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New Tricks Characters Category : TV Drama Date : 10.03.2004 Printable version

Pullman is an ambitious career woman who was sidelined to head up UCOS after a kidnap rescue went wrong. Despite initial fears about working with retired detectives, she has turned the unorthodox squad into a success story. But her devotion to her job means Pullman is less successful in her personal life.

Jack Halford - James Bolam

Jack Halford was a distinguished detective, honoured with the Queen's Police Medal, who left the force after his beloved wife Mary was injured and later died after a hit-and-run accident. He filled his days with golf and gardening but jumped at the chance to join UCOS. Halford is determined to bring justice for every victim - including Mary.

Brian Lane - Alun Armstrong

With an analytical mind and a photographic memory for names and dates, Brian Lane was a First Class detective. But when a suspect died in his custody he was advised to take early retirement and now needs medication to keep his obsessions in check. But Lane is haunted by the death that ended his career - much to his wife Esther's dismay.

Gerry Standing - Dennis Waterman

Gerry Standing was a top thief taker in his time and is about as un-PC as you could get. He mixes easily with criminals, and suspicions abound that he was a bent copper who left under a cloud. With three ex-wives and three daughters, Standing finds UCOS a useful source of extra money - but he also loves catching villains.

PC Clark - Chik茅 Okonkwo

Bright graduate Clark is the baby of the team. Although he's a generation apart, he shows the retired detectives the value of IT and 21st century forensics to modern policing - and picks up the odd technique from them too.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Donald Bevan - Nicholas Day

Every inch the modern policeman, with the jargon to match, Bevan has climbed the greasy pole by playing a careful political game. He rates Pullman but doesn't want to be associated with failure.

Alun Armstrong plays Brian Lane

Alun Armstrong believes being an actor is the perfect preparation for playing neurotic detective Brian Lane.

"All actors are paranoid, it comes with the job. Brian Lane is a mixture of acute pessimism and hopeless optimism and swings from one to the other. So he's just like an actor, really," he says.

The new series sees the brilliant but obsessive detective hit a personal crisis.

"Lane is obsessed with a death in custody and has a bit of a breakdown. He has to keep taking his medication and when he stops it has dire consequences. He's put under the pressure of the real world and his paranoia is switched on again. But he's a great character and I enjoy it the most when he's really barking and losing it a bit."

New Tricks is not the first time Alun has played a policeman on the edge.

"I played the cop who hunted down the Yorkshire ripper, which was a very dark and moody role. My character was sent loopy with the pressure of it, so he and Lane have that in common. But Lane is tolerated and even supported by his team so he's in good hands.

"I imagine that being a detective must be quite an interesting job with different areas of life to be investigated all the time. You can be trained at all sorts of things, but it comes down to intuition in the end as to whether you're any good at it or not - how you develop your ability to read people is very important."

Adds Alun: "The New Tricks team fit together like a well made piece of furniture and bounce off each other. On their own, the three guys would probably get into all sorts of problems but they cover each other's backs and narrowly escape trouble."

Despite the many popular actors and actresses who make guest appearances in the series, Alun felt most threatened by his canine co-star, Scruffy, who plays Lane's dog.

"He was starring in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the West End at the same time as filming New Tricks so we had to arrange the schedule around him. I've been in musicals so we sang the same language. But he was better and more experienced than me and I'm sure he was paid more!"

Alun appears in the forthcoming film Van Helsing and his other starring roles include Between The Sheets, Carrie's War, The Mummy Returns, Sleepy Hollow, Sparkhouse, David Copperfield, Our Friends in the North, Messiah II, Breaking The Code and Goodbye Cruel World.

He is now working on new 91热爆 drama When I'm 64 and his son Joe is an up-and-coming actor who appears in Passer By for 91热爆 ONE.

James Bolam plays Jack Halford

James Bolam was delighted to return to the role of dedicated ex-detective Jack Halford in New Tricks.

