History Characters / Hustle

* BadassCrew: Regardless on who's in it at any particular point, the group are collectively regarded as the best con artists in London (and possibly the world). They've scammed corrupt bankers, politicians, businessmen and judges, stolen one of the Crown Jewels, pulled off cons thought impossible, outwitted the police on numerous occasions - including even MI6 on one memorable occasion - and successfully taken on the Mafia. Twice.

* BadassCrew: Regardless on who's in it at that particular point, the group are collectively regarded as the best con artists in London (and possibly the world). They've scammed corrupt bankers, politicians, businessmen and judges, stolen one of the Crown Jewels, pulled off cons thought impossible, outwitted the police on numerous occasions - including even MI6 on one memorable occasion - and successfully taken on the Mafia. Twice.

* BadassCrew: The crew in Hustle consists of a grifter so good every cop in London wants to take them down, a fixer who practices [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident "The Flop"]] for a living, an american elderly roper who can charm his way into any club or establishment he chooses to get marks, and many more.

* ConMan: Everyone in the gang, naturally.

* AntiHeroTeam: Most of the team's members are, or used to be, criminals, and even as good guys, their methods cross several legal and sometimes even ethical lines (i.e. they have resorted to Gaslighting in many episodes).

* VillainProtagonist: Very downplayed, given their standards and targeting of significantly worse people in their cons, but the crew are still con artists operating outside the law who are often shown to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on themselves rather than, for example, giving some to charity.

* JustLikeRobinHood: ...except they keep what they steal.

-->'''Albert:''' Women are your Kryptonite.
-->'''Danny:''' What are you about?! You tripping or something? I'm their Kryptonite!

* TheChick: As with Stacie, the gang's only female member.

* BeyondTheImpossible: Invoked: when Albert gives them a choice of three 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; a fashion model who conned Eddie's Niece out of her money.

* FiveManBand: Played classically in the first three seasons, though things got a bit blurry afterwards, as Billy, Sean and Emma didn't fit into the defined roles quite as neatly.
** TheLeader: Mickey.
** TheLancer: Danny.
** TheSmartGuy: Mickey is usually the one who makes the plan, Ash and Albert tend to share the role of this too; Albert in terms of con knowledge, Ash on the technical side. All three learn off each other.
** TheBigGuy: Ash on the few occasions when they needed someone physically threatening, although sadly he's not one for fighting as on several occasions he's been beaten up to further a con.
** TheChick: Stacie, and later Emma. Usually uses their womanly wiles to distract a mark from whatever they want...or in some cases get information they need to further a con.

* TrueCompanions: Very much this. They'll bicker and squabble like a real family, but they'll always look out for each other first and foremost.

* MoralityPet: To a degree; the gang may play small cons on Eddie, but two of their most elaborate scams were attempted because he explicitly asked for their help, and Mickey once went against his usual rules and confronted the mob when they burnt down Eddie's bar during the gang's latest con.

[[folder:The Hustlers in general]]
!The Team

** TheSmartGuy: Ash and Albert tended to share the role; Albert in terms of con knowledge, Ash on the technical side.
** TheBigGuy: Ash on the few occasions when they needed someone physically threatening.
** TheChick: Stacie and later Emma.

!Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone

!Danny Blue

!Stacie Monroe

!Albert Stroller

!Ash "Three Socks" Morgan

!Billy Bond

!Emma Kennedy

!Sean Kennedy

!Eddie

** Firstly, he hates bent coppers, especially those who try to force him to do criminal acts on their behalf. He's so against them that in "Curiosity Caught the Kat", he actually ''helped'' the police with a sting operation for a nasty apple by the name of D.I Fisk. He assured the overseer; C.I Angela at the end of their con that he would totally understand if she tried to catch him after their collaboration ended.

** And finally, and the biggest beserk button of all, he '''hates''' being told what to do. It almost gets him sent down by Victor Maher before Albert smartens him up, and nearly leads him to reject Emma and Sean as he didn't like Albert setting them all up. Lampshaded when Emma tells him Albert had identified it to them as a character flaw.
* BeyondTheImpossible: Invoked: when Albert gives them a choice of three 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; ta fashion model who conned Eddie's Niece out of her money.

* TheChessmaster: Often sets up his plans so that everything plays out in just the right manner so that their targets essentially give them the money without ever realising that they've been scammed, or in a manner that prevents the target retaliating even if they do. In earlier series', Danny and Mickey's different con approaches more provides much drama in early seasons.

* 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 while the team as a whole scammed the original owner into selling.

* TheAce: He's regarded as the greatest grifter of them all.
* BerserkButton: Three of them.
** 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 ended.
** He also despises when people call him a thief, emphasising that he's a con man rather than a thief. Ironically, despite his protests, Michael and his crew are exceptional thieves when required; they just don't like explicitly ''stealing'' money from their targets.
** Finally, and biggest of all, he '''hates''' being told what to do. It almost gets him sent down by Victor Maher before Albert smartens him up, and nearly leads him to reject Emma and Sean as he didn't like Albert setting them all up. Lampshaded when Emma tells him Albert had identified it to them as a character flaw.
* BeyondTheImpossible: Invoked: when Albert gives them a choice of three 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.
* BriefAccentImitation: Not quite as good at it as Ash, but he's got an impressive range of English and American accents to call upon in the team's various schemes.

* TheChessmaster: Often sets up his plans so that everything plays out in just the right manner so that their targets essentially give them the money without ever realising that they've been scammed, or in a manner that prevents the target retaliating even if they do. His contrasting this approach against Danny's more instinctive approach provides much drama in early seasons.
* ClockKing: Prone to this, as his habit of meticulously planning out his cons requires certain events to happen to the second in order to work.

* 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 the moment she brings it up. 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.

** To give an example, one episode had a deadbeat scammer con Danny's gran using the memory of her dead husband. The team not only swindled him out of all the cash he had - £150,000 - but left him homeless by conning a bank into buying the land he lived on. ''Ouch''.
*** ''Ouch'' only until you realised that the bank pays the scammer £450,000 for this worthless land. OK, he's lost £150,000, but he is still £300,000 better off: in fact, he makes more money from this whole episode/event than the crew do!

* ConMan (hustler): The best in the series.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Eddie will put up with just about any minor scam from the group as they avoid paying for their drinks - but defacing his photo of Ian Rush is the only thing in all 8 series to get them all barred.

* EverybodyHasStandards: When he's playing convincer to a mark who insults Stacie (she was pulling off another part of the scheme with another player) as a hooker, a brief cut shows his initial reaction is to [[TalkToTheFist sock him one]]. She doesn't in order to avoid blowing his cover, but it's still a telling moment for someone his age.