Other mistake: In a number of episodes Mickey Bricks takes great pains to explain (usually to bent coppers) that he and his team are not thieves, making it plain that as a talented grifter he takes the high moral high ground over common criminals. The trouble is, he and every member of his team ARE thieves. In the very first episode "The Con Is On" Three Socks Morgan cleans out the bank accounts of a number of innocent people by rigging an automatic teller machine. He is stealing money, either from them or the bank. Stacie Monroe is shown picking pockets in a number of episodes and in "The Henderson Challenge" both Mickey and Danny Blue steal wallets from bystanders, a trick Mickey repeats in "The Return of the Prodigal." He also steals the victim's car. There are too many other examples to list here, but Mickey's pride in his exalted position as a master conman is definitely misplaced.
Plot hole: The team constantly has fake stories about them on news sites, so that when posing as businessmen/investors etc, the mark can look them up on the internet and find out more about them. Obviously, they have a few fake news sites of their own. The problem is persuading the mark that this is genuine. Many of their marks are bankers and businessmen, who would look for reports on legitimate financial/newspaper sites, rather than some random news site they had never heard of before.
Factual error: There is absolutely no way that the police officers sent to arrest Mickey and his team would be armed. In the UK, a police officer would only carry a gun if they had clear evidence that their target was armed, and even then, the Armed Response Squad would be called in. Mickey and his team are white collar criminals with no history of violence and have never been known to carry or use weapons. They'd be arrested by unarmed police, just like almost everyone else.
Factual error: During this episode, Detective Sergeant Terri Hodges wears two blouses: one red and one beige. They show too much cleavage for a female police officer. If she showed up for duty dressed like that, she'd be sent home to change or out to a shop to buy a less revealing top.
Continuity mistake: When Ash walks up to the machine we see that, after he puts his card in, the screen is black/off. When he hits the screen there is a split-second clip of the screen looking out at Ash with green text on it. In the next shot the screen is back to black.
Continuity mistake: During the scene when Mickey walks into the urinals trying to steal the videotape, he has the phone in his hand calling the switchboard. He then puts it into his hand and turns the taps on. He washes his hands and leaves the urinals without the phone in his hand. Then, in the next shot, he walks through the door with the phone in his hand and puts it into his pocket. (00:11:00)
Continuity mistake: As Victor and Mickey are talking in Victor's office, Victor has his feet placed on his desk. He then removes them and leans forward to speak to Mickey. In the next shot, his feet are suddenly on the desk again. (00:11:50)
Deliberate mistake: When Sam first meets Mickey (who is posing as a bank robber), Mickey says he needs Sam to state that he needs Mickey's help in robbing a bank, so if Sam turns out to be an undercover cop, Mickey can plead entrapment. This is a classic error. Entrapment only exists where a cop actively persuades a criminal to do something he otherwise wouldn't have done - which is not the case here. If Mickey as a con artist knows this (which is likely), it's a deliberate mistake, otherwise it's a factual error. (00:30:09)
Continuity mistake: In the final con scene at the private gambling club, Danny and Mikey are arguing about handing over the money to the guy conned at the very start of the show. Mickey punches Danny in the face, causing a split lip. The location of the blood on Danny's chin changes during the split shots.
Character mistake: The amount of money the team allegedly scammed the first mark for keeps changing throughout. In the first scene, it appears to be £25K (the mark gives them this as a bribe). However, in the next scene when the team divide the money up, it is stated to be £105K. However then, in the penultimate scene, when the mark thinks Mickey has given him "60-70K" (Ash's words) from their new horse racing con, he states that he has made a 50 grand profit: thus suggesting again he was scammed out of 25k.
Continuity mistake: The scene where Danny is lying on the sofa in the flat listening to music. Stacey throws down an envelope of money onto his chest. The banknotes spill considerably out of the envelope in the first shot. Two shots later and without either Danny or Stacey having touched the money, the banknotes are mysteriously tucked back inside the envelope.
The Lesson - S2-E3
Plot hole: At the end of the episode Trevor Speed sits with his face in his hands looking like the world has stopped turning. In fact he has just sold a worthless plot of land for £450,000. Okay, he was conned out of £150,000 of that by the grifters, but he is still £300,000 up. A grifter like him would be over the moon - he is used to taking elderly ladies for the occasional short con making him £80 or so. He's just won the lottery. He'd be happy.