"I think New Tricks works because it's a combination of a good script and an original idea - the clash of the old system against the new system. We were able to get a lot of humour out of it, not just humour for humour's sake, but coming naturally out of the situations the detectives get into and their characters."

Jack Halford is a dedicated policeman who won the Queen's Police Medal before retiring to care for his sick wife, who was injured in a hit-and-run accident and later died. Returning to work in UCOS gives him a new lease of life.

"After having been retired it's nice to be used again," says James. "Jack's wife Mary is dead and it's very painful for him. In his heart, he really wants to find out what happened to her and being back in the police force might give him an opportunity to do so. That's always in his mind.

"Jack still talks to his wife and discusses cases with her. He probably gives more of himself away talking to her than he does to anyone else."

The series also stars James' real wife, actress Susan Jameson, who plays Esther Lane, wife of Halford's UCOS colleague Brian (Alun Armstrong).

"We're both in it but we don't really meet. There's a dinner scene when we're all together but not much more. It's in my contract that I don't work with her! Seriously, though, it works out quite well because we've got dogs and cats at home, so when she's working I can look after the place and when I'm working she can."

Halford is not afraid to pull a punch or two, which meant James rather reluctantly doing some stunts.

"I have to hit someone in one of the scenes. I do what I have to but that's it. I don't particularly like action scenes and I'm not into driving fast cars. Dennis Waterman can have all the stunts he wants!"

One thing he does share is Halford's love of golf. "I play golf when I can but I've been working so much that I've hardly played at all recently. Dennis has a charity day which I went to last year, then we both went to Portugal in February for Jimmy Tarbuck's event."

James made his name as loveable rogue Terry Collier in The Likely Lads and has since found success in both comedy and drama.

His other television credits include Born and Bred, Only When I Laugh, The Beiderbecke Affair, Second Thoughts, Bedtime, Close and True, When The Boat Comes In and Shipman.

Amanda Redman plays Supt Sandra Pullman

Amanda Redman has no plans to follow her New Tricks character into therapy.

"Sandra is very successful in her career but she feels she hasn't had a life. She's at the age where her biological clock is fast running out so she goes to see a therapist to get help, although she keeps it a secret from her UCOS colleagues.

"We're all different and I wouldn't knock therapy, but I wouldn't want to talk about my problems with a stranger. To me, that's what friends are for."

Amanda was delighted to return to the role of Sandra Pullman, a tough cookie who heads up unsolved case squad UCOS.

"We all had such a ball on the pilot and it was great to do a series. I love working with Jimmy, Alun and Dennis, although we laugh like naughty kids and get into terrible trouble. Alun is the worst - I keep cracking up while he somehow manages to keep straight-faced! The laughter starts in the make-up bus every morning and it's a joy to go into work."

The friendship between the actors reflects how their characters have bonded as a police team.

"At the beginning, Pullman viewed the retired detectives as dinosaurs. They're very old school policemen while she operates completely by the book. Sometimes the modern approach wins out and sometimes the old one does. Pullman is married to work for a bit but eventually she stops fighting the others all the time and even begins to learn from them. I think there's lots of mileage to be had from it."

Working with the guest stars on New Tricks added to the enjoyment of the role for Amanda.

"Anthony Head and Patrick Baladi have come in to play Pullman's boyfriends, which has been lovely," she says.

Amanda trained at the Bristol Old Vic School and her career has gone from strength to strength in such roles as At 91热爆 with the Braithwaites, Hope & Glory, Blonde Bombshell, Close Relations, Suspicion, Dangerfield and Beck. Her film credits include Sexy Beast, For Queen and Country and Mike Bassett: England Manager.

In her spare time, Amanda helps the next generation of actors by organising workshops and master classes at the Artists Theatre School at Ealing Film Studios. She lives in London and has a 16-year-old daughter.

Dennis Waterman plays Gerry Standing

Dennis Waterman has no worries about becoming a granddad in the new series of New Tricks.

