For the fourth season of a procedural drama, New Tricks is strangely fresh — though not really exercising any new tricks of its own. Featuring an all star cast such as Alun Armstrong (Garrow’s Law), Dennis Waterman (Circles of Deceit), and Amanda Redman (Little Dorrit), New Tricks is a pretty engrossing cop dramedy. Well, if you subtract the cases themselves, that is.
No, the cases that our heroes work to solve each week are lame, swerving threads that ultimately serve to mirror the story of the characters (as most cop shows are able to do), but beyond that do not much else. The premiere episode features a case so utterly convoluted that it’s better to just ignore what’s happening until the episode returns to the good part.
What is the good part I speak of? Why the characters, of course. They’re all absolutely fantastic. Sure, they occasionally play into the stereotypical “old man” gimmicks that are expected, but they each have distinct personalities. The actors, all veterans of the small screen, really do a great job with their roles, making each character a wonderful blend of curmudgeonly and grandfatherly. Even Redman, grating at first, grows on you as superintendent Sandra Pullman — but she just can’t compete with the other three leads, who steal the screen almost every time they’re on it, even when they’re having to play roles requiring them to have bad backs or sore joints. They’re where the real fun of the show is. Maybe they can’t be taught new tricks, but they’re just a watchable group of old dogs.
Get it if you like Doc Martin, Hope Springs
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