Plot hole: At the end of the episode Stacie says that she has cashed the bank draft used to purchase the forged comic book artwork. Not a chance. The auctioneers establish that the artwork is a forgery within minutes of the sale going through and they would be onto their bank immediately ensuring a stop order was put on the draft. Bank cheques and drafts can be stopped after issue - it happens all time. In fact, simply by presenting the draft Stacie has opened herself up to a world of legal problems - the bank's computers are going to light up like a Christmas tree and the police will be there within minutes.
Factual error: The police visit Richard Shaw's estate agency towards the end of the episode. The establishing background shot opposite where the estate agency allegedly is is of what was then the Cable and Wireless Building (long since bought by Vodafone). That building's real-life address is in the SE1 postcode. The problem is that the business card the police officer holds with the address has a completely different postcode.
Other mistake: As we know, given the shenanigans surrounding the abortive raid on the Millennium Dome diamond exhibition in 2000, if the authorities suspected that there was to be an organised raid on the Star of Africa exhibit, it would have been replaced with a paste replica.
The Henderson Challenge - S3-E2
Factual error: Mickey and Danny walk to their local shop to buy ice. We see that the shop is Robis, which is at 106 Brick Lane, in E1. They even show the street name sign just so we can be certain. Mickey and Danny deliver the ice to their flat, which is in the street directly opposite the shop - the camera shows them going into the building. However, a few shots later, the whole crew meet on the roof of the building to discuss The Henderson Challenge. We see that this building overlooks the north side of the river, close to Tower Bridge. We get a clear view of the Greater London Authority building which is on the opposite, south bank. They are suddenly several kilometers from Brick Lane, which is where their flat was just shown as being.
Factual error: In the flashback scene to Whittaker senior's trial at the Old Bailey (which takes place in the late 19th or early 20th century), the judge in the trial is wearing a long, full-bottomed wig. This is completely incorrect - since the late 18th century, full-bottomed wigs have only been worn by judges on ceremonial occasions, not in court. At trials, judges wear short wigs instead. (00:05:17)
The Hustlers News of the Day - S3-E5
Factual error: They plant Albert's hair on a brush used by the Queen Mother in order to have a DNA sample taken from it match that taken from a hair plucked out of his head by Francis Owen, their mark. The Queen Mother's (non-existent) son would not have the same DNA as her. It could be used to establish a biological relationship but it would not be identical - it could not be. First, Albert's DNA is identifiable as that of a male. The lab testing the sample supposed to be the Queen Mother's would see that immediately. Second, a son's DNA is not identical to either of his parents or his siblings (if any) - it is at least 50% different. Any lab worth their fee would realise in a second that the two samples were from the same person. Another problem - Owen plucks the hair from Albert's head and Stacie handles the hair from Albert she plants on the hairbrush with bare fingers, in both cases hopelessly contaminating the samples with their DNA. The tests really are that sensitive.
The Hustlers News of the Day - S3-E5
Factual error: The laboratory technician uses a bog standard light microscope to match the two DNA samples, one from Albert and one allegedly from the Queen Mother. That's absurd. DNA samples are compared using a procedure known as SDS-PAGE, otherwise known as gel electrophoresis. This produces the familiar chart we know as DNA "fingerprints" - bands of light and dark showing the composition of a DNA sample which has been broken up by enzymes. You cannot examine DNA with a light microscope - you couldn't even do it with a scanning electron microscope.
Continuity mistake: Stacie is calling an ambulance, holding the phone in her right hand. In the following shot, the phone is in her left hand. (00:03:45)
Suggested correction: It would be hard to call a delusional criminal's self aggrandizing a mistake (character or other). Many criminals (fictitious or real) display this same type of character. Plus, Mickey is suggesting common criminals aren't as skilled as his team, for example, at pick-pocketing, or that there's an art to his crimes only a conman can pull off.
Bishop73
Nonsense. He isn't delusional or self aggrandizing - he's far too smart for that. He states "We are not thieves!" on a number of occasions when, by any definition of the word, they are.
It should also be noted that the entire plot of Episode 6 of Season 2, "Eye of the Beholder," concerns the grifters' attempts to steal the Star of Africa, the centrepiece of the Crown Jewels, and sell it to the highest bidder. That is theft, and they are thieves by any definition of the terms.