New Tricks (TV series)
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| New Tricks | |
| Genre | Comedy/Drama/Crime |
|---|---|
| Created by | Nigel McCrery Roy Mitchell |
| Starring | Alun Armstrong James Bolam Amanda Redman Dennis Waterman |
| Theme music composer | Mike Moran |
| Opening theme | "It's Alright" (vocals by Dennis Waterman) |
| Ending theme | Reprise |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 5 (Series 6 beginning 16th July 09) |
| No. of episodes | 39 (inc. pilot) (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 mins. |
| Production company(s) | Wall to Wall |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC One |
| Original run | 27 March 2003 (pilot) 1 April 2004 – present (series) |
| Status | Returning series |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
New Tricks is a BBC television drama series which follows the work of the Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad (UCOS). Led by Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman, it is made up of retired police officers who have been recruited to reinvestigate unsolved crimes. Following the success of Series 5, the BBC has recommissioned New Tricks for a sixth 8 part series to be broadcast from the 16th July 2009. The series title is taken from the popular expression "you can't teach an old dog new tricks", the "old dogs" in question being the retired detectives who give lie to the phrase by being successful in their new role. However, it also gives truth to the expression, since the retired police officers can't learn any new tricks in retirement and instead feel the pull of police work.
Contents |
[edit] Main characters
Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman (Amanda Redman):
The head of the unit and the only currently serving police officer in Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad (UCOS), Sandra Pullman was previously a Scotland Yard high flyer and a highly successful career woman until an incident involving the shooting of a dog during the rescue of a hostage (which becomes a running gag during the series). Following this incident, her career stalled and she was given the dubious honour of running UCOS against her will. An intensely ambitious and competitive woman, she has sacrificed most of her personal life in pursuit of her career and likes to be in absolute control of every situation. A running subplot involves Pullman's lonely and unsuccessful love life, consisting of a string of adulterous relationships in her past and numerous failed efforts at romance (including, in one episode, speed dating).
Pullman believes in following the rules, and is often exasperated by her colleagues' eccentricities and willingness to bend the rules in pursuit of a result. She herself does so at times. An example was when the team were told to fix the accounts but the men went behind her back; when she found out she went into the case saying "I'm a copper, not an accountant."
Although reluctant to lead the squad, as time goes by she begins to warm to her colleagues and view them as her friends, and at the same time change her attitude towards life. Her mother Grace is still alive, but recently had a stroke. Her father, Detective Inspector Gordon Arthur Pullman, another police officer, committed suicide in 1975 by carbon monoxide poisoning, when Sandra was 14, while under investigation for corruption by Jack Halford. However, she did not find out about this until 2007, believing that he died of a heart attack.
John Alan "Jack" Halford (Ex-Detective Chief Superintendent) (James Bolam):
The highest-ranking ex-officer on the team and the first to be approached by Pullman when she was forming UCOS, Jack Halford is something of a second-in-command to Pullman and acts as a mentor to her on numerous occasions (based on their previous working relationship when she was subordinate to him on the murder squad). Halford retired from the police force to care for his dearly-loved wife Mary who had been involved in a hit-and-run incident; he is still haunted by her death. This is partly due to the fact that no-one was ever charged in connection with it, although it is common knowledge that it was Ricky Hanson.(This is proven in the Series 4 episode 'Casualty') Halford still speaks to his wife's memorial in his garden, often seeking her help and opinion in solving cases. A softly-spoken and gentle man, he nevertheless possesses a quick and sometimes violent temper that he has unleashed on several suspects in the cases that he has worked on.
