Members of staff at Ladywood auction house Biddle & Webb,
are fairly excited as to the prospect of seeing their place of work
featured in BBC's popular TV series "Hustle" on Friday 21st January
at 9.00 pm.
Back in the Autumn of 2010, Biddle & Webb's managing
director, Jeremy Thornton was pleased to provide a location for the
seventh series of Hustle as the endearing team of con artists
planned to contrive a scam involving an auction.
At a pre-arranged time and date that had to be kept completely
secret, some of the cast of the popular series, together with an
entire camera crew visited the auction house and spent a whole day
there on location filming.
Amongst the stars being filmed was vintage Hollywood actor
Robert Vaughn, famed for his role as the suave and sophisticated
Napoleon Solo in the 60s iconic Man from U.N.C.L.E. programmes, who
now plays the slightly eccentric Albert Stroller in the
series.
Mr Vaughn is also well renowned for his performance alongside
Hollywood legend Steve McQueen, in Bullitt where he was nominated
for a BAFTA award for 'Best Supporting Actor'.
Also on location at the Ladywood sale room was actor Adrian
Lester (Mickey Stone) the brainchild of the Hustle team as well as
Kelly Adams who plays Emma Kennedy.
Jeremy said: "Of course we didn't really witness any of the
filming as having an entire camera crew, directors and actors all
assembled at our premises, at the same time we were having
extensive building work undertaken, was chaotic to say the least,
but still very exciting.
"We can't wait for the episode to appear on Friday to see the
results of everyone's hard work, as staff here were so
accommodating and coped really well with the disruption, but there
again it's not every day Hollywood visits Ladywood."
It is not the first time that the auction house has had
associations indirectly with the TV and film industry as they have
provided props for various period dramas over the years.
Last Friday's series of Hustle (14th January) was filmed on
location in Birmingham City. Distinctive landmarks like the
Bullring and the Selfridges building featured fairly prominently
throughout the programme, making a nice change from the usual
depictions of the Gherkin and the London Eye.
For more information on Biddle and Webb please visit their
website here: www.biddleandwebb.co.uk