New Tricks-Series 2 (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	466:53 (Case: 468)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (29:46) Multi Disc Set (3)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Jon East Graham Theakston Jamie Payne Paul Seed
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Amanda Redman Alun Armstrong James Bolam Dennis Waterman Anthony Calf
Case	Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI	$39.95	Music	Nigel Hess Martin Phipps Rohan Stevenson

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    New Tricks was first shown on the BBC in 2003 and has also been shown locally on the ABC. So far, three seasons of this series have been made and this three disc set includes the entire second season consisting of 8 one hour episodes. This one is a mixture of serious policing and some offbeat and quirky comedy which makes for a very entertaining combination.

    The premise of the show is that a high flying Detective Superintendant on the way up stuffs up a major case by blowing a kidnap rescue situation. Accordingly she is reassigned to start up a new squad to re-investigate old cases which need to be looked into for a variety of reasons. They are to be called UCAS - The Unsolved Case Squad. She takes the job before realising that the 'squad' will be made up of three old retired detectives. In this second series they are building on the early success of the squad and working for a new boss, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Bob Strickland who is a bit of a bean counter. One of the main characters from the first series, PC Clarke, their technology expert, is no longer in the show.

    I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of this show, and this season is even better. The characters are becoming more rounded and really coming together as a team both in terms of acting and in the show itself. The writing is excellent and all 8 episodes are of high quality.

    The main characters are:

• Det Superintendent Sandra Pullman (Amanda Redman) - She is a tough cop who has been divorced and has great difficulty maintaining relationships.
• Jack Halford (James Bolum) - He was once Pullman's mentor in the murder squad. He is now retired and his wife, Mary has died recently. He is still coming to terms with her death.
• Brian Lane (Alun Armstrong) - An obsessive compulsive with a computer-like memory for information. He has a long suffering wife, Esther.
• Gerry Standing (Dennis Waterman) - A top policeman in his time who left the force with suspicions that he was corrupt. He has three ex-wives and three daughters, one by each.

    The episodes included are:

1. Episode 1 (59:04) - A prosecutor was murdered in the 1980s and his case is re-opened after his wife presents an award to the team's new boss, Strickland. The prosecutor was found beaten and seemed to have been tied up.
2. Episode 2 (57:35) - A Young Indian woman was attacked and left for dead. She has been living on a ventilator since then. A man who was assumed to have attacked her during a spate of racist attacks admits to many attacks but won't admit to hers.
3. Episode 3 (59:04) - Two young women were abducted in 1992 and their disappearances were assumed to be linked. One body has been found but was initially wrongly identified. The team reopen the case.
4. Episode 4 (56:27) - Guests Stephen Tompkinson, Victor Spinetti and Honor Blackman. A tabloid newspaper editor reveals to Pullman that a famous restaurateur killed her husband many years before. He wants her to investigate and share the story with him. Brian has a crisis.
5. Episode 5 (59:05) - A social worker who is sweet on Jack hands over a large red diamond to him which she found many years before in a dead man's flat.
6. Episode 6 (59:04) - Gerry gets himself into trouble gambling and agrees to reopen a case to pay off his debt. Also, the team are investigating an old arson case where the owner was jailed for insurance fraud.
7. Episode 7 (58:14) - Two 10 year old boys were abducted in the 1970s but escaped a few days later. A new case has a very similar MO so the team decide to reopen the old case. Gerry tries to give up smoking.
8. Episode 8 (58:20) - Excellent episode to finish the series involves a retiring pathologist who wants an old case of his reinvestigated because it's the only body he's never been able to identify. Complex story which is quite intriguing.

    This is an excellent English cop show which includes a nice twist of humour to the interesting cases on offer. Recommended.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is probably the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was quite clear and sharp throughout but certainly not to the standard of new feature films. There was no evidence of low level noise. Shadow detail was reasonable without being spectacular. There is some light grain which becomes slightly heavier in dark scenes.

    The colour was good although there was some colour bleeding, especially from light colours.

    The only noticeable artefact was aliasing which was generally mild in nature such as on Venetians at 9:39 (Ep. 1). Nothing too much to worry about here.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired which were clear and easy to read, although a little small.

    The set contains three DVD9s. The layer changes were not overly noticeable although there was a slight pause.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The music includes two songs sung by Dennis Waterman and incidental music by Nigel Hess. Both do their job well.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    None.

Menu

    The menu was still but included music and the ability to select episodes and subtitles.

    This set is available in the same format in Region 2 (except that the case is better here) and is not available in Region 1.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is good.

    The set has no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall