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New Tricks

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For other uses, see New Tricks (disambiguation).

New Tricks
GenrePolice procedural
Comedy drama
Created byNigel McCrery
Roy Mitchell
StarringAlun Armstrong
James Bolam
Amanda Redman
Dennis Waterman
Anthony Calf
Denis Lawson
Nicholas Lyndhurst
Tamzin Outhwaite
Larry Lamb
Theme music composerMike Moran
Opening theme"It's Alright, It's Okay" (vocals by Dennis Waterman)
Ending themeReprise
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series12
No. of episodes107 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time50 minutes
Production companiesWall to Wall (2003–2014)
Headstrong Pictures (2015)
Original release
NetworkBBC One
Release27 March 2003 (2003-03-27) –
6 October 2015 (2015-10-06)[1]
The original cast of New Tricks – Amanda Redman with (clockwise from left) Alun Armstrong, Dennis Waterman, and James Bolam

New Tricks is a British television police procedural comedy drama, created by Nigel McCrery and Roy Mitchell, produced primarily by Wall to Wall (until its final year, when it was handled by Headstrong Pictures), and broadcast on BBC One. The programme originally began with a pilot episode on 27 March 2003, before a full series was commissioned for 1 April 2004; New Tricks concluded after twelve series on 6 October 2015.[2] The show had an ensemble cast, of which Dennis Waterman was the only constant over all twelve series; the cast variously included Alun Armstrong, James Bolam, Amanda Redman, Denis Lawson, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Tamzin Outhwaite, and Larry Lamb. Waterman, who's been known as a vocalist alongside his acting work, additionally sang the program's theme song.

The series focuses on the work of the Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad (UCOS) – a fictional division within London's Metropolitan Police Service tasked with re-investigating unsolved crimes. UCOS primarily functioned with a senior police detective overseeing the work of three retired police officers who would handle each case, and who could bring in police support when needed. Each episode focuses on a different investigation, with characters often coping with problems at their age but using their wisdom to overcome hurdles in the original investigation of cold cases. McCrery and Mitchell devised the title of the programme around the proverb "You can't teach an old dog new tricks".

Series

[edit]

New Tricks began as a one-off episode broadcast on 27 March 2003. This attracted sufficient viewers for the BBC to commission a series of six episodes, which began on 1 April 2004. An eight-episode series was subsequently 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.[3] 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 to that point.[4] The fifth series continued this good run: on two occasions it was the most-watched programme in Britain for the week, and the seventh episode gained a new series high rating of 9.36 million, second only to the X Factor that week.[5] The fifth series aired from 7 July to 25 August 2008. The sixth series finished location filming on 8 May 2009 in central London and began airing on 16 July 2009.[6] The opening episode of series six was watched by 8.07 million, despite clashing with Five's The Mentalist (1.64M) and ITV's Living with Michael Jackson (3.64M). The second episode clashed with The Mentalist and the relaunch of The Bill on ITV, and was watched by 7.59 million.

Series 7 and 8 were commissioned by the BBC in September 2009, ensuring that the show would run until 2011.[7] The seventh series began airing on 10 September 2010 and completed its run on 12 November. The eighth series opened on 4 July 2011 with 9.2 million viewers, the show's highest rating for three years, and the first since the fifth series to break the 9 million barrier.[8] The third episode of series 8, "Lost in Translation", was the show's highest rated episode to date with 9.7 million viewers, becoming the most-watched television programme of the week in the UK.[9] Episode 7, "The Gentleman Vanishes," surpassed this figure with 9.87 million viewers, and was again the top programme of the week.[10]

The BBC confirmed in September 2011 that a further two series, each of 10 episodes, had been commissioned, to be broadcast in 2012 and 2013.[11] James Bolam, who played the part of Jack Halford, left the show, claiming that it had "become stale",[12] making his final regular appearance in the first episode of Series 9 and a guest appearance in Series 10, episode 8. In the fourth episode, Denis Lawson joined the cast, as the new character of retired DI Steve McAndrew.[13] Prior to the ninth series premiere, both Amanda Redman and Alun Armstrong announced that they would be leaving the show after the 10th series, following a public spat with several of the show's writers. The first programme of series nine was broadcast on 27 August 2012, and gained 8.52 million viewers, which was the highest rating of the week.[14]

The final episode of the 9th series was a "stealth pilot" with Standing and McAndrew solving a cold case in McAndrew's home of Glasgow, setting up a potential spin-off; the episode was pulled from the BBC's schedule when the Jimmy Savile scandal broke, as child sex trafficking was a major plot point, and aired months later than planned, with the spin-off plan dead by that time.