"Gerry Standing is shocked when he discovers one of his daughters is pregnant but I wouldn't be as shocked as he is at the thought of becoming a granddad. In his head he's only 27 and he's quite vain, so he doesn't consider himself grandfather material. It wouldn't bother me, though - it's what's supposed to happen if you have daughters. Although there's no sign of it happening to me for a while."

For Gerry, the shock soon turns to paternal pride.

"He's worried initially but then he really goes for it, even selling his much loved Triumph Stag and getting a smaller car in order to buy a baby buggy for his daughter Paula. When the baby arrives, he's thrilled."

The new series answers some of the questions left open in the pilot episode.

"We learn that one of the reasons Gerry left the force is because he smacked a superior officer. He was asked to resign before he was pushed. He's also bankrupt and can't get credit. Joining UCOS is something he enjoys but it's not a last chance saloon for him. He was really quite a dedicated policeman so he's pleased to get back into the job."

Dennis too enjoyed returning to the job and being reunited with his co-stars Alun Armstrong, James Bolam and Amanda Redman.

"What's amazing is there isn't any competition between us. I've worked with both Alun and Amanda before and I've known Jimmy forever because he was a lifelong friend of John Thaw's. Because we know we can do the job we had the time to enjoy it. We all like each other and there's a magical chemistry between us."

A former child actor, Dennis' many roles on stage and screen include The Canterbury Tales, Minder, On the Up, Stay Lucky, The Lives and Loves of a She Devil, Cold Justice, Circles of Deceit and the West End production of My Fair Lady.

But his 'appearance' in the series Little Britain is also getting him some attention.

"I have to say that I haven't seen the spoof of me although some mates like Robert Powell are getting very protective on my behalf. There must be something in it though, because in New Tricks I do sing the theme song!"

Dennis lives with his partner Pam in Buckinghamshire. He has two daughters, Julia and EastEnders star Hannah.

Chik茅 Okonkwo plays PC Clark

Chik茅 Okonkwo is getting used to being stopped by people in the street, thanks to his role as PC Clark in New Tricks.

"When we're filming I sometimes get accosted by members of the public just walking between my caravan and the set. You have to go along with it. Being in the uniform makes me feel like a policeman. The belt, baton and handcuffs are great to get you in character and I stand up straight as soon as I put the kit on.

"I've never been in trouble with the police although I wasn't the most disciplined youngster. But I really respect them now. And every time I notice one I analyse them to see if they're wearing the stab-proof vest."

Chik茅 admits he was a bit daunted at first by his New Tricks co-stars.

"When we started it was nerve-wracking. I really wanted them to think I was good and although they made me feel at ease I sometimes feel I'm an impostor. Just watching them act is amazing, it seems to come so easily and everyone's always laughing. I'm lucky to be learning from such brilliant actors."

Chik茅 had a great start to his acting career - he was one of just 10 actors selected out of 12,000 applicants for the 91热爆 Talent Scheme in 2001.

"It was nice that they thought I had a certain something and winning gave me the impetus to go on and get an agent. It also led to my first professional job in an episode of Holby City. But I've been on stage for the past 10 years, touring round the country in full scale productions like Oklahoma and Into The Woods for the National Youth Music Theatre."

Despite his early success in roles such as Silent Witness and the offer of a film in Australia, London-born Chik茅 decided to complete his studies, gaining a first class degree in business and computing, before going into acting full time last year.

"Acting has always been what I've wanted to do but I did a degree in order to have something to fall back on, not that I have any intention of doing so. But it's been useful for PC Clark who is a bit of a tekkie and not your typical policeman.

"He is the young guy who is a bit na茂ve but switched on in a way that the older detectives aren't. His technical knowledge can open doors for them and his analysis of cases means he's the perfect foil to them. When Clark was placed with the team, working with a chief superintendent was quite a daunting prospect. But he faced the challenge and he's now accepted as part of the team."

Adds Chik茅: "There aren't many young black actors on screen and Clark, too, would have faced difficulty getting to where he is as a young black policeman. So if I or the character inspire people, that's great."