Difficult times always inspire landmark telly. In the 80s, it was the devastating slide of Yosser "Gissajob," Hughes in Boys From the Blackstuff. From the greedy end of the spectrum came Loadsamoney, Harry Enfield's substitute city-boy.
And things are definitely bad right now. The initial quest to explain the downturn quickly became a darkly comic scrabble to apportion guilt, which has proposed some unlikely scapegoats for the state we're in. The BBC series The City Uncovered had puckish Evan Davies holding, among others, NASA and David Bowie responsible. I hate Tin Machine as much as the next woman, but come on ...
Niall Ferguson's The Ascent Of Money, while intermittently insightful, regularly veered off into right-wing polemic. One episode even blamed the welfare system. Yet BBC1's Repossessed was a forlorn and quiet gem. It showed the human face of a property slump, confronting the despair of owners forced to forfeit their home.
Rory Bremner's recent outing was informative but laboured. The highlight was his picturesque image of the USA and China's grotesquely mutually dependant economies, resembling "two one-legged men chained together on a speeding treadmill".
But isn't it all this analysis a little premature? Eventually a grand commanding figure - Simon Schama, or Andrew Marr, perhaps - will provide some cultural and historic context for this unfolding calamity. Until then, we don't need an explanation. We just want to hear those bankers squeal.
Thankfully, BBC1's Hustle allows us to do that. Every week, a financial cowboy or arrogant property tycoon, who has been ripping off ideas, siphoning fortunes and otherwise destroying lives, is outwitted and humiliated by a ragged band of grifters. It's hugely cathartic to watch the villains, previously so bumptious and disdainful, squirm as they realise they've been caught.
The Hustler's credo is, "it's not about the money". Except, in reality, it is. Public funds were drained to rescue the reckless bankers. We must accept that the wideboys responsible for guiding us up sewage creek will never stand in the stocks. But at least we have Hustle to act out our collective revenge fantasy. So enjoy. Hustle is the show for these times - because even vicarious, light-hearted payback is better than no payback at all.
