Characters

    * Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone (portrayed by Adrian Lester in Series 1–3 and 5) is the group’s leader and ‘inside man’. An ambitious, intelligent and driven conman, Stone watched his father struggle to make an honest living for many years before he died just prior to the retirement he had looked forward to his whole life. Mickey understandably hates the system that he feels killed his father, and is determined to make sure he never struggles in the same way. A highly respected long-con expert, it is rumoured that he and Stacie "had a thing once”. Early on in the show, Mickey’s wife divorces him because of his dishonest lifestyle; this plot point helps to illustrate why the life of a grifter isn’t as much fun as it may seem – it can undermine a person’s ability to ever lead a normal life. (This is a theme that reappears throughout the show). Mickey left the team between Seasons Three and Four, to head up a long con in Sydney, Australia, one that only the great Mickey Bricks could pull off: selling the Sydney opera house.

    * Danny Blue (portrayed by Marc Warren in Series 1 – 4) – Lacking a particular role within the group, Danny Blue is initially described as a ‘floater’ (a term he abhors). Already a seasoned short-con operator, Danny brashly forces his way into the gang at first, but after proving his loyalty is allowed to stay on and learn from Mickey, who is the “only man in London who can teach him anything”. He challenges Mickey’s authority constantly (as illustrated most explicitly by the ‘Henderson challenge’ episode) and finally gets a chance to lead his own crew when Mickey leaves for Sydney. Cocky and arrogant yet still vulnerable and somehow endearing, Danny is berated by Mickey for his lack of attention to detail when working the con, yet Albert maintains Danny has “…grift sense, and that’s something you can’t teach”. It is this instinct that will pull him through when things go wrong for the group, and Mickey is no longer around to ensure there’s a Plan B.

    * Stacie Monroe (portrayed by Jaime Murray in Series 1 – 4) – Stacie uses her sex appeal to manipulate potential marks, both while working the long con and in more small-time cons (such as those used to raise funds for the team). She often poses as an employee of an institution (such as a museum) or an expert in a particular field (such as art), and casually mentions potential 'money-making schemes' (which are in reality cons) to provoke the mark's interest in the matter. However, it is worth noting that she is not simply a pretty face. Numerous times she has been praised for her intelligence and grifting ability, most notably in the very first episode when a police officer remarks that she is "maybe even in [Michael] Stone's league". Sequences in the series sometimes imply that Mickey & Stacy were romantically associated in the past.

    * Ash "Three Socks" Morgan (portrayed by Robert Glenister since series 1) is the team’s fixer, who earned his nickname after his first trip to the showers while in prison. Ash can turn his hand to any job, and is seen at various points acquiring vast amounts of foreign currency, rigging a sophisticated alarm system and pretending to be an oil consultant. When Ash first appears on the show, he is working his favourite con; after deliberately stepping in front of a moving car, Ash passes off an old skull fracture as a fresh injury, in order to make an insurance claim.

    * Albert Stroller (portrayed by Robert Vaughn since Series 1) is the team’s Roper. His job is to find the perfect mark; someone who is rich, greedy and has a weakness the team can exploit – and to hook them into the scheme, sometimes with the use of a ‘convincer’ (allowing the mark to make a profit initially, to win his trust for the next, much bigger investment; of which he or she will not see a penny!) Once a shoe salesman in the American Midwest, Albert is an old-style grifter, a gentleman, and a grandfather figure and mentor to the group.

    * Billy Bond (portrayed by Ashley Walters since Series 4). Billy enters the crew in much the same way that Danny did - as a rookie, with a natural hustling instinct and a master of the short con, but with little knowledge or experience of the long con. Billy appears to be an astute and likeable character despite prior involvements in drug dealing and street gangs, and knows that his inclusion within the crew is his chance to make it big.

    * Eddie (portrayed by Rob Jarvis since Series 1) is the owner (and barman) of Eddie's Bar where the group often plan cons, he is fully aware of the group and their dealings, and usually (but not always) adopts a "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" attitude. Often a victim of the petty grifts played on him by the crew whenever they want to get out of paying their bar tab, are trying to make a point to someone (usually either Danny or Eddie himself) or are sometimes just plain bored, Eddie has recently taken an active role as a bit player in one of their cons, and generally appears to be rather fond of them despite their minor schemes. The feeling seems to be reciprocated; when Eddie was ripped off by someone in series 4 who persuaded him to put his father in a dodgy care home, the gang retaliated on his behalf by pulling a long con on that person. This is the only con where the crew have deliberately chosen to reveal their true nature to the mark (after the con has been a roaring success).