# New Tricks
**New Tricks** is a British crime comedy-drama, produced by the BBC with Wall to Wall Television, that follows the Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad (UCOS), a unit of the [Metropolitan Police](https://www.edgepedia.org/metropolitan-police) made up of retired police officers recruited to reinvestigate unsolved crimes.[1](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/New_Tricks) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/new-tricks/s01/cast-and-crew) It ran from 2004 to 2015 and reached 12 series.[3](https://vaguely-offensive.com/new-tricks/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Premise | A Metropolitan Police cold-case unit, UCOS, staffed by retired detectives working under an active-duty Detective Superintendent[1](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/New_Tricks) |
| Run | 2004–2015, 12 series, on BBC One[3](https://vaguely-offensive.com/new-tricks/) • [4](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2015/oct/06/will-you-miss-new-tricks-bbc1-detective-drama) |
| Original cast | Amanda Redman as Sandra Pullman, James Bolam as Jack Halford, Alun Armstrong as Brian Lane, Dennis Waterman as Gerry Standing[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/new-tricks/s01/cast-and-crew) |
| Ratings | Over its 12 years on television, ratings never once dropped below five million[4](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2015/oct/06/will-you-miss-new-tricks-bbc1-detective-drama) |
| Hidden tribute | Creator Roy Mitchell named the cast after West Bromwich Albion; the three leads' surnames spell the Halfords Lane Stand at The Hawthorns[5](https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/tv-writers-new-trick-an-entire-cast-named-after-his-favourite-football-team-6603565.html) |
| Awards | According to IMDb, the only award the series ever won was a single Tric award[4](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2015/oct/06/will-you-miss-new-tricks-bbc1-detective-drama) |
## Premise and characters
The series centers on Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman, a fast-track officer whose career has faltered, who is put in charge of the newly created Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad and recruits three retired detectives: Jack Halford, Brian Lane, and Gerry Standing.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0339442/plotsummary/) • [7](https://lawson.amandaelanorart.co.uk/2019/05/27/new-tricks-a-summary/) In the pilot, Pullman is assigned to the squad as punishment after messing up a kidnap rescue, and she and her superiors interview a number of ex-policemen before settling on Brian Lane, a reformed alcoholic who retired after a prisoner in his custody died, and Gerry Standing, who knows as many criminals as policemen and will cut corners to get a result.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0339442/plotsummary/)
Each episode typically reopens a cold case, often triggered by newly discovered evidence, and the team works through lies, dubious motives, and police cover-ups from the original investigation.[3](https://vaguely-offensive.com/new-tricks/) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0339442/plotsummary/) The show takes place entirely in the present, using only the detectives' point of view, with the procedural and the personal interleaved.[8](https://www.sleuthsayers.org/2017/07/old-dogs.html?m=0) Cases investigated are often dormant for 20 to 30 years or more.[9](https://imnotdoctorwho.moegamer.net/2026/03/21/oneaday-day-652-new-tricks-done/)
## Production and casting changes
Season 1 was broadcast from April 2004 as a BBC production.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/new-tricks/s01/cast-and-crew)
**The original cast's departure.** In 2012 the four lead actors gave a Radio Times interview criticizing the show: [Amanda Redman](https://www.edgepedia.org/amanda-redman) called it "bland," [Dennis Waterman](https://www.edgepedia.org/dennis-waterman) said "People aren't as stupid as writers think," and [Alun Armstrong](https://www.edgepedia.org/alun-armstrong) hinted that the cast had to rewrite sub-par scripts. Writer Julian Simpson publicly rebuked them on Twitter, and later that year most of the original cast left.[4](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2015/oct/06/will-you-miss-new-tricks-bbc1-detective-drama) James Bolam left first, complaining that the script was not what it had been, followed by Armstrong and then Redman; Nicholas Lyndhurst and Tamzin Outhwaite joined as replacements.[10](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/jul/31/new-tricks-tv-review) Later series also added Denis Lawson and Larry Lamb, the latter playing acting head Ted Case.[4](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2015/oct/06/will-you-miss-new-tricks-bbc1-detective-drama) • [11](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/new-tricks-tv-review-predictable-fun-held-together-by-a-relatively-predictable-cast-10460871.html) In the final series, Sasha Miller (Tamzin Outhwaite), head of UCOS, is told the unit is being shut down.