How Could "Hustle" Do This to Me?!

I started to watch Hustle in 2009 mostly, or at least regularly. I did see all of Series 4, two years before that, and even some of the third series which would have been 2006, I think, when the show in my opinion was at its best, but back then I was too young to understand some of it (Hustle is, after all, a lot about finance and the economy sometimes). By Series 5, I knew that I missed by old favourite characters and so I started to watch it online from the very first series, and I fell in love with it. Ash, Stacie, Danny, Albert and Mickey "Bricks" were characters who I looked up to or linked to situations I was in if I had problems. All five of them were so real and so alive to me. I don't know if it's normal to have the connection with a TV show that I did back then. I knew, and still do know, the names of not just actors but producers and writers like they were a big part of my life. They were people I admired, and I'd say that Hustle is a large part of what made me want to write.
It's understandable, then, when at twelve years old, I was angry that as I watched the original five main characters grow and develop and just be awesome online, it was irritating how every Friday I had to watch it and Danny and Stacie had not only been replaced, but replaced by characters who it was so obvious had been written to fill the purpose they bought to the group - Sean was boyish and immature and a bit of a womaniser, Emma sultry and sensible, sometimes a little feminist. I still always complained that it was never quite what it used to be, but I grew to like Emma and tolerate Sean. I didn't feel that angry at the show anymore, it was only Jaime Murray and Marc Warren who I could blame for the fact that their careers had simply taken them to different places, and I wasn't going to do that any time soon.
I still loved Hustle a lot and watched it faithfully, and had a lot of respect for anyone involved.
That is, up until tonight.
Tonight, within sixty minutes, one of my favourite fictional characters not only slipped much out of his usual self and also lost his voice, but was the central point of one of the dumbest, most unbelievable plots I think I've probably seen ever. It was stupid and not just on a Hustle scale, but compared to pretty much anything.
Let me explain. SPOILER ALERT.

The episode started off as a con the gang were playing on a football agent, to raise money to save Ash's hometown football team, who the recession had assumably hit. Already from the start I'd say I wasn't enjoying it as much as usual, only really because I don't know a lot about football, let alone the business behind it - occasionally there'll be an episode of Hustle which is almost a chore to keep up with intellectually, but most of the time it's worth it. I was already slightly annoyed about some things Ash had said in the episode, which were just so noticeably out of character.
Things were going pretty well, then halfway through, Ash was making a comment about how good everything seemed, when he walked into a glass door and fell over. Immediately, Albert panicked and called an ambulence. [Plot flaw number one - when a friend walks into a door and falls over, you laugh at them. Then if you see they're unconcious, shake them a little and start to get scared. Then maybe call an ambulence].
After this, all five of them headed to the hospital and we saw a montage of everyone sitting around worrying a little, fair enough, then Emma made a comment like, "It's been nine hours." And I'm starting to this that this is a little unbelievable...
The doctor came and said that they could see Ash now.
He was sat in bed looking fairly okay, and Emma hugged him and asked how he was feeling. Ash said something like "I'm feeling sexually aroused because your breasts are touching my chest." She pulled away and then he said, "Albert, ask me what I think of your cooking." And he did so and Ash said it tasted awful and Albert looked a little offended. Several more things like this happened.
The doctor came back in and explained that Ash's fall had given him a mental disorder type thing which I won't even bother to google and see if it's real or not, meaning he had the inability to tell lies. Then he said something like, "That's a bit of a problem, for a conman", just for the sake of signifying that Ash had told him."
Read that back and think about it.
He walked into a glass door and tripped.
He spend nine hours in A&E.
He is now unable to tell lies.
They carried on with the con realising the only problem with Ash was that he couldn't lie to direct questions people asked him, and so Emma pretended to be his lawyer and talk for him in front of the mark a lot of the time. There was a bit of a moment of fear in a bar with the mark, when he asked Ash directly if he should invest money in this, and Ash just said "Of course not, you'll never see it again, we're conmen!" which was quickly saved by them just laughing a little and pretending it was a joke.
Here's the very worst part.
At the end, having the usual celebratory drinks in Eddie's Bar, Ash walked into something, hit his head, and Sean asked him his name. He said "Bob".
He could lie again.

AAAAAH KSHGPOIESHG0PSIENGO. HOW COULD MY FAVOURITE TV SHOW HAVE SO LITTLE RESPECT OR EXPECTATIONS OF ITS AUDIENCE'S INTELLIGENCE BY ASKING US TO BELIEVE AND ACCEPT A PLOT LIKE THIS?

I'm angry at Tony Jordan (I'm sure it wasn't him that wrote that, but he let it happen!) and I'm angry at Robert Glenister, although it wasn't his fault at all, and producers and whoever wrote that. I miss the way this show used to be, and I would say something like, "That's it, I'm not watching it anymore!" but I know I will. Still, it's gone way down the drain. Now I'm going to go read some stories from "Fragile Things" to make me feel better.

Have a good weekend.