The con is on...A British drama show (2004-2012) centered around a group of con artists, who specialise in the Long Con and only con those who deserve it. Highly inspired by The Sting; it's mentioned more than once and almost every con that appeared in the film ends up being played in Hustle at some point.This show got renewed for a second series only four episodes through its six-episode run due to its popularity.The show itself is unafraid to con the audience, with the characters having back-up plans and only revealing part of the trick until the end; seemingly random and unrelated moments throughout the episode are revealed to be vitally important. The one thing you can count on is that if you think you know how the con works, you don't.The fourth series saw a change in the cast; Mickey was busy in Australia "selling the Sydney Opera House", leaving Danny as the (far-more chaotic and improvisational) leader. The fifth man was Billy, a younger and naive short con artist who idolised Danny.Mickey returns in the fifth series, but with Danny and Stacie in America, Albert in prison, and Billy... unmentioned, Mickey and Ash need to put together a new crew.Seven series have aired to date; it has been announced that the forthcoming eighth series will be the last.It has an across the pondcounterpart in Leverage, though save for general concept and at least one prominent guest star appearing on both shows, the two shows are unrelated.Not to be confused with the ESPN original miniseries about Pete "Charlie Hustle" Rose, or the Japanese comedy-oriented Professional Wrestling promotion.
Actor Allusion: In a season eight episode, Jodie Prenger plays a friend of the gang who winds up in hospital after using a dodgy diet product sold by that episode's marks. Before her acting career took off, Prenger won the UK version of The Biggest Loser and subsequently worked as a writer on diet issues.
In the final episode it's proposed that the now seven-person team should be called The Magnificent Seven. Albert, played by Robert Vaughn, seems very taken with the idea.
And Starring: Robert Vaughn gets credited as "And Robert Vaughn as Albert Stroller" in later series.
An Aesop: The ending of series two has all the main characters delivering an aesop to camera; the last ever episode has an extended reprise of this sequence.
Art Shift: Used for exposition scenes. A description of a very old con trick is done via a B&W silent movie, and an explanation of fugu fish preperation is done with anime.
Aside Glance: Every main character, on a fairly regular basis, except for Billy (in fact, it happens very rarely in Series 4 at all).
Asshole Victim: Who the hustlers generally target, partly to justify their crimes to themselves since otherwise they are in it just for the thrill and the money. Notably they are reluctant to go after the really evil Asshole Victims, like gangsters and killers, purely because they know their normal marks won't chop them to pieces if they get caught out, and not because they think their normal targets deserve it more.
Played with when Emma and Sean go after their Disappeared Dad, who vanished when they were kids shortly before their mother died and never showed up again. Sean expects him to be this and had been waiting for years to get back at him; part of his con rests on the idea that his dad (who doesn't recognise them, since they were only kids) will screw him out of a deal. He doesn't, and it never even occurred to him to do so, which leaves Sean shaken. It turned out that he didn't know his wife died and when he found out, he actually did try and find them, to no avail. They are still mad at him, especially since he started another family and didn't tell them what he had done, but they decide not to ruin his new life and only take from him the money they think they are owed in allowance, passing up a chance to rob him of more. He admits to them that he loves and is proud of them before they leave.
Bavarian Fire Drill: A very common tactic used by the crew, also ( How Mickey gets back to the UK - by pretending to be a naval captain.)
Berserk Button: The team only ever take on bad people anyway, but if you do anything to hurt Albert, Eddie, or anyone they care about, they will destroy your life.
Black and Gray Morality: The marks are sleazebags, but usually on just the right side of the law; the hustlers are criminals whose cons involve making money off the marks, but rarely actually bringing the marks to justice or preventing them from going straight back to whatever they were doing before.
Boxed Crook: Occasionally tried on the team; usually a very, very bad idea, especially if the cop that tries it does anything illegal or unethical in the process.
Break the Haughty: Any Police officer, Customs Official or MI 6 agent who believes they can catch or manipulate Mickey and the gang.
Also, Victor Maher is Series 1.
Carlton Wood in the last episode of Series 5.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: Monologues to camera or, sometimes, two of the characters having a conversation while everyone else is frozen.
Also, some Characters wink into the camera (seemingly at the audience) with some ironic smile at certain moments. AKA Aside Glance
In the final episode of Series eight, they didn't just break the wall, they took ruddy great sledgehammers to it and reduced it to rubble!
Brought Down to Normal: Mickey gets scammed when trying to buy a new phone over the Internet, and loses his mojo.
Butt Monkey: Eddie, especially in Season 6. They occasionally reward him well for putting up with them, but they constantly con him out of drinks and wreck his business. One wonders why he puts up with them.
Justified after the return of Mickey in series 5, as he and Ash are then the owners of Eddie's Bar.
The Caper: The season 2 finale, "Eye of the Beholder" has the gang stealing the Crown Jewels though there is a con twist in that they're selling the fake jewels to several buyers.
