Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Dennis Waterman, Tamzin Outhwaite, Denis Lawson, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Oliver Cotton, Jon Foster, Laura Rogers, Alex Austin, Max Cavenham, Richard Dillane, Tanmay Dhanania, Lorna Rose Harris, Emmanuel Ighodaro, Sian Thomas, Storme Toolis.
Standing in line to get into a club once you get to a certain age would not be high on everybody’s list of things to do before they get to retirement but for the U.C.O.S. team it’s just another line of enquiry for the team to get into.
The three older detectives have more on their plates than the sight of slight sexism and ageism going against them as they find themselves going up against the twin factors of the closed ranks of the medical profession and the world of the nightclub. It is the medical profession though that proves to be the stumbling block as they look into the murder of a doctor and the trail they travel down is enough to send a small shiver of perplexed wondering down the surgical spine.
With the opener of the new series concentrating primarily on the continuality link of the two teams with an episode looking at Gerry Standing’s life, this particular episode saw the home life, barren as it now is, of the latest male recruit to the team in Danny Griffin, played by Nicholas Lyndhurst. It may feel weird to some viewers to see Mr. Lyndhurst in such a programme but his character, abrasive as he can be in certain circumstances, is an enjoyable addition to the team of U.C.O.S. The peculiar nature that sees Nicholas Lyndhurst in a straight drama after many decades of being a comic staple in many of the nation’s favourite comedies over the years. To turn up in New Tricks after years of being either the foil or the lead in programmes such as Butterflies, Going Straight, Only Fools and Horses and Goodnight Sweetheart is to hold faith in the longevity in many of the actors gracing the screens today.
The heartache of any parent who has bought up their child alone after the death of a partner is full captured in the moment when you realise that the child doesn’t quite need you as much as they did before. For Danny Griffin it comes when his disabled daughter lets him know she is back from University for the night, the emotion that was framed in Nicholas Lyndhurst’s face as he sees her but also when he realises that she has moved on is palpable and upsetting. It is good for the future of the programme when it can show moments in life from the beginning and not the finality which it had concentrated on for so long with James Bolam’s character and the loss of his wife.
New Tricks might not stand in the same league as Poirot, Morse or Lewis for its gritty portrayal of investigating murder in Britain but it stands out as quality drama and nourishes the seemingly British obsession for the restoration of justice when murder has occurred on screen.
Ian D. Hall