swordfish

27th Aug 2025

Hustle (2004)

Lest Ye Be Judged - S5-E3

Factual error: Albert's release papers show he was born on 3rd June 1933. However, in the season 4 episode "Getting Even", his time in the US Air Force fighting in Europe in WW2 is discussed at length. Given VE Day was in May 1945, that would have made him 11 (at the very oldest) at the end of WW2: impossible to have served in this timeframe. That doesn't even include the half year of USAF training he would have undergone. The youngest soldier to fight for the US was 12: Albert would have been 10 and a half.

swordfish

27th Aug 2025

Hustle (2004)

Lest Ye Be Judged - S5-E3

Factual error: Albert's release papers show he was sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment at the county court. This is completely incorrect: he would have been sentenced at a Crown Court given his was a criminal offence. County courts are strictly for civil cases, not criminal ones. Additionally, "fraud" is not the offence under which he would have been convicted. (00:49:52)

swordfish

26th Aug 2025

Hustle (2004)

Hustle mistake picture

Lest Ye Be Judged - S5-E3

Factual error: Emma steals what is allegedly a "private ambulance", which is a small courier-style van. No ambulance - regardless of whether it's NHS or private - would ever be a van of such a small size. It's completely unsuitable both in terms of kit and in terms of transportation. On top of all that, you can see on the van where it states "Co-Operative Funeral Care", and the producers forgot to cover it up. (00:16:35)

swordfish

24th Aug 2025

Hustle (2004)

Lest Ye Be Judged - S5-E3

Factual error: Andrew Campbell is a psychoanalyst (when Emma leaves his office, a close-up of his nameplate is shown). There's no way a psychoanalyst would be sitting on a parole board, which he does subsequently in the episode. Their skills simply aren't required or relevant to a parole board. The show seems to be confusing psychoanalysts with psychologists (who do indeed frequently sit on parole boards) - but the jobs, roles and requirements are completely different for each.

swordfish

2nd Feb 2025

Hustle (2004)

The Hush Heist - S6-E6

Factual error: The gadget Ash gets Shaun to hide inside the bank vault deposit box is essentially a large and extremely powerful electromagnet. An electromagnet powerful enough to support a grown woman's weight (which it does later in the episode, when Emma uses it) would require significant power: either from a mains supply of electricity (which isn't possible, given the device is locked inside a deposit box), or else from batteries far larger than what could fit inside the gadget as shown on screen.

swordfish

22nd Jan 2025

Hustle (2004)

Hustle mistake picture

Getting Even - S4-E3

Factual error: Ash gives Albert a slip of paper with Lily's home address, including a postcode of WC2E. That postcode is in Central London, but the house Albert then goes to is somewhere far more suburban, a long way from WC2. (00:50:21 - 00:55:22)

swordfish

23rd Nov 2024

Hustle (2004)

Missions - S2-E4

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.

swordfish

14th Feb 2021

Hustle (2004)

Whittaker Our Way Out - S3-E3

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)

swordfish