Caper Crew: (original crew) Mickey is the Mastermind, Stacey is the Distraction, Ash is the Hacker, the Gadget Guy, and the Safe Cracker, and the Driver. Danny is the New Kid. Albert and Stacey take turns acting as the Partner in Crime; everyone except Ash takes turns as the Conman.
Companion Show: The Real Hustle, which is somewhat stylistically inspired by Hustle: a show that tells viewers about real cons and how to avoid them. Making it a show easy to watch in its own right without watching Hustle.
Continuity Nod: Season 8 episode 2 is full of them, including Ash's speech about what great grifters they are, which is mostly a list of previous plotlines; also former recurring character Cyclops puts in his first appearance since season five, and at the end Mickey (jokingly) moots a con involving a fake Mondrian painting, which the original crew already did in season one (he even suggests they use the same forger again).
Delayed Wire: Final episode of the first series and again in the first episode of the fifth.
Directed by Cast Member: Adrian Lester directed an episode of the final series (which resulted in Mickey spending much of the episode locked in a car boot).
End of Series Awareness: Seemingly at the end of Series 2, and very much so at the end of the final series.
Enforced Method Acting: Occasionally, an in-character version as the team mislead one of their own to get a better reaction; for example in the first episode, a realistic reaction to Mickey being fake-shot in the head can only be guaranteed by Danny not being in the know.
Expy: One member of a pair of criminals was the spitting image of Moss, right down to the nasal voice and Genius Ditz personality.
Fanservice: Every young or middle-aged woman on the show is always dressed up and wearing high heels, with very few exceptions.
Fake American: One episode had what may be a triple subversion: they think JW3 is American. He's played by American actor Richard Chamberlain. Then it turns out the character is British, and was a Fake American all along. Then it turns out that he really is American, and was a Fake Brit for a bit.
Fake Brit: Parodied - one episode has Albert convinced he can do accents, much to the others' horror.
Stacie: The banker (played by Jaime Murray, who is also in Dexter), occasionally required to Show Some Leg
Ash: The Fixer, occasionally providing Mission Control as well. He has a metal plate in his skull and frequently allows himself (off-screen) to get hit by cars so he can get the insurance money.
Reworked somewhat in seasons 4, 5 and 6. In 4, Mickey is away in Australia, selling the Sydney Opera House, and Danny takes over his position for the crew's time in the USA, with a young (and forgettable) con artist called Billy replacing him. In 5 and 6, Stacie and Danny (and the single-season Danny-clone from season 4) have been Put on a Bus, and replaced with the Brother-Sister Team of Sean and Emma. The roles remain basically the same, however, with Sean replacing Danny as the young, talented but inexperienced learner, and Emma as the sex appeal/love interest for Mickey. Actually, when Emma and Sean first join the gang she is actually stated to be the "young, talented but inexperienced learner" ("A natural," Albert describes her as, much as he had previously done for Danny) while her kid brother wasn't sure if he even wanted to be a grifter and was more or less the Tagalong Kid. It was later that they slid into their Chick and Team Protege roles, respectively.
Flag Bikini: Seen in "And This Little Piggy Had Money" as part of a fantasy the mark has about what his life will be like when he accepts the high-paying job in California that Mickey's crew is offering him.
Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: In "Eye of the Beholder", Ash gets a job on the cleaning crew at the museum so he can scope the place out as part of the team's plan to steal the Crown Jewels.
Subverted (possibly doubly) in one episode: they're conning a woman who had her husband's dog put to sleep. Then she reveals that it had been hit by a car and was in a lot of pain. However, as most things she "reveals" are in fact lies, this could be one as well.
Landmark Sale: The London Eye, the Hollywood Sign and the often mentioned Sydney Opera House con.
Laxative Prank: Often used to temporarily incapacitate someone for the purpose of a con.
Let's You and Him Fight: The first episode of the fifth series sees Mickey and Ash attempting to con a mark who, unknown to them, is actually a fellow conwoman (and her brother) attempting to con them. This is due to Albert's machinations; he claims that he wanted them to team up, and this way they know what the others are capable of.
Loveable Rogue: All of the main characters. Pretty much the whole point of the show.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: In the first episode of Series 6 the mark is a former banker whose bank was bailed out by the government and he is now retired on a huge pension (part of which the team try to relieve him of) which has outraged the tabloids and public at large. Just like former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin.
No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: A woman described as "posh fit with a hint of mucky" invites Mickey to dinner. It's a Police officer who's intent on sending Mickey down.
Not Named in Opening Credits: Guest actors aren't listed in the opening credits anyway, but there was no advance publicity for Marc Warren's appearance in the final episode.
Parental Abandonment: Sean and Emma - their father walked out when they were little, then their mother died and they went into care.
The Password Is Always Swordfish: In a series 7 episode, where the password to the mark's computer is the name of his dog. It then turns out that this was part of the mark's plan.
Perfectly Cromulent Word: Mickey and Emma have a long debate over whether Mickey's term 'stickability' is a real word.
Phoney Call: In "Father of the Jewels", Sean is with the mark when he calls Mickey and starts acting like he is talking to nursing home. Mickey is initially confused but quickly figures out that Sean is letting him know that they urgently need to set a nursing home for the next stage of the con.
