History Characters / Hustle

* ThePeterPrinciple: Played with; he frequently gives the appearance he doesn't take being leader as seriously as Mickey, so consequently Stacie and Ash in particular don't take him seriously in turn - when he seeks to recruit a new member in Mickey's absence, he only stipulates they be attractive even if they aren't any good at grifting, much to everyone's annoyance. And when he does get Billy to mentor, he frequently fobs him off with jargon and Mickey's old stock phrases. When the chips are down though, he always comes through - by season's end he's actually capable of running sophisticated cons via a combination of the IndyPloy, {{Batman Gambit}}s and XanatosSpeedChess.

* ThePeterPrinciple: Played with; he frequently gives the appearance he doesn't take being leader as seriously as Mickey, so consequently Stacie and Ash in particular don't take him seriously in turn - when he seeks to recruit a new member in Mickey's absence, he only stipulates they be attractive even if they aren't any good at grifting, much to everyone's annoyance. And when he does get Billy to mentor, he frequently fobs him off with jargon and Mickey's old stock phrases. When the chips are down though, he always comes through - by season's end he's actually capable of running sophisticated cons.

* HoistByTheirOwnPetard: Would have actually won his grifting challnge against Mickey if he hadn't arrogantly tipped Mickey a 50p that put Mickey mere pennies in the lead.

[[folder:Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone]]

!Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone

* SpannerInTheWorks: Ironically ends up helping the team in "Benny's Funeral". He tries to learn card tricks to get out of his ButtMonkey status, with the titular grifter giving him a damn impressive grounding in a very short time - which, as Benny's supposed to have lost his mojo, is the ''only'' thing that clues the gang in that Benny's a NotSoHarmlessVillain out to rip them off.

* CodeOfHonour: The crew definitely have one, the Grifter's Code and specifically refer to it as such in "Diamond Seeker". They'll never con an innocent, they'll never rip off their partners, they'll never let a mark outwit them and they'll always look out for each other.

* HonorAmongThieves: The bent cops will often try to call them out on this claiming there to be no such thing but have to coerce people to betray other crooks. Albert says to Emma that all con men rely on honour among thieves because that's the only way they know they're not going to get screwed over mid con by one of their suppliers of fake goods.

* BriefAccentImitation: Like Ash, she has a talent for this. Several season 7 episodes deconstruct it, showing her taping a conversation based on the role she'll be playing then working hard to get the accent and mannerisms note perfect. In one case she stays up all night getting a brief voice recording right.

** Firstly, he hates bent coppers, especially those who try to force him to do criminal acts on their behalf. He once actually helped another cop with a sting operation and assured the 'good' cop at the end that he would totally understand if she tried to catch him after their collaboration ende).

* EveryoneHasStandards: Early in season 5 he sounds out Emma about the possibility of a date, which she politely turns down. Later, after [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy getting smashed drinking a mark under the table]], she starts to reconsider but he shuts the conversation down totally. It's left unspoken, but it's pretty clear he won't take any kind of advantage of her when in that state, even if it's just agreeing to a date.

* GentlemanThief: Very suave and debonair.
* GracefulLoser: He often says his motivation for taking down a mark is to see if they can dish it out as well as take it, and he apparently holds himself to that.

* ScaryBlackMan: When he has to be, both in-character and (occasionally) out. It's never entirely forgotten that he once pummelled his wife's lover with a baseball bat when sufficiently enraged.

* PaperThinDisguise: To a degree; most of Ash's disguises are easy to see through for the audience, but in-narrative he disguises himself for the benefit of people who haven't met Ash as himself. Touched on in "Confessions" when he encounters the team's mark when disguised as a motorcycle courier, having earlier met him masquerading as an obnoxious restaurant critic. The mark almost rumbles him based on his appearance, but Ash's helmet and [[ManOfAThousandVoices very different accent]] allow him to fob him off.

* DoesNotLikeMen: Explicitly states in her second episode that a series of bad relationships have put her off dating.

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: She replaces Stacie after Stacie has left and becomes the only lady that is part of the team.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: His first appearances note that he wants to get out the grifting trade to become an actor. While subsequent stories had him gain confidenc enough to stay a con artist, it's odd that this should never come up again given his essentially having to fool marks by acting.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: His reeling off an incredibly comprehensive list of information about their marks in "New Recruits" despite being utterly guttered from drinking games finding out said information, firmly establishing he's got a good brain but needs a bit of seasoning. It's enough to get Mickey off his back despite Emma's disapproval.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Overshadowed by potential awesome in this case; when Albert formally introduces them all (after an episode spent unwittingly trying to scam each other) he talks at length about Emma's potential - and never mentions Sean. This actually played into his development: where Mickey usually focused on Emma, Ash took Sean under his wing, enabling Sean to develop into an understudy MrFixit throughout the series.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: His reeling off an incredibly comprehensive list of information about their marks in season 5 episode 2 despite being utterly guttered from drinking games finding out said information, firmly establishing he's got a good brain but needs a bit of seasoning. It's enough to get Mickey off his back despite Emma's disapproval.

