay in – but they don't
pay for it of course!
"Ash
is Mr Fix-It, he does all the preparation work. He gets information
on various marks and targets and once he's set the whole thing up
he takes more of a back seat and lets the others who are more involved
with the mark get on with it."
Ash
Morgan is certainly something of an enigma. He is mysterious and
initially appears to be something of a loner.
He
has spent the last few years making money from a skull fracture
he received through a bar room brawl several years ago. He defrauds
insurance companies by means of 'The Flop' - stepping out in front
of cars, bouncing off the bonnet and when the hospital x-ray shows
the fracture, the insurance company pays out.
However,
Glenister admits he was not quite as adventurous as his on-screen
persona when it came to being hit by cars.
"I got a stunt man who did all the smashing against the windscreen
stunts but I did everything else. I walked out into the road whilst
the car was coming at me and it only stopped about two inches from
me. It wasn't that fast but if it had hit me it would have hurt!
The going over the bonnet bit I didn't do.
"We
all like doing the stunts involving driving fast because it's boy's-own
stuff but when it comes to the dangerous stunts I'm quite happy
to leave it to someone else!
"Ash
is an itinerant con man, he's been chucking himself in front of
cars whilst Mickey's been in prison. He's a bit of a loner I think
- he's just as happy operating as an individual as he is in a group
- but he likes the whole family thing that's created amongst the
five of them."
Having assumed
the character of a top fixer and con artist for four months it would
appear that Glenister is perfectly placed for a lucrative career
change but he is not so sure.
"I
read a book called The Big Con which explained all about how the
long con came about in America. In the book it said that a lot of
out of work actors turned to becoming con artists in the early 1900s
but I don't think that's something I'd be able to do," laughs
Glenister.
"I'd
never make it as a real con man, I'd give it away within minutes!
"I
have been conned before, all be it in a minor way. When I moved
into my new house, the garden was a terrible mess. This bloke came
along and said he'd clear it up and take it all away for £35.
I agreed and he did a good job so I gave him the £35 and he
went away.
"Later
on, I was crossing the road to go to my car and looked up the road
and the whole of my front garden was dumped in the middle of the
street! I have to admit I had a grudging respect for him, that he'd
had enough bottle to get away with it!"
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