Gerald "Gerry" Standing (Ex-Detective Sergeant) (Dennis Waterman):
Nicknamed "Last Man Standing" due to his refusal to take backhanders while the rest of his squad were all bought out by a gangster. Something of a 'Jack-the-Lad', Gerry Standing is very much an old-school police officer. In his time he was a top 'thief-taker' who passionately enjoyed catching criminals but nevertheless mixed easily with them. As a result, allegations of corruption arose which he angrily denies, but nevertheless were among the reasons he left the police force (the other being that he punched his then-superior officer, Don Bevan, as a result of these allegations). Something of a ladies man, he has been married three times. Although his marriages were unsuccessful, he is a devoted father to his three daughters and has a grandson, Gerry Jr. Standing maintains amicable relationships with his three ex-wives, so much so that he occasionally manages to seduce them once again.
Along with his familial commitments, he also has a keen interest in gambling and thus is keen to work in UCOS for financial reasons. Although he is now a grandfather, he maintains his devil-may-care lifestyle, but insists that he is merely "a naughty boy, not a bastard". Although initial tension existed between them, he and Pullman share a mutually respectful but nonetheless barbed friendship. Standing joined UCOS for financial reasons, and much to the consternation of DAC Bevan.
Brian Lane (Ex-Detective Inspector) (Alun Armstrong):
Brian 'Memory' Lane is an exceptional detective, possessing a keen attention to detail and a remarkable instant recall memory that allows him to call up obscure details not only regarding cases but the officers investigating them at the time. He is also extremely socially inept and highly eccentric, a sufferer of Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCD) and a recovering alcoholic. As a result, despite being an essentially well-meaning individual, he possesses extremely poor social skills and a tendency for getting himself into trouble. He left the force under a cloud, having been held partly responsible for the death of a prisoner in his custody. Although Brian maintains it is part of a conspiracy against him (and was, at least initially, consumed with attempting to discover who was behind it), his colleagues believe that he simply cannot admit he made a mistake.
Brian is married to the long-suffering but caring Esther and they have an adult son called Mark. Brian finds his work in UCOS becoming too stressful for him throughout the fifth series and resumes drinking alcohol when nobody else is around, attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings once again. In the final episode of the fifth series, he gets drunk in a pub and ends up kissing two young women that he is drinking with, in full view of Esther and Mark as they come into the pub to look for him. Esther then walks out, leaving Brian realising the cost of resuming his alcoholism.
Based on the souvenirs at his office desk, Brian is a supporter of the football club AFC Wimbledon. He is also an avid cyclist.
[edit] Naming
One of the original writers, Roy Mitchell, is a supporter of the English football team West Bromwich Albion and in the first series numerous characters were named after players who previously played or still play for the club. The three male characters of the programme, Halford, Lane and Standing, were named after the oldest stand at The Hawthorns football ground in West Bromwich.[1]
[edit] Supporting characters
Robert Strickland (Anthony Calf)
From the second series onwards, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Robert Strickland is the team's boss. He is a political animal who enjoys basking in the reflected glory of UCOS's clean up rate and his choice of cases is influenced by a desire to make his department look good.
Esther Lane (Susan Jameson)
Esther is Brian Lane's long-suffering wife. Esther and Brian met when he arrested her for attempting to steal a copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover from a library. They have an adult son, Mark, who is rarely spoken about but was seen for the first time in the final episode of the fifth series. Susan Jameson, who plays Esther, is in real life married to co-star James Bolam.
PC Clark ("Clarkey") (Chiké Okonkwo)
PC Clark (we never learn his first name) is assigned to the team to help them with their IT needs and administration, though he soon becomes a valued member of the team. He only appears in the pilot and first series.
Donald Bevan (Tim Woodward- pilot, Nicholas Day- series one)
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Donald Bevan is the team's boss during the first series. He knows both Jack Halford and Gerry Standing, and strongly opposed Standing's inclusion in the team, mainly due to the history between them. (It is later revealed that Gerry punched Bevan in the face and broke his jaw).