* PrecisionFStrike: Given that he hardly swears (or is actually impolite) in any circumstances, him telling a bounty hunter to "Go screw yourself" in Series 5 Episode 4 is rather jarring.

* BeyondTheImpossible: Invoked: when Albert gives them a choice of odious targets, they all have to pick one. Mickey chooses all, something distinctly noted by even Emma and Albert to be considered impossible. Not only does he pull it off by the end of the episode, he manages to add a fourth mark as well.

* PaperThinDisguise: To a degree; most of Ash's disguises are easy to see through for the audience, but in-narrative he disguises himself for the benefit of people who haven't met Ash as himself.

* NaiveNewcomer: Takes over Danny's role as this - as his sister is far more experienced and savvy, he's the oine that often needs Mickey's methods and tricks explained to him.

** Firstly, he hates bent coppers, especially those who try to force him to do criminal acts on thier behalf. He once actually helped another cop with a sting operation and assured the 'good' cop at the end that he would totally understand if she tried to catch him after their collaboration ende).

* WillTheyOrWontThey: Has this going on with both Mickey (who she previously had a thing for) AND Danny (who very strongly has a thing for her). Interestingly neither is resolved before her departure in season 4.

* BriefAccentImitation: Defied: he cannot do a British accent, no matter how much he thinks he can. The gang's scams often have him using American accents

* NoodleIncident: Barred from Indonesia after selling them some fighter jets in the 1970s that still haven't arrived.

* TheRoper: Typically Albert's role in the cons is to identify the mark and subtly introduce them to the rest of the team once he has worked out the best way to play on their attitude; in "Getting Even" he single-handedly conned a man into taking over a nursing home.

* WillTheyOrWontThey: With Mickey: despite a constantly-underlying {{UST}} between the two, it never amounts to anything before the series' end.

* SpannerInTheWorks: Iironically ends up helping the team in "Benny's Funeral". He tries to learn card tricks to get out of his ButtMonkey status, with the titular grifter giving him a damn impressive grounding in a very short time - which, as Benny's supposed to have lost his mojo, is the ''only'' thing that clues the gang in that Benny's a NotSoHarmlessVillain out to rip them off.

* NoodleIncident@ Barred from Indonesia after selling them some fighter jets in the 1970s that still haven't arrived.

* BerserkButton: Sexism. She notably takes great pleasure in conning marks that ogle her, only started taking part in the group's jokes on Eddie after hearing him describe DI Brixton as "a fit bird with a hint of mucky" and drank Harry Fielding under the table in a drinking game partially for his dismissing her as "just a girl". Even Ash joking her role is to make the lunch during "The Fall of Railton FC" earns him the stoniest of {{Death Glare}}s, sneding him packing.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: She sometimes attracts these.

* BerserkButton: Sexism. She notably takes great pleasure in conning marks that ogle her, only started taking part in the group's jokes on Eddie after hearing him describe DI Brixton as "a fit bird with a hint of mucky" and drank Harry Fielding under the table in a drinking game partially for his dismissing her as "just a girl".

* DudeMagnet: It's a rare episode where the show didn't take advantage of her looks for at least part of the plan.

* EveryoneHasStandards: He'll put up with most of the gang's cons, but when they deface a favourite picture of his, he bars them from the bar until Ash (who he believes was the perpetrator) apologises - except on this occasion it was actually the rest of the gang when [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy they were smashed]].

* PapaBear: In his own way, Eddie was shown to be very protective of his niece, Casey, when she was staying with him for a few days, to the point of explicitly warning Sean not to do anything with her.

* CodeOfHonour: Specifically alluded to in "Diamond Seeker" - Mickey, Albert and Ash interpret the Grifters' Code as one when convincing Emma to help. Grifters might be a morally flexible lot, but there has to be trust between them, otherwise they'd be eternally terrified of getting screwed over mid-job by the suppliers and fences they use. In that episode dodgy fence Frank refuses to sell them out even when being beaten quite severely by thugs who were also threatening to kill his son - consequently Mickey flat-out refuses to hand the diamond over to evil collector Baxter in any way.