Peter Davison in New Tricks

Every so often, Roisin and I will start making a list of people who should guest star in New Tricks. We’re cool like that. Patrick Stewart’s usually top of the list, followed by Rodney Bewes (I know, it’ll never happen) and Dennis Franz (I wish that would happen). Peter Davison usually gets mentioned at some point so we’re both very pleased to see that he’s guesting in tonight’s episode!

Apparently, Paul McGann’s in one of the later episodes in this season as well. I wonder if there’ll be any more Doctor Who connections?

New Tricks series 8

There was much jubilation in the Squeezegut Alley household when we realised that New Tricks was beginning another run this week. Oft-derided, subject to the laziest criticism, this programme has become the best and most reliable detective programme on British TV at the moment. We’ll be sure to blog about the series at greater length later on, but until then, here’s a link to Roisin’s review of Series 7.

New Tricks Season 7 Overview (part 2)

Roisin Muldoon reviews the latest exploits of Sandra and the boys. For part 1, click here!

Episode Six, Fashion Victim, had clearly been inspired by the deaths of Alexander McQueen and Gianni Versace (strange that papers always refer to McQueen as Lee Alexander McQueen but it’s never Giovanni Versace). I really enjoyed this episode, partly because it was so silly. The premise involved the team reinvestigating the murder of fashion designer Ritchie Levene, the case being reopened at the insistence of his ex-wife. I was delighted by the appearance of Peter Wight, better known as Nige from Early Doors as one of the episode’s guest stars. Sadly there was no sign of Phil, but you can’t have everything I suppose! The mystery element wasn’t the best, but this episode excelled in putting the boys into an unfamiliar situation, and in putting Gerry into posh clothes to impress Levene’s attractive ex-wife.

Favourite moment: A tough one again. There’s a lot to be said for Brian’s turn selling clubwear on a market stall, but I think this needs to go to Jack for his scathing put down of Gerry’s new look.

Gerry: What do you think? Tasty, eh?

Jack: Don't tell us. You've met some scrubber and you're trying to impress her.

Episode Seven, Where There’s Smoke, saw the team back on more serious cases – this time an arson attack on a club in 1996. The death of major criminal Mark Johnson meant that the original investigation stalled as nobody wanted to talk. Roy Marsden was an excellent guest star, playing retired fire investigator George Mackie. I have to admit, if this mystery had been played out in Lewis I would have been deriding it as lame, because it wouldn’t work in the 90 minute format. It does work here, however. I enjoyed the subplot of Jack attempting to deliver a lecture on serial killers, which somewhat predictably gets derailed by Brian’s pedantry. Still, it is this pedantry that leads to a breakthrough in the case and highlights how modern corporate thinking is inferior to imaginative policing.

Favourite moment: Jack’s lecture. Not because it’s on serial killers, but because of the argument he gets into with Brian over who has done the most killings – Dennis Nielsen or George Peter Lee.

Episode Eight, Coming Out Ball, included a character that would normally have infuriated me – the former republican terrorist turned politician. In this episode, however, I think it worked well enough and I enjoyed Ian McElhinney’s slimy Fintan MacEntee.

Not at all impressed by MacEntee!

The mystery centred on the disappearance of Barbara Linden-Warner at her coming out ball in 1983 – at the time it seemed she had been abducted by a republican group. This episode did really well at sketching society life in 1983; obviously one of the writers has been reading their Julian Fellowes! Sian Phillips and Annette Crosbie were marvelous guest stars and while the mystery wasn’t exactly surprising, it wasn’t obvious either. The episode ends on a rather strange note, as we discover the reason for Sandra’s reluctance to attend her high school reunion – she was the school bully.

Favourite moment: A low-key one this time. I was moved by the conversation between Jack and Lady Elizabeth on the nature of loss.

In Episode Nine, Gloves Off, the team reinvestigated the mysterious death of a young boxing champion. I solved the mystery element reasonably early but there were still a few twists to keep me entertained! In fact, I would argue that this episode was the best of the series. It had an excellent balance of humour – Brian and Gerry fighting over whether or not boxing is barbaric was particularly enjoyable, and Sandra got some fantastic one-liners. There was also a satisfying continuation of the joke about Gerry’s car being rubbish! Moreover, this episode looked intelligently at the difference in the priorities held by Jack and Sandra. When the gun used to kill Eddie Mayfair turned up in the hands of small-time crook Nick Kellogg, Jack has no qualms in threatening Kellogg to extract information from him. Jack later tells Eddie’s killer – the brutal underworld armourer Danny Branston – that Kellogg grassed him up. This lie, we’re to understand, places Kellogg’s life at risk. Jack and Sandra clash over this, with Jack holding firm that it was the right thing to do to deflect suspicion from Branston’s abused wife, Eve. It’s a small moment, but gives the viewer insight into both Jack and Sandra.