[12](https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/tv-critics-new-tricks-empire-chewing-gum/5095197.article)
## Reception and popularity
New Tricks was a ratings success that critics largely dismissed. The Guardian described it as the closest thing British television had to CSI, a big, broad show that pulled in swathes of viewers, and noted that on numerous occasions more people watched it than anything else in the country.[4](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2015/oct/06/will-you-miss-new-tricks-bbc1-detective-drama) A 2013 Guardian review put its audience at nine million, nearly twice that of Luther, while calling the show undemanding and safe.[10](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/jul/31/new-tricks-tv-review) In 2015, the 12th season out-rated BBC1 fare such as [Ripper Street](https://www.edgepedia.org/ripper-street) and the [Agatha Christie](https://www.edgepedia.org/agatha-christie) adaptation Partners in Crime; the only programs beating it were the soaps and [The Great British Bake Off](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-great-british-bake-off).[13](https://dramaquarterly.com/under-the-radar/)
The series ended on 6 October 2015 after 12 years, with a final episode that drew little critical celebration even as its penultimate episode was still the most-watched show on the night it broadcast.[4](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2015/oct/06/will-you-miss-new-tricks-bbc1-detective-drama)
## Legacy
Television scholarship treats New Tricks alongside Waking the Dead and [Life on Mars](https://www.edgepedia.org/life-on-mars) as a series exploring tensions between old-style policing and twenty-first-century technologies and procedures.[14](https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/18228/3/You%27re%20Nicked%20review%20by%20Richard%20Hewett.pdf) Academic discussion has also noted how its aged cast's encounters with contemporary attitudes can connote a kind of "time travel" by juxtaposing past and present.[15](https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/46883/1/2013garnerrphd.pdf.pdf) Among viewers it has retained a reputation as comfortable, case-of-the-week crime viewing.[3](https://vaguely-offensive.com/new-tricks/)
## References
1. [New Tricks, Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/New_Tricks)
2. [New Tricks: Season 1 Cast and Crew, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/new-tricks/s01/cast-and-crew)
3. [New Tricks, vaguely-offensive](https://vaguely-offensive.com/new-tricks/)
4. [It's alright, it's OK: will you miss New Tricks?, The Guardian (6 October 2015)](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2015/oct/06/will-you-miss-new-tricks-bbc1-detective-drama)
5. [TV writer's New Trick: An entire cast named after his favourite football team, London Evening Standard (11 April 2012)](https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/tv-writers-new-trick-an-entire-cast-named-after-his-favourite-football-team-6603565.html)
6. ["New Tricks" The Chinese Job (TV Episode 2003) Plot, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0339442/plotsummary/)
7. [New Tricks: A Summary, Reviewing Denis Lawson](https://lawson.amandaelanorart.co.uk/2019/05/27/new-tricks-a-summary/)
8. [Old Dogs, SleuthSayers](https://www.sleuthsayers.org/2017/07/old-dogs.html?m=0)
9. [One-a-day Day 652: New Tricks, I'm Not Doctor Who](https://imnotdoctorwho.moegamer.net/2026/03/21/oneaday-day-652-new-tricks-done/)
10. [New Tricks, TV review, The Guardian (31 July 2013)](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/jul/31/new-tricks-tv-review)
11. [New Tricks, TV review: Predictable fun held together by a relatively predictable cast, The Independent (18 August 2015)](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/new-tricks-tv-review-predictable-fun-held-together-by-a-relatively-predictable-cast-10460871.html)
12. [TV Critics: New Tricks; Empire; Chewing Gum, Broadcast](https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/tv-critics-new-tricks-empire-chewing-gum/5095197.article)
13. [Under the radar, Drama Quarterly](https://dramaquarterly.com/under-the-radar/)
14. [You're Nicked: review by Richard Hewett, UAL Research Online](https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/18228/3/You%27re%20Nicked%20review%20by%20Richard%20Hewett.pdf)
15. [PhD thesis referencing Wickham's discussion of New Tricks, Cardiff University ORCA](https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/46883/1/2013garnerrphd.pdf.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Genre and subject-scripted series › Crime, police, and detective series › British and Irish crime series › Police procedurals*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license