“A
female Detective Superintendent
heads a special Police section that
tackles previously unsolved crimes in
the popular, tongue-in-cheek BBC
television comedy drama series New
Tricks, complete with a star-studded
cast and coming to DVD as The Best Of
New Tricks...”
GIVEN THE TASK OF HEADING UCOS (the fictional Unsolved Crime and Open Case
Squad), Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman (Amanda Redman: AtHome
With The Braithwaites; Honest), who has followed her late father into the
Police Force, throws herself into cracking previously unsolved crimes.
Her team comprises three ex-policemen, all of whom had chosen early retirement:
Gerry Standing (Dennis Waterman: Minder; The Sweeney), a chirpy Cockney
ladies' man with three ex-wives who drives a 1977 Triumph Stag; Jack Halford
(James Bolam: When The Boat Comes In; Born and Bred) and Brian Lane (Alun
Armstrong: Garrow's Law; Little Dorrit).
“New
Tricks is funny,
compelling, and
addictive.
Great British Comedy
Crime Drama...”
The
DVD contains the five best episodes of New Tricks selected by the fans
and begins with God's Waiting Room. Sandra has realised that her mother
Grace (the wonderful Sheila Hancock) is no longer able to look after herself
and she needs to find a residential home where her mother will be happy.
Apart from dealing with her difficult mother, Sandra becomes involved with the
investigation of the suspicious death of 72-year-old Maggie Newley from an apparent
prescription drug overdose at one of the residential homes — despite her
boss DAC Strickland (Anthony Calf) instructing her to leave the case alone.
Sandra meets the larger-than-life Pru Sanders (the marvellous June Whitfield)
and Maggie's fiancé Leonard Casey (Geoffrey Bayldon). When one of her team goes
under cover, Sandra also discovers that the manager of the home may not be all
he seems.
In Death Of A Timeshare Salesman, the team is investigating a five year
old murder. Dean Scott made a fortune in the late 1980's with a huge timeshare
resort in Lanzarote and he was found in his beautiful period home having apparently
shot himself.
The team reopens the case when a former escort girl who has recently found God
contacts the Police to confess she had witnessed someone forcing their way into
the house shortly before Dean Scott died, throwing a different light on the
case.
Dead Man Talking involves a psychic who may be a charlatan. Sandra accompanies
Victoria Anderson (Alice Patten) to a meeting with psychic Sebastian Carter
(Paul Rhys), who seems to be in touch with Victoria's dead father.
Carter claims wealthy financier Douglas Anderson has some unfinished business
concerning a key and he has been convincing enough to make Vicky believe all
is not as it seems.
Sandra's scepticism of Carter comes under question when he claims to be in touch
with her own father, saying he is disturbed that she is estranged from her half-brother
Tom Eldridge (Jo Stone-Fewings).
Anderson made his money in investment banking in Hong Kong and he had come back
to England in 1997 under a cloud to live at his home in Knightsbridge.
After a night out, Anderson returned home to confront an intruder with whom
he apparently struggled before dying of a heart attack. The intruder was never
found.
The UCOS investigation involves Vicky's adopted sister Penny (Elizabeth Tan)
and the discovery that Anderson could have been involved in a huge fraud in
Hong Kong for which Penny's natural father John Plummer was imprisoned. This
episode also features: David Bradley as Simon Beswick and Tom Wu as Daniel Cheung.
The five episodes also include Old Fossils, where the team identifies
a number of suspects as they reopen the murder case of an outspoken palaeontologist
at the Natural History Museum; and The Girl Who Lived, in which the DNA
of a missing girl is found at the scene of a robbery. Things will never been
the same again when a retired detective from Glasgow joins the UCOS team.
New Tricks was first shown in 2003 as a one-off but a further six episodes
in 2004 became such a success that more followed. A new face appeared with retired
DI Steve McAndrew (Denis Lawson: Criminal Justice; Local Hero) and future
appearances included Nicholas Lyndhurst (Goodnight Sweetheart). Also
featuring: Nicholas Day as Deputy Assistant Commissioner Donald Bevan. The jaunty
theme tune It's All Right is sung by Dennis Waterman.
The BBC television series New Tricks is a funny, compelling, and addictive
great British Comedy Crime Drama with viewing figures in excess of 8.5 million.
*
Only
the best is good enough and five episodes were selected by fans of one of the
BBC's most popular television series for The Best Of New Tricks, coming
to DVD courtesy of Acorn Media on 8 April 2013. Running Time: 300 Minutes Approximately
on 2 Discs | Catalogue Number: AV3111 | RRP: £25.99.
The Five Episodes: God's Waiting Room | Death Of A Timeshare Salesman | Dead
Man Talking | Old Fossils | The Girl Who Lived.
"New Tricks is funny, compelling and addictive" —Maggie
Woods, MotorBar
“A
female Detective Superintendent