Television series

New Tricks

Name: New Tricks
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Crime
Released: 2004
Cast: Dennis Waterman, Amanda Redman, Alun Armstrong, James Bolam, Denis Lawson

New Tricks follows a ragtag unit of retired detectives dragged back to solve cold cases. It's a procedural with genuine warmth, built on the chemistry between curmudgeonly veterans who bicker like family. Funny without being flip about crime, touching without sentiment. For anyone who loves procedurals but wants their detectives creaky, witty, and actually flawed.

TVMaze rating

3.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like cold-case mysteries carried by warm, bickering older characters, where the banter does as much work as the clue-hunting and the sleuthing is patient rather than flashy.

Skip it if you want gritty, grim procedural tension or a show that stays serious throughout, since the tone keeps swinging toward cosy comedy and the cases rarely feel bleak.

What it asks of you: Episodes unspool at an unhurried pace, leaning on banter and the older leads' chemistry more than on any clever twist, suiting an easy hour over close attention.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Line of Duty2012

Procedural with the same obsessive attention to detail and character, but the mystery deepens across seasons into something genuinely sinister. The interrogation scenes will pin you to your seat.

But Later seasons divide opinion sharply. Some feel the mythology collapses; others loved it. Commitment required.

Waking the Dead2000

Cold case unit, similar DNA: older detectives with damaged pasts, forensic breakthroughs, atmospheric case work. Darker and more Gothic than New Tricks, with genuine dread.

But Bleaker throughout. If you want the warmth and banter, this goes cold fast.

Unforgotten2015

Each season investigates one cold murder; brilliantly constructed, with the past and present bleeding into each other. Nicola Walker is extraordinary. Mystery that actually lands.

But Only three seasons. The universe feels smaller than you'd hope. Ending divides viewers.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from New Tricks

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

A Man Called Adam1966

Both centre on flawed men rebuilding in systems that made them. Both find grace in work and friendship after trauma. Both are about second chances that matter.

Black American jazz musician navigates racism and the music industry with brilliance and fury. Sammy Davis Jr. gives a performance of such vulnerability and rage that it carries the whole thing. A film about dignity when everything works against you.

But Sixties dialogue and pacing; doesn't move like modern film. Jazz sequences will captivate some and lose others entirely.

Midsomer Murders1998

Murder of the week with genuine affection for its lead. John Nettles ages through the series, and his partnership with his sidekick deepens. Cosy but never lazy.

But Formula shows, and after twenty-two years the village-murder-count is absurd. If you need plot surprise, look elsewhere.

Vera2011

Another detective you grow to love—prickly, brilliant, damaged. Each case is properly complex. Brenda Blethyn makes the grumpiness into something warm.

But Regional UK setting. If you don't connect with the lead in episode one, ten more won't change that.

Agatha Christie Poirot1989

Fifteen seasons of Christie adaptations, lavish and meticulous. David Suchet as the detective becomes a character you'd follow anywhere, even into his seventeenth case about a locked room.

But Agatha Christie formula means you know the shape of every story. Pleasure comes from elegance, not surprise.

Foyle's War2002

Post-war procedural with real historical weight. Michael Kitchen as the lead ages beautifully across ten seasons. Writing is intelligent, cases matter, and the period detail is exquisite.

But Slower than modern television. If you need fast cuts and loud music, this will feel like homework.

Cagney & Lacey1982

The original police partnership show: two working women, messy lives, real friendship underneath the grit. Surprisingly modern in how it handles character over case-of-the-week.

But Eighties production values and pacing. You're watching history, not contemporary TV.

Taggart1983

Glasgow detective drama that ran for twenty-four years on pure character. Mark McManus as Taggart became as iconic as Morse. Cases are solid; atmosphere is the real draw.

But Very Scottish, very dated in parts. Later seasons coast on reputation. Earlier ones are stronger.

The Ladykillers1955

Same texture of bickering found family. The criminals are as loyal and dysfunctional as the retired detectives. Both are about fractured people who trust each other more than anyone else.

British comedy heist film where five criminals posing as musicians take over a landlady's house. Every scene is architecture. Alastair Sim and Katie Johnson in a dance of antagonism that's hilarious and oddly tender.

But Fifties comedy pacing and sensibility—it's not aggressive about laughs. Hinges on the pleasure of watching intelligent people spar.

Des2020

Both examine how detectives read people, but this inverts the question: watching someone read themselves. Both find the humanity in difficult men, but this one asks if that humanity means anything when the crime is real.

Three-part serial on Dennis Nilsen, with David Tennant as the killer. Not a procedural—it's forensic psychology and interrogation. Unsettling, brilliant, focused entirely on how a killer thinks and confesses. Completely different from the cosy crime drama genre.

But Genuinely upsetting. Based on real murders of vulnerable men. Not light entertainment, not at all. Requires the right headspace.