[edit] Occasional guest stars
Grace Pullman (Sheila Hancock) Grace Pullman is Sandra Pullman's mother and the widow of her late husband, Sandra's father Gordon, who committed suicide by carbon monoxide inhalation. She appeared in two episodes in Series Four. In the first of those, her daughter was helping her choose a home to stay in, where a murder had recently been committed. Grace then became ill with Ménière's disease, but after the murder was solved, moved into the home. She next appeared in the last episode of the fourth series, where she had suffered a stroke, and it was then that Sandra found out the truth about her father's death. Grace appeared once in the fifth series, when Sandra wanted to find out more about her father's death.
Emily Standing (Hannah Waterman) Emily Standing is a trainee police officer who turned up on the doorstep of Gerry Standing saying she thinks he's her dad. However, unknown to her, he does a DNA test which proves he is not her biological father. He doesn't have the heart to tell her, and she continues to believe he is her dad. She appeared in three episodes - first in Series Three, the second time in Series Four and a third time in Series Five. She realises in the first episode of series five that Gerry has lied to her when he gives evidence in court relating to Ricky Hanson, due to Gerry hesitating before saying that Emily was his daughter. She later ignores his phone calls to try to apologise to her. Emily is eager to be a great police officer like her father and proves successful. Hannah Waterman, who plays Emily, is Dennis Waterman's real life daughter.
Ricky Hanson (David Troughton) Ricky Hanson is a career criminal and the man responsible for Jack's wife Mary's death. He confessed this to Jack in the last episode of the third series, which finished on a cliffhanger, where Jack was about to run Hanson down in his car as Hanson had done to Mary. In the first episode of the fourth series, the cliffhanger resumed and Sandra, along with Gerry and Brian, slammed her car into Jack's in order to prevent the murder. Hanson remained unharmed, but all four of the UCOS team were hospitalised. Hanson returned later on in the episode disguised as a doctor. He went into the ward in which Jack and Brian were being kept, and, after muttering to Jack, "Jack... Jack... Say hello to the wife", he began to smother his nemesis with a pillow. Luckily, Brian, despite being on crutches and without sight in one eye, hit Ricky on the head, stopping him from smothering Jack. As Ricky was choking Brian, Jack picked up an oxygen cylinder and struck Hanson on the back of the head, knocking him out. Ricky was then arrested for attempted murder.
Hanson did not return until the first episode of the fifth series, where he stood trial for attempted murder. His shrewd representative Ian Figgis (James Fox) led the jury to think badly of the UCOS team while they gave evidence: Brian for his recovery of alcoholism and his OCD, Sandra for her occasional tendency to bend rules, and Gerry for incorrect use of forensic facilities within UCOS. When Hanson gave evidence himself, he lied to the court that he did not attempt to murder Jack Halford, that he bore no ill will towards Jack Halford. The jury gave the verdict that Hanson was not guilty, and he triumphantly left the court with a few of his criminal friends, all singing smugly at his not guilty verdict.
Jack disappeared after this, despite the efforts of Sandra, Gerry and Brian to keep him under friendly surveillance, and it was thought that he had left UCOS for good. Strickland even ordered Sandra to start interviewing possible replacements for Jack, but Brian was determined to get Jack back on the team, and managed to track him down. Jack felt unable to carry on in UCOS knowing Hanson had been let off with his wife's murder, but Brian persuaded him to return to the team to ensure other career criminals like Hanson would not be loose on the streets, and so Jack resumed working for UCOS again. Hanson has not been seen since his not guilty verdict.