The Plan: Many, many episodes, but Mickey's playing of "Liability" Finch and a Customs officer is a very good example.
DS Terri Hodges: Mickey Stone is unique. He doesn't think like we do. You can't second-guess him. He gives the impression that he's making it all up as he goes along. But everything is planned, precise. He puts together complicated and seemingly unrelated events, impossible to unravel, but all leading to the big con. The higher the stakes, the more he likes it. Just when you think you've got him, you haven't.
Positive Discrimination: Almost everyone they con is white. They con an Indian guy, but then realize that he's not that bad and that they've put his entire factory out of work, so they give him money from another con. In another episode, they're conning an African dictator (and obvious Robert Mugabe parallel) but then it turns out that he was Mickey in disguise, and they're actually conning somebody else. Another episode has them conning an Indian sweatshop owner, but he completely reforms himself, so they can't finish the con.
They do con a Japanese businessman at the start of one episode, but it's not exactly made clear whether he's particularly bad or not. He certainly doesn't seem it, but then they get conned themselves by his son and his girlfriend. Is that karma or not?
His son and his girlfriend? They get conned by their previous mark's employee and his much younger, genius sister. It was actually her master plot to do so, so that they would have enough money to leave the previous mark's harsh employ. To be fair, though, part of the con was the man pretending to be an avenging son. .
At the beginning of series 6 they con a rich Arab.
So far in series 7 they've conned a woman of mixed race, an Iranian man although it turns out the crew themselves were the marks in this scheme, and a black man.
Reverse Mole: While not directly done, the same concept is used in that a random character often turns out to be working with Mickey and the team.
Ripped from the Headlines: The mark in the first series 6 episode was a banker who had been bailed out and retired on a massive pension.
Benny, Ash's old friend in series 7, lost substantial amounts of money betting on England to win the 2010 World Cup.
Running Gag: Eddie, the barman, is always falling for short cons from the crew and has never fully been paid for the drinks he's provided.
There's also a bit of one regarding Sean not being allowed alcohol, after he gets very drunk during their first score together, and calls Emma, "Sis" in front of the marks.
Scary Black Man: Mickey, normally more of a Gentleman Thief, resorts to this to frighten a bank manager in the first episode of series six.
There was also the time Mickey beat a man to a bloody pulp with a baseball bat for sleeping with his wife. That was probably quite scary for the other guy.
Scoundrel Code: Often referred to as the 'Grifter's Code'.
Shaped Like Itself: After a forged wine bottle gets smashed, the grifters simply carry on the con with a second forged bottle, leading to the exchange:
Danny: Why did you make a back-up?
- Beat -
Ash: As a back-up.
Sherlock Scan: Part of the art of the cold read. Albert gives a detailed explanation of the process to Danny in "Gold Mine", and Ash explains it to Sean in "Lest Ye Be Judged".
Shout Out: to a number of movies in the Hollywood episode.
Spanish Prisoner: Oddly, they've yet to do this one, though Danny mentions it in one episode.
Now done in the first episode of season seven with four marks at the same time.
Spit Take: Albert washes the coffee table with vodka when it's suggested sex is the way to get to the mark in Series 1 Episode 5 and having already met the woman involved he immediately assumes the team expects him to do the deed. Thankfully for him, they don't.
Staged Shooting: Used to scare the mark into taking off and not coming back for his money (it's an old con trick, but something of a Fridge Logic moment now days, as even if the mark left the country they would undoubtedly look up on the internet to find out what the police were saying about the non-existent shooting). Subverted on one occasion when the mark got caught up in the emotions of the moment, drew his own firearm and fired a couple of real bullets into the 'victim' as well! Fortunately, he survives.
The Stinger: After the credits on the last episode, Eddie switches off the lights and exits the Bar through the back door which the previous scene implies leads out of the Hustle world back into reality.
Undercover As Lovers: Mickey and Emma have to pretend to be lovers as part of a con. Sean doesn't realise they are just pretending.
Of course, they don't tell him that the whole lovers scheme was Mickey's idea in the first place...
Sean and Emma give this vibe in their first episode. It's even commented on by some of the other characters. Eventually they get revealed as brother and sister.
Waxing Lyrical: After Mickey completely takes in a mark, the gang (who are listening in through his earpiece) quote the theme from The Spy Who Loved Me in appreciation.
Eddie: Why don't you just pay your hotel bill like normal people? ... I can't believe I asked that.
Artistic License - Biology: In one episode the gang has to prove Albert is the son of Queen Mother. To do that they switch a sample of her DNA for his. Not only does no one notice that the DNA is identical, they fail to notice it's the wrong sex.
You Make Me Sic: Played straight and semi-subverted by Ash and Danny in one episode.
Danny: ... I'll be using three of my favourite words. "Unsubstantiated", "Libelous" and "Court Case". Ash: "Court Case" is two words. Danny: Oh yeah? Well I used a bloody hyphen!
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