Favourite moment: Jack interviewing Nick Kellogg in prison, and his later interview with Danny Branston. I always like it when he gets a bit badass!

Jack Halford: Badass

The final episode, The Fourth Man, is in many ways the weakest of the series but there’s still a lot to like. The team are asked to investigate a 30-year old safety deposit robbery and it soon becomes clear that they’re looking at police corruption. In this case, right from the top – Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Felsham. John Shrapnel turns Felsham into an excellent cartoon style baddie, and he swiftly closes down the X-Files. I mean, closes UCOS. The boys have been watching The X-Files, however, and continue to investigate the case as concerned citizens. I was continually irritated by the presence of Phil Daniels as Flying Squad detective Frank Patterson. He’s a bad actor, and his character struck me as unnecessary. To balance this up we got lots of Strickland and I was relieved to see that the writers seem to know what they’re doing with the character again. He was badly written for most of series 6, but Strickland is a great character and he is extremely well-played by Anthony Calf.

Favourite moment: Easy. When confronting Felsham in his office, Strickland’s anger shows through. When Felsham demands that ‘this woman’ (Sandra) be removed from his office, Strickland isn’t having any of it. More Anthony Calf, please!

Strickland about to break bad!

So, overall this was a really strong series for New Tricks. The writing showed a marked improvement on series 6 and I put this down to the increased contribution from the show’s creator, Roy Mitchell. It would have been easy to tread the same ground but this series introduced lots of new ideas and the variety of cases kept it interesting. I eagerly await series 8!

New Tricks Season 7 Overview (part 1)

Roisin Muldoon considers the latest from UCOS…

I have long been promising to write a guest blog for Nic on the subject of one of my favourite detective dramas, New Tricks. As series 7 came to a close last Friday night, I thought it time to finally make good on my promise and so I present to you an overview of series 7. It isn’t fashionable to like New Tricks, but I love it. In my house my collection of New Tricks boxed sets sits proudly next to more respected shows such as The Wire or Mad Men.

After a slightly disappointing and uneven sixth series, I was unsure of what to expect from series 7. I confess, I had started to wonder if it was time for these old detectives to hang up their shields and hand in their blockbuster cards.

Episode One, Dead Man Talking, assuaged some of my doubts. The UCOS team investigated the suspicious death of a wealthy financier on the insistence of his daughter, who was taking advice from a dodgy psychic. Sceptical of Sebastian Carter’s claims, the team were keen to expose him as a fraud but this was complicated by Carter’s seeming insight into Pullman’s complicated family issues. Dead Man Talking contained some elements similar to the Sherlock episode The Blind Banker – mysterious Oriental women, sinister dealings in back rooms in Chinatown and gang members and Nic has already pointed out that this episode was half as long and twice as enjoyable.

Favourite moment: When James Bolam’s Jack Halford goes all Columbo to solve the mystery, making up a black box with gold lacquer to catch Penny Anderson out. It’s a blink and you’ll miss it moment, but it really made me laugh.

I was excited to see Anne Reid guest-starring in Episode Two, It Smells of Books. New Tricks was on more familiar territory here, with a lot of shenanigans surrounding Brian’s new obsession with his London Library membership.

The episode appeared to be commenting on the commercialisation of education as the plot centered around the fictional London Municipal University, which was closing its library in an attempt to make more room for profitable degrees such as Law and Economics. The mystery itself was reasonably pedestrian but I thought the idea of the murder victim having hidden a priceless book in a library to be very satisfying.

Favourite moment: Just because it genuinely frightened me – the unscrupulous Dr Jeremy Ventham attempting to trap Brian in the sliding stacks in the London Library Basement. It was very creepy!

Episode Three, Left Field saw the team investigating the case of a missing five-year-old, Yasser Gorton-Blackledge. When a notorious paedophile confesses to the child’s kidnap, the case seems open and shut, but where would the fun be in that?! Doon McKichan is an excellent guest star and red herring. Like the series 3 episode, Dockers, Left Field takes a look at a political movement and considers the effect the political has on the personal. Brian and Gerry spend some time in the MI5 headquarters reading surveillance files and, of course, Brian becomes paranoid about his past political involvements and whether he is being watched. Happily, this episode also featured appearances by Anthony Calf as DAC Strickland and the marvelous Susan Jameson as Esther Lane.

