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New Tricks

James Bolam, Amanda Redman, Dennis Waterman and Alun Armstrong in New Tricks
  • Posted at 5:07pm
  • 09 July 2009
  • by AlisonGraham-RT
  • 8 comments

In a recent issue of Radio Times magazine, New Tricks producer Tom Sherry says that the BBC1 series is "very quietly, and without making a lot of fuss…on its way to becoming a national treasure."

He's right - and who could have seen it coming? I've watched New Tricks (which starts a new series, its sixth, on BBC1 on Thursday 16 July) from the beginning and started out by not being keen. It was far too bluff and jokey for me.

But - and here I raise my hands in mute surrender - I've gone a bit soft on New Tricks and hold it in something approaching affection. As do upwards of eight million viewers; even New Tricks repeats pull in comparatively huge audience figures.

It's easy to see the appeal of this crime drama about a group of superannuated male cops and their tough lady-boss. You know exactly where you are with every episode of New Tricks. You won't be challenged or offended and the inherently likeable characters are easy to identify with, despite their curmudgeonly exteriors.

New Tricks is comfortable and contains no searing social messages or insights. For an awful lot of viewers it's a respite from being beaten over the head by worthy dramas about people dying from heroin overdoses on council estates. Or The Street. Or anything about conspiracies in multi-national corporations, for me, the biggest yawn of all.

What does give me pause is that everyone seems to be agreed that a chunk of New Tricks's appeal is the characters' lack of truck with anything vaguely modern, worthy or politically correct. But this is New Tricks's least successful aspect, as it's not done with any particular wit.

Rather the characters bluster about how things were done in the old days and stand no nonsense from authority - the youngish, wimpy, impeccably turned-out male boss is routinely unmanned and humiliated by the old geezers because he is the token, cliched box-ticker. It's a bit tired.

No, the real fun of New Tricks is the interaction between the four leads - Dennis Waterman, James Bolam, Alun Armstrong, Amanda Redman. Even if a script isn't up to snuff, they still manage to bring things alive with charisma and a sense of fun.

In many ways the actual stories are incidental to the knockabout stuff between the four cops and the obviously strong bonds between their characters. In a television landscape that often loses sight of the fact, that just once in a while, dramas don't have to be earnest or meaningful, New Tricks is a gale-force blast of fresh air.

**

Alison Graham is TV editor of Radio Times - read her column in the latest issue of Radio Times magazine, on sale now.

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Comments

  • Posted on 06 November 2009
  • at 1:45pm
  • by Andrew

Hi Bill, still got the box your computer came in?

Series 6 is the latest series which broadcast between 16 July and 3 September 2009. Series 7 which was commissioned in September 2009 along with series 8 is due to be shown in 2010.

The current repeats are a bonus, which save us from Defying Gravity on BBC2.

  • Posted on 06 November 2009
  • at 1:45pm
  • by LauraPledger-RT

FAO Bill - New Tricks has indeed been recommissioned for a further two series. The new series should be on our screens around summer next year.

  • Posted on 05 November 2009
  • at 2:38pm
  • by bill

I think it's a terrific programme but today after looking at the Radio Times web site I noticed that New Tricks was on tonight. Sadly it's a repeat of a much earlier programme when Brian gets side tracked into drinking home brew. Isn't this supposed to be a NEW series ? Shouldn't we be told?

  • Posted on 03 September 2009
  • at 10:12pm
  • by phil

this series is brilliant, my wife & i never miss an episode. I hope there is another series in the pipeline..

  • Posted on 12 August 2009
  • at 12:50pm
  • by jonl

My wife and I absolutely love this series. The four leads are excellent and bring their undoubted talents to the fore on screen. Its nice to watch a gentle, humourous program for a change instead of depressing real life dramas like the street (which incidentally is very good and well written). It also shows that not all modern methods work and that there is always room for a wise old head to interact with the younger element. This works on both levels as its not meant to be a social comment and I too would like to see a longer xmas special.

  • Posted on 22 July 2009
  • at 7:33pm
  • by Allison

As a serving police officer, I have to say that there is a lot of truth in what you see on your screens - these "old boys" are not so different from some of the dinosaurs I still work with, who are still trying to do things the way they always have, but having to find a way to fit in all the "new" race and diversity issues they once never had to deal with before!!

But seriously though, it's a lovely programme, which allows people to kick back, relax, and enjoy the tale without having to psychoanalyse what is going on or the moral to the story....

  • Posted on 17 July 2009
  • at 6:46pm
  • by Daripa

I've enjoyed most of the New Tricks episodes up to now, but I felt that last night's episode showed to me a hint that it was running out of gas. I felt that the sheer coincidence of the rehabiliation centre Brian Lane was checked into by his own wife being the basis of a re-opened investigation into a death past credibility, even for this show. It wasn't a truly bad epsiode, simply because of, as Alison mentions, the interaction between the four, which just about saved the script; but it might be a good time to decide to make this the last series and have it remembered for being 'a jewel in BBC's crown' while it still can.

  • Posted on 17 July 2009
  • at 1:52pm
  • by CHRISSIE

lOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!! REALLY WONDERFUL TO HAVE THE FAB FOUR BACK ON OUR SCREENS AGAIN!! SO WATCHABLE - I NEVER GET BORED - WOULD DEARLY LOVE THEM TO MAKE A ONE -OFF SPECIAL THAT LASTS A COUPLE OF HOURS (MAYBE XMAS TIME?)- SHEER BLISS! LONG MAY THEY REIGN!!

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