New Tricks

07 April, 2007 by The_Boss

Det Supt Sandra Pullman (Amanda Redman)leads her team in some New Tricks

BBC ONE Monday 9th April 2007 9:00pm - 10:00pm

Amanda Redman, Dennis Waterman, Alun Armstrong and James Bolam are up to new tricks again as the unconventional team of detectives returns to reinvestigate unsolved crimes from the past.

Following the cliff-hanger ending of the last series, when Jack Halford finally discovered the identity of the hit-and-run driver who murdered his wife, he is now prepared to risk everything to kill the man responsible: crook Ricky Hanson. Determined that Hanson should meet the same fate as his wife, Halford lies in wait in a pub car park, engine running. As Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman becomes aware of the dangerous situation Halford has put himself in, she has to act fast to prevent him confronting his nemesis, resulting in a crash that jeopardises the future of the entire team.

With Gerry Standing, Brian Lane and Halford hospitalised, Pullman is forced to accept temporary help at UCOS from the super-efficient DCI Karen Hardwick, a woman who irritates Pullman on every level. As she struggles to keep the truth behind the crash a secret from DAC Strickland, Pullman becomes deeply suspicious that Hardwick has been recruited to spy on her. And with Halford clearly on the edge and suffering temporary memory loss since the crash, Pullman has her work cut out in trying to keep Hardwick in the dark.

Threatened by a new face in the office and desperate to prove that they are still a crack team, even from a hospital bed, the boys need a case. So when their consultant, Dr Finlay McKenzie, mentions the suspicious death of a patient, Alan White, on their ward 10 years ago, they seize the opportunity to reinvestigate, hoping it will hold the team together. At the time of the original investigation, the finger of blame pointed to the doctor and nurse in charge of the ward, both of whom have long since left the hospital. But as the team delves deeper into former teacher White's past, they uncover a history of child abuse and more than one victim whose life was destroyed by White's actions.

Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman is played by Amanda Redman, Gerry Standing by Dennis Waterman, Jack Halford by James Bolam, Brian Lane by Alun Armstrong, DAC Strickland by Anthony Calf, Ricky Hanson by David Troughton, DCI Karen Hardwick by Lynda Bellingham and Dr Finlay McKenzie by John Sessions.