It’s been announced today that the BBC have pulled from the schedules an episode of hit drama New Tricks because it features the topically sensitive issue of a paedophile ring.

And of course, with the ongoing saga of the Jimmy Savile scandal, and the fact that allegations of a cover-up at the BBC have been made, the corporation is hyper aware of treading carefully.

The PA reports that the episode of New Tricks was due to be screened at 9pm tonight but a BBC spokeswoman said, “In light of current news events, this week’s billed episode of New Tricks will be replaced by next week’s episode.”

The episode of the show, which stars Alun Armstrong and Dennis Waterman as cops brought out of retirement to investigate unsolved crimes, was about a child abuse scandal that spanned two decades. A new date for transmission of the episode has not been agreed… Read more & comment »

There’s apparently a good deal of unrest behind the scenes of police drama New Tricks, which began with Amanda Redman announcing that she’s quitting the show next year, and her role as Sandra Pullman.

At the time that she made the announcement, she claimed that she was increasingly finding the show’s storylines, “too bland.”

Soon afterwards, her co-stars Alun Armstrong and Dennis Waterman claimed that they wrote many of their own lines for the show.

And not unreasonably, writer Julian Simpson took exception to that statement and posted an angry rant on Twitter, saying, “I’ll tell you EXACTLY how much of it the actors wrote; not a f***ing comma…” Read more & comment »

Fans of hit US sitcom Friends may recall that when Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) criticised the writers of Days of Our Lives, and claimed he wrote most of his own lines, those writers were livid and soon had Joey’s character Drake Ramoray plunging to his death down an elevator shaft…

Well, had Amanda Redman not already announced that she’s quitting the show, New Tricks writer Julian Simpson may have considered a similarly sticky end for her character, Sandra Pullman, after Amanda said of the show, “It’s more bland now. The characters are not being as anarchic as they used to be.”

Likewise, her co-stars Alun Armstrong and Dennis Waterman also recently criticised the scripts prompting Simpson to furiously write on Twitter, “A New Tricks I wrote and directed airs on Monday.

“I can tell you EXACTLY how much of it the actors wrote: not a f***ing comma… Read more & comment »

Amanda Redman has revealed in today’s Daily Mirror that she’s quitting BBC police drama New Tricks, and her role in it as Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman.

However, she won’t be going AWOL just yet and has committed herself to filming for the show – which returns to BBC 1 on Monday, August 27 at 9pm – until next summer.

But of her decision to leave, Amanda told the paper, “I love New Tricks and I have loved playing Sandra.

“I’ve got some gritty plotlines – but I feel I have to try something new.

“And that is why I’ve decided I am going to film a further eight episodes and then I’ll leave.

“The time’s come. After a while, there is a danger of things getting stale…” Read more & comment »

The Sun has today spoiled forever my fantasy vision of the normally drop dead gorgeous actor Sean Bean by carrying a picture of him in drag for his latest TV role on new BBC drama, Accused.

As you can see in the pic on the left, which is from the paper, Sean looks just downright freaky in a blonde wig and a dress.

However, of his role in the new drama, Sean – who’s also of course starred in Sharpe and Game of Thrones, to name but two – told the paper, “This is a cracking script that really delivers a powerful, emotional drama for the audience.”

Sean’s episode is the third in a run of four installments of the drama which was penned by Jimmy McGovern.

Another actor taking on a new role, though blessedly not in a frock, is Denis Lawson, who’s to play DI Steve McAllister in New Tricks… Read more & comment »

James Bolam, star of hit BBC drama New Tricks, has reportedly quit the show, just days after the corporation announced that the show had been renewed for a ninth season.

A BBC announcement about the show said that the show would return with its “dream team” cast.

However, 76 year old James – who stars in the show alongside Amanda Redman, Dennis Waterman and Alun Armstrong – has revealed that he believes the show’s format is “tired”, and he wants to leave while the show is still on a high.

The show’s executive producer, Richard Burrell, told The Sun, “We are very sorry to see him go.” Read more & comment »

When psychologist Samantha Gerson arrives at UCOS to conduct a study on older men in the workplace, she is greeted by a mixed reception, as the drama continues.