[edit] Guest Stars
Guest stars have included:
- Jenny Agutter
- Keith Allen
- Jane Asher
- David Bamber
- Geoffrey Bayldon
- Stephanie Beacham
- Ruby Bentall
- Honor Blackman
- Isla Blair
- Claire Bloom
- Richard Briers
- Nick Brimble
- Amelda Brown
- Camille Coduri
- George Cole
- Lindsey Coulson
- Dermot Crowley
- Charles Dale
- Peter-Hugo Daly
- Frances de la Tour
- Nicola Duffett
- Dexter Fletcher
- Hugh Fraser
- John Fortune
- James Fox
- Peter Guinness
- Richard Harrington
- Anthony Head
- Roy Hudd
- Philip Jackson
- Karl Johnson
- Nicholas Jones
- Will Kemp
- Nigel Lindsay
- Cherie Lunghi
- Patrick Malahide
- Ian McNiece
- Bill Moody
- Roger Lloyd Pack
- Robert Pugh
- Richard O'Callaghan
- Adrian Rawlins
- Siobhan Redmond
- Nadim Sawalha
- Adrian Scarborough
- John Sessions
- Steve Speirs
- Maggie Steed
- Donald Sumpter
- Eric Sykes
- Sylvia Syms
- Gillian Taylforth
- Anthony Valentine
- Nina Wadia
- Harriet Walter
- Danny Webb
- Timothy West
- Diana Weston
- June Whitfield
[edit] DVD release
Series One, Two, Three and Four of New Tricks are available on DVD on Region 2 (UK) and Region 4 (Aus). Series Five is to be available on DVD from 05/10/2009. These titles are distributed by Acorn Media UK.
[edit] Production
New Tricks is produced by Wall to Wall Television for the BBC. It began as a one-off episode, broadcast on 27 March 2003. This attracted a sufficient number of viewers for the BBC to commission a series of six episodes, which began on 1 April 2004. Subsequently several eight-episode series were commissioned for 2005, 2006 and 2007.
A fifth series was commissioned by the BBC after the audience share rose week upon week for the previous series.[2] In 2007 an episode from the fourth series received viewing figures of 9.25 million, becoming the second most watched programme on BBC One that week, and the most watched New Tricks episode, at that point.[3] The fifth series continued this good run - it was the most watched programme in Britain for the week twice and the seventh episode gained the series' highest ever rating, of 9.36m - second only to the X Factor that week.[4] The fifth series began airing on July 7, 2008 and completed its run on August 25, 2008. The sixth series finished location filming on 8th May 2009 in Central London. Series six is due to air in Summer 2009.[5]
ABC Television also broadcasts the series in Australia, regularly gaining a comfortable spot in the top ten most viewed programmes of the week.
WLIW21 in the United States broadcasts the show every Friday evening
Production music was composed by father and son team Brian and Warren Bennett.
[edit] Theme tune
The theme tune is a song called "It's Alright", written by Mike Moran and sung by cast member Dennis Waterman, whose penchant for singing the theme tune of productions in which he stars is the subject of a famous caricature in the BBC comedy show Little Britain. In the pilot for the series, Waterman sang the Traveling Wilburys song, End of the Line. The two songs have some similarities in lyrics and both have a freight train rhythm.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] International broadcasters
[edit] See also
The series is similar in concept, relating to "cold case" investigations, to two other BBC dramas:
- The Enigma Files, which ran more than 2 decades earlier (1980)
- Waking the Dead, a contemporaneous drama series (2000-), also about a "cold case" squad. New Tricks differs from Waking the Dead in being far lighter in tone with many humorous situations, drawing much of its humour from the former detectives' unfamiliarity with modern methods of policing and their increasing age.
There are also cold case drama series from Canada: Cold Squad (CTV, 1998); and the USA: Cold Case Files (A&E, 1999, true cases) and Cold Case (CBS, 2003).
[edit] References
- ^ A fan possessed by Adrian Chiles, July 25, 2007, The Guardian
- ^ "'New Tricks' gets a fifth series" Digital Spy website
- ^ "Weekly Viewing Summary" (Select 27/05/07 from dropdown - BARB Website)
- ^ "Weekly Viewing Summary" (Select 24/08/08 from dropdown - BARB Website)
- ^ "Sixth run of 'New Tricks' confirmed" Digital Spy website
[edit] External links
- New Tricks at bbc.co.uk
- New Tricks at Wall To Wall, Producers.
- New Tricks at BBC Worldwide Americas, Distributor for United States.
- New Tricks at the Internet Movie Database
