New Tricks Series 1

Well New Tricks was to blame for me watching TV again. My mother sent out the set of DVDs more than a year ago. I hadn't really been watching the box. Perhaps some football or to catch up on the news, but the rest was just background noise. Out here in Bangkok we have ready access to all the latest movies which are pirated within a few months of release plus a cable TV network. My problem was I couldn't find much in recent Hollywood releases that I could sit through. The British movies hardly ever make it out here so I gave up. Back then the TV channels were just more Hollywood garbage. I always had the feeling that the program makers were dumbing down for the audience. Then in the post was New Tricks Series 1...

My Review : (4 stars) It feels like you are watching some friends at work. It couldn't get much more comfortable, even down to Dennis Waterman singing the theme song. Superb casting of the four detectives in this half comedy half police series. Again they get the Life on Mars effect of turning back the clock by bringing three retired cops back to work under a modern female boss played by Amanda Redman.

The four main cast members, Redman, Waterman, Alun Armstrong and James Bolam are well supported by the rest of the cast which includes Bolam's wife Susan Jameson and Chiké Okonkwo who plays a young computer savvy black constable. My surprise is how Alun Armstrong steals every scene he is in. I had thought it would have been Bolam doing that or maybe Waterman doing his Minder bit.

Details : 2003-4 Pilot and the fist series of six episodes of about an hour each made for the BBC. Total run time is 351 minutes.

Features : No

Print quality : Very good

Sub-titles : Yes

Discs : 3