New Tricks
New Tricks is a BBC television drama series which follows the work of the Metropolitan Police Service's Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad (UCOS). Led by Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman, it is made up of retired police officers who have been recruited to reinvestigate unsolved crimes.
Whilst Brian faces disciplinary action for a death in custody from his past the rest of the team discover the gun that killed drug-trafficker Christian Highsmith in 1998. The same gun killed a young boy, Danny Bossano, in 1982 in Gibraltar, a port of call for the ships on which Christian allegedly hid the drugs. The UCOS team go to Gibraltar to meet Superintendent Cruz, the local cold case chief, who believes Danny was part of the dope-smuggling gang. The fact that the gun was army issue also leads to the evasive commander Adam Sinclair whilst Sandra quizzes casino owner Harry Truman, who had been a friend of Christian. Gerry and Steve visit Truman's casino but accidentally get locked in a shipping container whilst shipping agent Gordon Fletcher, an associate of Truman, is found dead.
Gerry and Brian end up on an orange farm from where they hitch a lift with a biker group back to Gibraltar and tell Sandra of the connection between Fletcher and Truman and the fact that Danny Bossano's father Levy met Fletcher just before he died. Levy is tight-lipped as to why he has thirty grand in the house, Truman explaining to Sandra that the thirty grand was actually Fletcher's casino winnings. Meanwhile Gerry and Brian discover that Danny drew many pictures of his friends, the sons of soldiers, one of whom was a young Sinclair, who describes Danny's accidental death. Levy then unmasks Christian's killer who had been paying him to keep quiet. Back home Brian faces his tribunal but Embleton, the man he blames for Anthony Kaye's death in custody, drops charges against him and he is exonerated. However Brian secretly tapes a confession from Embleton as to what really happened and gives the tape to Kaye's mother.
To the annoyance of Gerry, who arrested him for killing his wife sixteen years earlier, Scott Bunce is released from prison when evidence is found to suggest an unsafe conviction. His daughter Lizzie, who saw him standing over the corpse, and the neighbour who saw him leaving the house afterwards are both convinced of his guilt and Lizzie is terrified of seeing him. Then Bunce disappears after a gangster associate of his is severely beaten up. Brian visits his estranged son Mark, who tells him he is about to become a grandfather. They make their peace as Mark helps Brian find proof of Bunce's innocence, leading to the exposure of the real killer. However Brian, after being declared a hero, is told by Strickland he must leave UCOS for giving Sarah Kaye the tape he illegally made of Embleton's confession.
Now dismissed from UCOS Brian is persuaded by Esther to help her friend Margaret Kirby find her brother Peter Sale, who disappeared six years earlier. In the mean time Brian is bothered by journalist Maxine Wilson, whom he believes has been sent by Embleton to discredit him, and needs Strickland's help to get rid of her. Brian visits Jonathan Epstein, jailed for killing his wife Florence for her money, along with his girlfriend Annabel, who seemingly disappeared with the cash. Sale was Epstein's accountant but Epstein does not know his whereabouts and after the visit Brian is attacked. Accompanied by Esther, Brian sets out to find clues to locate Sale, in the process crossing paths with UCOS, who are investigating a con artist with links to Epstein. Eventually Sale is found and, before parting company with UCOS, Brian discovers that somebody is an impostor and Esther has to save him from being killed by them.
UCOS reopen the thirty year old murder of porn king Jim Hockney when his daughter Sara reveals that a DNA test proves she is not his daughter. Her mother Jane cannot provide any answers as she and Jim both had several sex partners. Jim's girlfriend at the time, singer Angela Gold, was charged but acquitted of the murder and now seems to have disappeared. Brian's replacement Dan Griffin arrives, albeit late and is initially treated with hostility by Gerry, who thinks he is a spy. Nonetheless Dan tracks down Angela though in the meantime Sandra learns that Jim's brother Colin sold Jim's porn empire very shortly after his death to his main rival Gavin Reason. Furthermore Jane and Gavin were lovers, Gavin proving to be Sara's father though he was unaware at the time. However it is Gerry's collection of some of Jim's old films, supposedly confiscated by Vice Squad, that identifies the murder weapon and leads to the culprit. The case closed the team watch Angela perform at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club.