Only Fools and Horses actor Nicholas Lyndhurst and former EastEnders actress Tamzin Outhwaite appeared in Series 10, which was broadcast in Britain between 30 July and 1 October 2013.[15] The opening episode of the 10th series gained an audience of 8.86 million viewers, making it the 12th most-watched programme of the year.[16]

Episode 1 of series 11 was broadcast at 21:00 GMT on BBC One and BBC One HD on 18 August 2014. Ratings fell considerably from series 10 to series 11 when most of the original cast left; series 10 had an average per-episode viewership of 8.35 million, while series 11 managed an average per-episode viewership of 5.75 million. Departed star Amanda Redman, criticised the drama for becoming “bland”, adding, “the characters are not being as anarchic as they used to be, which I think is a huge shame”.[17]

Filming of a 12th series of the show began in the autumn of 2014, and its broadcasting started on 4 August 2015. It was also revealed that Dennis Waterman would be leaving the series in the early episodes. In February 2015 BBC announced that the 12th series would be the last in order to make room for a new series.[17] It was shot at West London Film Studios.

The series was broadcast in at least 25 countries, and was also available on DVD and via online streaming. New Tricks was produced by Wall to Wall Television for the BBC between 2003 and 2014, and Headstrong Pictures thereafter.

Cast

[edit]
Main article: List of New Tricks characters

Change in cast

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In 2012, James Bolam left the show to be replaced by Denis Lawson. In 2013, both Alun Armstrong and Amanda Redman departed to be replaced by Nicholas Lyndhurst and Tamzin Outhwaite, respectively. In September 2014, Dennis Waterman announced that he would be leaving the show after filming two episodes of the next series. Larry Lamb replaced him for the rest of the final series.

Overview

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Character Played by Position Series
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Brian Lane Alun Armstrong Former Detective Inspector Main
Jack Halford James Bolam Former Detective Chief Superintendent Main Guest
Sandra Pullman Amanda Redman Detective Superintendent Main
Gerry Standing Dennis Waterman Former Detective Sergeant Main
Robert Strickland Anthony Calf Deputy Assistant Commissioner Main
Steve McAndrew Denis Lawson Former Detective Inspector Main
Dan Griffin Nicholas Lyndhurst Former Detective Chief Inspector Main
Sasha Miller Tamzin Outhwaite Detective Chief Inspector Main
Ted Case Larry Lamb Former Detective Chief Inspector Main

Episodes

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Main article: List of New Tricks episodes
SeriesEpisodesOriginally airedAverage UK viewers
(in millions)
First airedLast aired
Pilot123 March 2003 (2003-03-23)6.69[18]
161 April 2004 (2004-04-01)6 May 2004 (2004-05-06)6.95[18]
289 May 2005 (2005-05-09)27 June 2005 (2005-06-27)7.48[18]
3817 April 2006 (2006-04-17)5 June 2006 (2006-06-05)8.00[18]
489 April 2007 (2007-04-09)28 May 2007 (2007-05-28)8.25[18]
587 July 2008 (2008-07-07)25 August 2008 (2008-08-25)8.83[18]
6816 July 2009 (2009-07-16)3 September 2009 (2009-09-03)7.94[18]
71010 September 2010 (2010-09-10)12 November 2010 (2010-11-12)7.85[18]
8104 July 2011 (2011-07-04)5 September 2011 (2011-09-05)9.24[18]
91027 August 2012 (2012-08-27)29 October 2012 (2012-10-29)8.35[18]
101030 July 2013 (2013-07-30)1 October 2013 (2013-10-01)8.14[18]
111018 August 2014 (2014-08-18)20 October 2014 (2014-10-20)5.76[18]
12104 August 2015 (2015-08-04)6 October 2015 (2015-10-06)6.28[18]

Production

[edit]

As well as the "cold case" in each episode, the series drew on the characters personal lives including Sandra's fast-tracked career, Brian's alcoholism and relationship with his wife Esther, Jack's bereavement from his wife Mary and Gerry's ex-wives.

Roy Mitchell supports football team West Bromwich Albion and so named numerous characters after their players. The original three main male characters derived their names from the club's oldest stand, "The Halfords Lane Stand", at The Hawthorns football ground in West Bromwich.[19]

Apart from the police station scenes, the series was filmed on locations across London.

Music

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The theme tune of the programme is sung by cast member Dennis Waterman. The song is "It's Alright, It's Okay" (written by Mike Moran). Production music was composed by father and son team Brian and Warren Bennett with technical assistance from Olivia Davies. The British release of the first series DVD contains a cover version of "End of the Line" sung by Dennis Waterman at the beginning and end of the pilot episode and the second regular episode (the first filmed after the pilot )

DVD releases

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Series 1 to 12 of New Tricks are available on DVD on Region 2 (UK). These titles are distributed by Acorn Media UK.