Favourite moment: I was genuinely a bit torn here. Brian becoming convinced that he is under surveillance was pretty funny, but I think the best line in the episode belonged to Gerry. Being confronted by the odious chauvinist Fred Blackledge, and being labelled a ‘mangina’ Gerry retorts: “If that makes you a man, and me a mangina, then book me in for a Brazilian!” God bless the BBC for putting the word ‘mangina’ in Dennis Waterman’s mouth. Pure comedy gold.

Gerry Standing: Mangina

In Episode Four, Dark Chocolate, things take a slightly darker turn as the team investigate a series of rapes in a chocolate factory after the serial rapist strikes again. I was deeply impressed by how subtle the writers were in portraying the effect the attacks had on the women who survived them. Moreover, the episodes highlighted that rape is a crime of violence and not sexually motivated. The crime was solved, not by advances in technology, but by the team’s ability to remember past cases. Mixed in with the darker elements in the storyline was some humour, and Gerry getting caught in the factory production line was slapstick at its finest. I could have done without the comedy pathologist, however.

Favourite moment: The capture of the rapist – foiled in his attempts to get away by being tripped up by Gerry.

In Episode Five, Good Morning Lemmings, the team investigate the unsolved murder of a Banksy-esque figure, grafitti artist Danny ‘Flak’ Tyler. There is some overlap with BBC’s Sherlock, again. The episode guest stars Hadyn Gwynne (who appears in The Great Game) and both shows make some attempt to portray the grafitti community. Whereas Sherlock‘s attempts at a Banksy figure in The Blind Banker were just risible, here they are merely silly. New Tricks is often at its best when it shows the old boys attempting to get to grips with the modern world, and Good Morning Lemmings is no exception. Brian has joined Twitter, as TopCop999 and his growing obsession with tweeting is ridiculous and hilarious (‘cop is in my DNA’).

On my way in this morning, I played a game...

It also gives Dennis Waterman ample opportunity to do silly voices and faces as Gerry mocks Brian’s obsession. Good Morning Lemmings is notable also for an excellent appearance by the late, and much missed, Simon McCorkindale. It’s also a good episode for Sandra’s general fabulousness.

I want these sunglasses...

...and an appointment with her stylist.

Favourite moment: I’m torn again. Jack’s posh voice at the fancy art gallery is pretty hilarious but Sandra Pullman wins. When Gerry is worried that his classic car will be unsafe when parked in a shady area, she shoots him down. “Gerry, it’s a pile of shit.”

Read part 2 here!

Studies in Sherlock #4

As you may recall, I was hugely disappointed with Sherlock‘s second episode, The Blind Banker (click here for my original review). It still seems like a very curious mis-step, an episode that fails as a mystery, as an adventure and as a Sherlock Holmes story.

Like me, many reviewers latched on to the outdated Orientalist aspects of the tale. Adlina bemoaned the stereotyping of Asian women, while Sherlocking noted that Chinatown was presented as alien and threatening. One of the great successes of A Study in Pink was its updating of Victorian mores. In comparison, the ‘Yellow Peril’ aspects of The Blind Banker seemed utterly quaint. Quite rightly, Adlina asked if you’re going to depict Tongs, why not depict modern Tongs? Now there’s a potentially fascinating milieu, as opposed to the hoary old Si Fan-alike that we got.

Pondering the mysteries of the Orient.

Tonally, the episode veered from slapstick to tragedy, rarely hitting its mark. While A Study in Pink very carefully established the parameters of this modern world and the ways in which stories would draw upon Conan Doyle, The Blind Banker had no such internal logic. Worst of all, it failed to distinguish itself from other TV crime shows. My friend Dan Stirrup put it best when he said the story got “lost up Jonathan Creek without a paddle”.

I was interested to find many elements of this story also present in a recent episode of the BBC’s oft-derided but actually rather wonderful New Tricks. Dodgy bankers, young male Tong members, beautiful yet secretive Asian women, back rooms on Chinatown business premises: all present and correct. Written and directed by Julian Simpson, the episode was called Dead Man Talking and was a rather nifty updating of Conan Doyle’s The Sign of Four. The first installment of New Tricks‘ seventh season, it was half as long as The Blind Banker and twice as enjoyable.

That's right, guv'nor