New Tricks
Genre	Police procedural Comedy drama
Created by	Nigel McCrery Roy Mitchell
Starring	Alun Armstrong James Bolam Amanda Redman Dennis Waterman Anthony Calf Denis Lawson Nicholas Lyndhurst Tamzin Outhwaite Larry Lamb
Theme music composer	Mike Moran
Opening theme	"It's Alright, It's Okay" (vocals by Dennis Waterman)
Ending theme	Reprise
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	12
No. of episodes	107(list of episodes)
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Production companies	Wall to Wall (2003–2014) Headstrong Pictures (2015)
Original release
Network	BBC One
Release	27 March 2003 (2003-3-27) – 6 October 2015 (2015-10-6)[1]

New Tricks is a British televisionpolice proceduralcomedy drama, created byNigel McCrery and Roy Mitchell, produced primarily byWall to Wall (until its final year, when it was handled by Headstrong Pictures), and broadcast onBBC One. The programme originally began with a pilot episode on 27 March 2003, before a full series was commissioned for 1 April 2004;New Tricks concluded after twelve series on 6 October 2015.^[2] The show had anensemble cast, of whichDennis Waterman was the only constant over all twelve series; the cast variously includedAlun Armstrong,James Bolam,Amanda Redman,Denis Lawson,Nicholas Lyndhurst,Tamzin Outhwaite, andLarry Lamb. Waterman, who was known as avocalist alongside his acting work, additionally sang the show'stheme song.

The series focuses on the work of the Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad (UCOS) – a fictional division within London'sMetropolitan Police Service tasked with re-investigatingunsolved crimes. UCOS primarily functioned with a senior police detective overseeing the work of three retiredpolice officers who would handle each case, and who could bring in police support when needed. Each episode focuses on a different investigation, with characters often coping with problems related to their age but using their wisdom to overcome hurdles in the original investigation of cold cases. McCrery and Mitchell devised the title of the programme around theproverb "You can't teach an old dog new tricks".

New Tricks began as a one-off episode broadcast on 27 March 2003. This attracted sufficient viewers for the BBC to commission a series of six episodes, which began on 1 April 2004. An eight-episode series was subsequently commissioned for 2005, 2006, and 2007. A fifth series was commissioned by the BBC after the audience share rose week upon week for the previous series.^[3] In 2007, an episode from the fourth series received viewing figures of 9.25 million, becoming the second-most-watched programme onBBC One that week, and the most-watchedNew Tricks episode to that point.^[4] The fifth series continued this good run: on two occasions it was the most-watched programme in Britain for the week, and the seventh episode gained a new series high rating of 9.36 million, second only to theX Factor that week.^[5] The fifth series aired from 7 July to 25 August 2008. The sixth series finished location filming on 8 May 2009 in central London and began airing on 16 July 2009.^[6] The opening episode of series six was watched by 8.07 million, despite clashing with Five'sThe Mentalist (1.64M) and ITV'sLiving with Michael Jackson (3.64M). The second episode clashed withThe Mentalist and the relaunch ofThe Bill on ITV, and was watched by 7.59 million.

Series 7 and 8 were commissioned by the BBC in September 2009, ensuring that the show would run until 2011.^[7] The seventh series began airing on 10 September 2010 and completed its run on 12 November. The eighth series opened on 4 July 2011 with 9.2 million viewers, the show's highest rating for three years, and the first since the fifth series to break the 9 million barrier.^[8] The third episode of series 8, "Lost in Translation", was the show's highest rated episode to date with 9.7 million viewers, becoming the most-watched television programme of the week in the UK.^[9] Episode 7, "The Gentleman Vanishes", surpassed this figure with 9.87 million viewers, and was again the top programme of the week.^[10]

The BBC confirmed in September 2011 that a further two series, each of 10 episodes, had been commissioned, to be broadcast in 2012 and 2013.^[11]James Bolam, who played the part of Jack Halford, left the show, claiming that it had "become stale",^[12] making his final regular appearance in the first episode of Series 9 and a guest appearance in Series 10, episode 8. In the fourth episode,Denis Lawson joined the cast, as the new character of retired DI Steve McAndrew.^[13] Prior to the ninth series premiere, bothAmanda Redman andAlun Armstrong announced that they would be leaving the show after the 10th series, following a public spat with several of the show's writers. The first programme of series nine was broadcast on 27 August 2012, and gained 8.52 million viewers, which was the highest rating of the week.^[14]

