Quiz question for you: What was the most watched programme on regular TV last Monday night? Coronation Street with its dull "Ken's writing a book" storyline and the "will Kevin sell the garage?" dilemma? Eastenders with its twice-yearly "new Mitchell arrives at the Vic" non shock and Ian Beale being shown up shocker? Probably no surprise here, given my negativity towards both of those but no. It was New Tricks (BBC 1, 9pm).
New Trick is a programme I've mentioned on here before. It's a clever crime drama which mixes light-hearted interaction with the very serious business of investigating so-called cold cases. In some respects, it's a bit like the CSI franchise, only without the fast cutaways and banging background tracks. In a nutshell, though, New Tricks and CSI do the same thing: They investigate a crime in retrospect and do it in a way which doesn't tax the viewer, and relies heavily on "technological breakthroughs" for solving crimes.
The true genius of New Tricks, though, is its cast. Amanda Redman, Dennis Waterman, James Bolam and Alun Armstrong provide the sort of acting clout which either makes a drama fly or sink. It's very rare to find a drama with so many big names without one being obviously at the top of the castlist. And often, when you do, the programme fails because the egos of the actors gets in the way - each wants to be the star.
There's none of that in New Tricks. The actors work very well together - and apparently refuse to commit to a new series until they've seen the scripts, therefore reducing the chance of it going one series to far as it continues to pick up impressive ratings. Whether this series is actually one to far, I'm not too sure yet - I've not been as impressed with this series as they last, but it's been good none the less.
But there's something else about New Tricks which makes it stand out. None of the characters have a particularly seedy side. Think DCI Hunt in Life on Mars, the various lead spies in Spooks, even the darker side of Dalziel and Pascoe. In all those examples, the actions of the characters outweigh the slightly seedier character traits. None of that in New Tricks - even the chap who is Redman's boss is portrayed as having a pleasent side.
New Tricks is a great example of a drama which has come from nowhere - back in 2004, as a one-off - and without the usual round of BBC Breakfast appearances et al, has become firmly placed in the "must watch" list for millions of Britons every week. I dare say we'll now have a new batch of similar programmes, but they'll struggle to match New Tricks. The real trick for New Tricks, however, will be actually knowing when to say:Stop
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