New Tricks: Season One
by Graham Theakston, Jamie Payne, Jon East, Paul Seed
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Actor: Alun Armstrong, Amanda Redman, Chiké Okonkwo, Dennis Waterman, James BolamDirector: Graham Theakston, Jamie Payne, Jon East, Paul Seed
Brand: Warner Brothers
Writer: Alison Hume
Writer: Nick Fisher
Writer: Nigel McCrery
Writer: Roy Mitchell
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 437 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-08-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Worldwide
DVD Reviews of New Tricks: Season One
DVD Review: Waterman and co. back to their old tricks.
Summary: 5 Stars
UCOS - The Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad is a rag tag, elder bunch of ex-cops who are assembled by the recently demoted DS Pullman, played by Amanda Redman. She had a bust go bad where she accidentally shot a dog, and suddenly she finds herself leading this team of cops whose best years are far behind them. All of her 3 re-hires left the police for various reasons and each has their own share of personal and emotional issues they are dealing with. For Pullman, she is constantly trying to balance her career and finding the time to continually hit the dating scene in her 40's. Handling the stubborn and erratic personalities of her new team is another challenge.
Jack Halford (played by James Bolam) is the only member who left the police force on amicable terms, having retired as a D.C. Superintendent. He is forever haunted by the hit and run accident that claimed his wife. He seems to be the oldest, but also the clearest thinker of the squad.
Brian Lane (played by Alun Armstrong) is an ex Detective Inspector who was sacked for having someone die while in his custody, which he strongly felt was not his fault. He's sort of a pill popping, memory machine with OCD who memorized everyone's resume who has ever worked at Scotland Yard. Also, if you ask him what he was doing on July 19th, 1978, he'll remember.
My favorite of the bunch, and what drew me to find this show in the first place is the star of numerous popular UK shows over the years, including the highly popular Sweeney and Minder series, Dennis Waterman. It seems he always plays a ladies' man in every series, and this one is no exception. You will usually find him hitting on his boss, being pursued by ex-flames, or eyeing the multitude of women he encounters during his cases.
Waterman's character Gerry Standing, although no longer performing his legendary fisticuffs as he did in Minder and Sweeney, still manages to pull some punches with his sharp tongue and wit. He was fired for breaking his superior's jaw, a Commisioner Bevan, who just so happens to be UCOS's supervisor, so you can imagine the interaction just waiting to happen there. A classic Waterman highlight is when the crew is reviewing film of a late 60's protest for a case and he jumps up, all serious-like and says, "ey, wait". Then pauses the video only to point at a girl in the crowd and say, "I had her".
After a rather long 90 minute pilot, once you get into normal episodes, they are strong from start to finish. Unlike US TV shows, where going back and viewing the first 5 or 6 shows can sometimes look awkward; and actors don't really find their niche in their character, sometimes up until the 2nd season; this superb gang of British vets really nail their characters right out of the gate. I felt the pilot was merely a preview of what was to come, and it certainly doesn't play like the rest of the episodes do in the series (they are much better). I was almost ready to write the series off after the pilot, but I'm glad I didn't.
One other fine character is PC Clark, played by Chike Okonkwo. In this first series, he is the low on the totem pole, young police constable, who really offsets all the older characters. He was always eager to help out and offer his young viewpoint and detective skills to the team. I feel this will be a slight negative not seeing him reappear in later shows, as his character does not return for series 2. A minor setback to an otherwise strong and entertaining British show.
While following that TV crime solving mold, it still manages to have that certain appeal that US shows simply do not have. It's also great to see one of my favorite actors, Dennis Waterman, still holding his own after 4 decades. He also sings the show's theme song (a staple for shows he's starred in over the years) and a cover of the Traveling Wilbury's End Of The Line in one of the episodes.
It's surprising to see this as a US DVD release, because as far as I know, this only appeared on some PBS channels in certain parts of the country, and I haven't seen it on any cable channels (maybe BBC America at one time?). I think it's high ratings in it's later seasons in the UK have warranted a US "trial". I say trial as in they release a first season, and only subsequent sets come out if sales are good. However, even The Sweeney hasn't had a series 2 release in the US yet, so I presume there's a slim chance of all 5 later series of New Tricks getting released here, but you never know. I'll just have to continue ordering the Region 2 series sets. Series 6 aired in July in the UK with a DVD release scheduled for Sept. '09.
Description of New Tricks: Season One
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 08/25/2009 Run time: 351 minutes Rating: NrThe premise of New Tricks is irresistible: A career-driven British detective hits a career speedbump and is put in charge of a new cold-case division that she thinks is way out of the spotlight. And if that isn't bad enough, she must build a staff from a raggedy crew of retired cops with loads of time on their hands--as well as, it turns out, some pretty great detective skills they're dying to use again. Supervising the oddball group is the former hotshot Det. Supt. Sandra Pullman (played by Amanda Redman with refreshing world-weariness that gives homage to Helen Mirren's great performance in Prime Suspect), who feels sidelined, and thus frustrated, in this latest assignment. Yet the viewer knows Pullman is perfectionist enough to give this Siberia gig her all, even if her work methods differ wildly from those on her team.
Recruited out of various stages of retirement are the deeply gifted English character actors James Bolam (playing recent widower Jack Halford), Alun Armstrong (terrific as the obsessive-compulsive Brian Lane, who left the force after a nervous breakdown), and Dennis Waterman (a former sergeant and hothead who likes his liquor and isn't at all sure about having a lady boss). New Tricks is part police procedural--with a deliciously long running time of 90 minutes per episode--as well as a humorous work dramedy. When Pullman pulls a pile of photos of retired cops from whom to begin to build her team, her first teammate, Halford, grabs the pile to help speed along the process. "Dead, dead, dead, dead, good as, dead?" he says as he winnows down the stack. Yet the "old fart" jokes are few and far between, as it soon becomes clear that the old dogs really can learn, and employ, New Tricks and make dramatic, if sometimes politically dangerous, headway into high profile cases assumed to be long closed. Or are they? Fans of any crime procedural will love New Tricks, as will fans of the far more realistic British TV series that dare to show stars with imperfect teeth or well-worn shoe soles. And yet that realism is part of the utter believability, and totally-grow-on-you charm of New Tricks. --A.T. Hurley
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