The final episode of the 9th series was a "stealth pilot" with Standing and McAndrew solving a cold case in McAndrew's home of Glasgow, setting up a potentialspin-off; the episode was pulled from the BBC's schedule when theJimmy Savile scandal broke, as child sex trafficking was a major plot point, and aired months later than planned, with the spin-off plan dead by that time.

Only Fools and Horses actorNicholas Lyndhurst and formerEastEnders actressTamzin Outhwaite appeared in Series 10, which was broadcast in Britain between 30 July and 1 October 2013.^[15] The opening episode of the 10th series gained an audience of 8.86 million viewers, making it the 12th most-watched programme of the year.^[16]

Episode 1 of series 11 was broadcast at 21:00 GMT on BBC One and BBC One HD on 18 August 2014. Ratings fell considerably from series 10 to series 11 when most of the original cast left; series 10 had an average per-episode viewership of 8.35 million, while series 11 managed an average per-episode viewership of 5.75 million. Departed star Amanda Redman, criticised the drama for becoming “bland”, adding, “the characters are not being as anarchic as they used to be, which I think is a huge shame”.^[17]

Filming of a 12th series of the show began in the autumn of 2014, and its broadcasting started on 4 August 2015. It was also revealed thatDennis Waterman would be leaving the series in the early episodes. In February 2015 BBC announced that the 12th series would be the last in order to make room for a new series.^[17] It was shot atWest London Film Studios.

The series was broadcast in at least 25 countries, and was also available on DVD and via online streaming.New Tricks was produced byWall to Wall Television for theBBC between 2003 and 2014, and Headstrong Pictures thereafter.

In 2012, James Bolam left the show to be replaced by Denis Lawson. In 2013, both Alun Armstrong and Amanda Redman departed to be replaced by Nicholas Lyndhurst and Tamzin Outhwaite, respectively. In September 2014, Dennis Waterman announced that he would be leaving the show after filming two episodes of the next series. Larry Lamb replaced him for the rest of the final series.

As well as the "cold case" in each episode, the series drew on the characters personal lives including Sandra's fast-tracked career, Brian's alcoholism and relationship with his wife Esther, Jack's bereavement from his wife Mary and Gerry's ex-wives.

Roy Mitchell supportsfootball teamWest Bromwich Albion and so named numerous characters after their players. The original three main male characters derived their names from the club's oldest stand, "The Halfords Lane Stand", atThe Hawthorns football ground inWest Bromwich.^[19]

Apart from the police station scenes, the series was filmed on locations across London.

The theme tune of the programme is sung by cast memberDennis Waterman. The song is "It's Alright, It's Okay" (written byMike Moran). Production music was composed by father and son teamBrian andWarren Bennett with technical assistance fromOlivia Davies. The British release of the first series DVD contains a cover version of "End of the Line" sung by Dennis Waterman at the beginning and end of the pilot episode and the second regular episode (the first filmed after the pilot )

Series 1 to 12 ofNew Tricks are available on DVD on Region 2 (UK). These titles are distributed byAcorn Media UK.

The TV seriesNew Blood, also a police detective drama, followed on from the long-running television seriesNew Tricks (2003-2015) but was not continued after its first series in 2016.

• New Tricks atBBC Online
• New Tricks atepguides.com
• New Tricks atIMDb
• New Tricks at Wall To Wall, Producers.
• New Tricks at BBC Worldwide Americas - Distributor for United States.

• 2003 British television series debuts
• 2015 British television series endings
• 2000s British comedy-drama television series
• 2000s British crime drama television series
• 2000s British mystery television series
• 2000s British police procedural television series
• 2010s British comedy-drama television series
• 2010s British crime drama television series
• 2010s British mystery television series
• 2010s British police procedural television series
• BBC high definition shows
• British detective television series
• British English-language television shows
• Television series about old age
• Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios
• Television shows set in London

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