TV Choice interview

It’s age and experience over youth as New Tricks returns to our screens for a fifth series

Three grumpy old coppers investigating unsolved cases — it could have been a TV disaster. But New Tricks has been a huge hit, and this week it returns for a long-awaited fifth series.

Retired detectives Brian Lane (Alun Armstrong), Jack Halford (James Bolam), Gerry Standing (Dennis Waterman) and their glamorous boss Sandra Pullman (Amanda Redman) are still hot on the trail of abandoned cold cases.

‘I don’t know how the four of us were cast, but it really works so well,’ says Dennis.

The past returns to haunt the team from the very beginning, as evil thug Ricky Hanson (David Troughton) stands trial for the hit-and-run murder of Jack Halford’s wife. Hanson’s merciless lawyer tries to discredit the veteran cops from the start.