4 years after the disappearance of happily married, carefree Simon Belgrade, who went for his usual morning run in Epping Forest and was never seen again, his work ID is found and brings new life to the case.
Following the 1997 General Election Ben Ransley, a young researcher for successful MP Liz Jackson, was murdered and the case is reopened on the discovery of £40,000 in an off-shore account in his name. Ben's best friend, arrogant lobbyist Eddie Trenton, gives Sandra a photo of Ben with his girlfriend, who turns out to be Hana, the Bosnian wife of tycoon Peter Russell, and she also disappeared in 1997. French policeman and former war crimes prosecutor Max Clement comes to London and tracks down Hana, whose whole family was killed in the Bosnian war. Hana believes Ben, with whom she was set to elope, was killed by the man who got her to England and introduced her to Peter but Dan discovers that Ben was in a position to leak information about a government arms deal, which would have been injurious to certain people. This solves the case.
Seventeen years earlier Sandra's first case involved the disappearance, never resolved, of music student Lesley Hewitt and now Lesley's sister Emma has been sent a photo of Lesley walking in a park just before she vanished. Sandra believes that a jogger in the picture was a serial killer responsible for the deaths of other young girls, possibly working with a female accomplice as Emma says that Lesley was offered a gig before she vanished. Ex-model Annie Banks and bookshop owner Stuart McKelvie are also in the photo, taken by Greg Banks, a recently deceased photographer whose studio contains several pictures of women who were abducted and killed. Annie and Stuart initially claim not to know each other but Sandra breaks down their stories and discovers that Annie knows who the jogger is. After concluding the case Sandra leaves UCOS to work with Max Clement.
DCI Sasha Miller arrives to take over as head of UCOS. The team suggest the 25 year old murder of an Italian immigrant as her first case; the original investigation got nowhere, but now the murder weapon has been discovered.
UCOS look into the murder of Oncologist Alistair Caldwell. Known gangster, Edward Monroe, was charged with the murder, but now the DCI who arrested him has been accused of suppressing evidence, so his biggest cases are being re-examined.
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Denis Lawson | Steve McAndrew |
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Dennis Waterman | Gerry Standing |
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Amanda Redman | Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman |
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Anthony Calf | DAC Robert Strickland |
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Nicholas Lyndhurst | Danny Griffin |
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Alun Armstrong | Brian Lane |
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Susan Jameson | Esther Lane |
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Storme Toolis | Holly Griffin |
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Vincent Regan | Harry Truman |
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Vincent Riotta | Levy Bossano |
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Sharon D. Clarke | Sarah Kaye |
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Serge Hazanavicius | Max Clement |
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Dhafer L'Abidine | Supt Raphael Cruz |
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George Irving | Bill Embleton |
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Richard Clothier | Cmdr Adam Sinclair |
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Georgia Zaris | Marcia |
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Gabriela Montaraz | Natalie Bossano |
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Tim Berrington | Senior Officer |
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Katarina Cas | Hana Keranovic |
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Lasco Atkins | Market Customer |
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Stephen Greif | Peter Russell |
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Serge Soric | Lukas Klasnic |
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Chris Cowlin | Passer By |
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Lee Nicholas Harris | Liberal Democrat Politician |
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Tamzin Outhwaite | DCI Sasha Miller |
| Director | Brian Grant |
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| Andy Hay |
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| Philip John |
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| Metin Hüseyin |
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| Writer | Roy Mitchell, Nigel McCrery, Simon Allen, Julian Simpson, Marston Bloom, Michael Crompton, Dan Muirden, Julian Unthank | |
| Producer | Richard Burrell, Polly Hill, Tom Mullens, Ian Scaife, Roy Mitchell | |
| Musician | Warren Bennett | |
| Photography | Peter Sinclair | |
| Nr Discs | 1 |
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