But Samantha isn’t just interested in the three ex-coppers. She needs a favour and asks Pullman to look at her brother’s case. Darren Gerson, a cycle courier, was the victim of a hit and run in May 2006 which left him with a serious brain injury and complete memory loss of anything prior to the accident. Following intense rehabilitation, Darren now believes he was a target because of the package he was carrying which he thinks was stolen from him at the scene, but he still has no recollections to substantiate his claim.

Read more & comment »

The UCOS team reinvestigates a highly sensitive case, when new information links the unexplained death of popular market trader Kathy Green, to a series of drug rapes in East London.

Traces of the drug Temazepam were found in Kathy’s blood when her body was discovered in her car near her market stall at Cook Street Market. This is the same drug that was used in the rapes. But with the rape case active, the team can’t touch the chief suspect, Anthony Gunnell, and are forced to explore Kathy’s private life and past for answers.

Read more & comment »

When Peter Offord is arrested in connection with a warehouse robbery, DNA tests prove his innocence but link him directly to an unnamed vagrant who was strangled on a tube train 15 years earlier, prompting UCOS to reopen the case.

Having never known the identity of his father, Offord is left confused and angry when Pullman confronts him with the revelation. His mother, Iris, died in 1995, the year before the vagrant was killed, and while she had never named the young man she fell pregnant by at 18, she had never given up hope of being reunited with him. Offord reluctantly admits that he hired Roger McHugh, a dodgy private investigator known to UCOS, to find his father, but to no avail.

Read more & comment »

New Tricks returns to our screens on Monday, July 4 at 9pm on BBC1, and ahead of it, Amanda Redman has been talking to What’s On TV about the show and her role as Det Supt Sandra Pullman.

Here’s the interview in full…

Are you happy to be back playing Det Supt Sandra Pullman in the eighth series of New Tricks?

“Yes, I always have so much fun. What I really enjoy is working with Dennis Waterman, James Bolam and Alun Armstrong who play Gerry, Jack and Brian. The four of us still get along very well; we have a lot of fun and I think that comes across on screen.”

The opening episode takes the UCOS team to the Natural History Museum. What was it like filming there?

“As we couldn’t film during the day when the public were visiting, we had to shoot there at night, so it really was like the film, Night At The Museum. We were allowed to wander wherever we wanted to, which was brilliant. A bit creepy, but extraordinary.” Read more & comment »

Fiona Phillips has admitted that she was galled to read that Amanda Redman feared losing acting roles due to her age.

The New Tricks star claimed that TV bosses only cared about:

“the young and the beautiful”.

Read more & comment »

Amanda Redman may currently be starring in BBC’s New Tricks but she has admitted that she worries about roles drying up due to her age.

Speaking to The Mirror, she explained: “I don’t stop worrying about it. It is all very good being in New Tricks and for as long as that goes on, that is fine.

Read more & comment »

Following its triumphant return to BBC One, Wall To Wall’s hit drama New Tricks has been commissioned for a sixth series for broadcast in 2009.

New Tricks stars Amanda Redman, as Superintendent Sandra Pullman, and Dennis Waterman, Alun Armstrong and James Bolam as her team of ex-coppers brought out of retirement to investigate unsolved cases from the past.

With ratings peaking at an impressive 9.24 million the current run of New Tricks has comprehensively dominated its slot and has regularly been the most watched programme of the evening. Read more & comment »

A fifth series of the hit BBC One drama New Tricks has been green lit following the hugely successful current run of series four.

Made by Wall To Wall Television, New Tricks returned to BBC One in April 2007 and has seen its audience figures increase week-on-week, reaching a series high of 8.8 million, a 38.5% share. Read more & comment »

Arthur Daley and Terry McCann will unite on screen 18 years after they last appeared together on hit drama, Minder.

In next weeks episode of New Tricks on BBC One, George plays prominent businessman Sir Edward Chambers – a key witness to a murder in the 1950s.

“Sir Edward is the epitome of respectability, so couldn’t be less like Arthur Daley,” George, 82, told the TV Times.