DVD Title Discs Year Episodes DVD release Notes
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
Complete Series 1 3 2003–2004 7 25 August 2009 23 May 2005 1 September 2005 Includes 2003 pilot
Complete Series 2 3 2005 8 19 January 2010 24 April 2006 6 July 2006 —
Complete Series 3 3 2006 8 22 February 2011 14 May 2007 7 November 2007 —
Complete Series 4 3 2007 8 7 June 2011 1 September 2008 3 April 2008 —
Complete Series 5 3 2008 8 27 September 2011 24 August 2009 6 August 2009 —
Complete Series 6 3 2009 8 7 February 2012 11 October 2010 2 December 2010 —
Complete Series 7 3 2010 10 5 June 2012 1 August 2011 21 April 2011 —
Complete Series 8 3 2011 10 25 September 2012 21 November 2011 5 July 2012 —
Complete Series 9 3 2012 10 25 June 2013 5 November 2012 6 February 2013 —
Complete Series 9 Blu-ray 2 2012 10 — 26 November 2012 — —
Complete Series 10 3 2013 10 — 7 October 2013[20] 11 December 2013 —
Complete Series 11 3 2014 10 — 27 October 2014[21] 13 May 2015 —
Complete Series 12 3 2015 10 – 12 October 2015 16 December 2015 –
Complete Series 1–4 12 2003–2007 31 — — 7 November 2008 Includes 2003 pilot
Complete Series 3–5 9 2005–2008 24 — 22 March 2010 — —
Complete Series 3–6 12 2005–2009 32 — 7 March 2011 — —
Complete Series 3–8 18 2005–2011 52 — 18 June 2012 — —
Complete Series 1–12 36 2003–2015 107 — 12 October 2015 6 April 2016 Includes 2003 pilot

Aftermath

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The TV series New Blood, also a police detective drama, followed on from the long-running television series New Tricks (2003-2015) but was not continued after its first series in 2016.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Ben Dowell. "BBC axes New Tricks". Radio Times.
  2. ^ "BBC One axes New Tricks detective series". BBC News. 24 February 2015.
  3. ^ Oatts, Joanne (1 June 2011). "'New Tricks' gets a fifth series". Digital Spy. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  4. ^ "Weekly Viewing Summary" Archived 12 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine (Select 27/05/07 from dropdown – BARB Website)
  5. ^ "Weekly Viewing Summary" Archived 12 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine (Select 24/08/08 from dropdown – BARB Website)
  6. ^ "Sixth run of 'New Tricks' confirmed". Digital Spy. 27 August 2008.
  7. ^ New Tricks locks down two more series for BBC1 at broadcastnow.co.uk, a pay-per-view site
  8. ^ "BARB Weekly Top 30 Programmes" (Select week of 4–10 July 2011)
  9. ^ "BARB Weekly Top 30 Programmes" (Select week of 18–24 July 2011)
  10. ^ "BARB Weekly Top 30 Programmes" (Select week of 15 – 21 Aug 2011)
  11. ^ "New Tricks commissioned for another two series on BBC One", BBC Press Office, 6 September 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  12. ^ Eden, Richard. "BBC drama as actor James Bolam tires of New Tricks", The Telegraph, 19 September 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
  13. ^ Glanfield, Tim. "Denis Lawson joins BBC1's New Tricks for series nine", Radio Times, 11 January 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  14. ^ "BARB Weekly Top 30 Programmes" (Select week of 27 Aug – 2 September 2012)
  15. ^ "Wall to Wall – New Tricks Series 10". walltowall.co.uk.
  16. ^ https://twitter.com/TVRatingsUK/status/365150421976756225[dead link‍]/photo/1
  17. ^ a b "BBC to axe New Tricks after 12 series of detective drama". Guardian. 24 February 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 4 March 2017. (User must select "BBC1" in the Channel field and then select the appropriate year, month and week to retrieve the figure for each episode)
  19. ^ A fan possessed by Adrian Chiles, 25 July 2007, The Guardian
  20. ^ "Acorn DVD – Home of Brand New Crime Drama, Broadchurch, The Missing, The Fall, Midsomer Murders and Foyle's War on DVD and BluRay: FREE UK DELIVERY". acornmediauk.com. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  21. ^ "New Tricks – Series 11 on DVD: FREE UK DELIVERY". Archived from the original on 15 September 2014.
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