List of New Tricks characters
This is a list of all main, supporting, and recurring characters from BBC One's police procedural comedy drama New Tricks.
Overview
Main characters
UCOS
Brian Lane
Brian Lane : Born in 1946, Brian 'Memory' Lane is an exceptional detective, possessing a keen attention to detail and a remarkable instant recall memory for obscure details regarding cases and officers who investigated them. He often gets around by bicycle. He is married to long-suffering but caring Esther; they have an adult son called Mark. Brian is socially inept and eccentric, a recovering alcoholic with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. He frequently uses underhanded methods to access private records, and his bizarre behaviour when gathering information or testing out theories tends to get him into trouble. Brian left the force under a cloud, having been held partly responsible for the death of Anthony Kaye, a prisoner in his custody at the height of his alcoholism. He maintained that it was a conspiracy against him; his colleagues believed that he simply refused to admit his own mistake. In Series 5, following Jack's temporary disappearance and several bad experiences on cases, Brian resumes drinking, and attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings again. When she finds out, Esther walks out, and later forces Brian into treatment; he has not been shown to have suffered lapses since. Brian is an AFC Wimbledon fan, and he once missed a celebratory drink with his UCOS mates to support his team. A keen war-gamer, in one episode he digs out his old board and figurines and wins a tournament. In the opening story of Series 10, Brian assaults the last serving officer that he believes to be involved in the conspiracy following Kaye's death, in a final effort to achieve justice. He at last proves that three policemen in charge of the custody suite, whose failure to check on Kaye allowed him to die from drug-related complications, then conspired to pin blame on the arresting officer, Brian. Rather than risk another cover-up, Brian passes on a taped confession by the senior officer to Kaye's mother, which in turn forces Strickland to fire Brian. Actor Alun Armstrong left the show after filming the tenth series.Jack Halford
John 'Jack' Halford : The highest-ranking retired officer on the team, and the first to be approached by Sandra when setting up UCOS, Jack Halford is the unofficial second-in-command. He is Sandra's mentor on numerous occasions, having been her boss on the murder squad. Jack retired to care for his dearly-loved wife Mary, who had been the victim of a hit-and-run. He is still haunted by her death, partly because nobody was charged in connection with it, although in Series 4 it becomes common knowledge that Ricky Hanson was responsible. After being frustrated by Hanson's acquittal in his trial for attempted murder, Jack briefly disappears, but is found by Brian, and later returns to UCOS. Hanson is eventually charged with killing Mary and imprisoned. Jack still speaks to Mary's memorial in his garden, seeking her help with solving cases. A softly-spoken and gentle man, he nevertheless possesses a quick and sometimes violent temper that he unleashes on suspects, although he will often become calm when he has reached the endgame, further unsettling suspects to achieve a confession. Jack has little time for the internal politics of the force, and is openly disdainful of those who lie, obstruct or mislead the police. Jack later leaves, giving only a day's notice, claiming that he has decided to retire to France and does not want to provide his colleagues time to talk him out of it. Brian correctly deduces that Jack has a terminal illness, and only has a short time to live, but promises not to tell the others until after Jack's death. He returned as an illusion conjured by Sandra in series 10, episode 8 in the UCOS office, encouraging her in her decision to move on and broaden her horizons elsewhere.File:Amanda Redman 2015.jpg|left|thumb|258x258px|Actress Amanda Redman, who portrayed DSU Sandra Pullman
Sandra Pullman
Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman : Born in 1961, Sandra is the original head of the unit, being the only current serving police officer – and at the time the only woman – in UCOS. Sandra was a high flyer in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service until the shooting of a dog during a hostage rescue, which is a running joke during the early series. Her career consequently stalled and she is made to take charge of UCOS, initially against her will. Ambitious and competitive, she has sacrificed personal life in pursuit of a career and likes to be in control of every situation. A running sub-plot involves Pullman's unsuccessful love life, which is mostly shown as a string of unsatisfactory relationships and numerous failed efforts at romance, including an attempt at speed dating. Sandra is often exasperated by her colleagues' eccentricities and their willingness to bend the rules, although she doesn't always play by the rulebook herself. Initially reluctant to lead the squad, she warms to her colleagues and views them as her friends. She believed her dead father, Detective Inspector Gordon Arthur Pullman, suffered a heart attack in 1975. It is only during her career at UCOS that she learns he committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, as he was about to be arrested by Jack Halford for attempting to cover up killing a small-time pimp. Her friendship with Jack is only damaged for a time, but her father's legacy continues to haunt her life and her career. She leaves UCOS after episode 8 of series 10.Gerry Standing
Gerry Standing : Born Gerard Lestade, the son of Smithfield Market butcher Norman Lestade, Gerry changed his name as he did not get along with his father. He loudly protests against his French Huguenot background, preferring to be known as a Cockney, raised in Bermondsey. He is nicknamed "Last Man Standing", because of his refusal to take backhanders when his squad were paid off by a gangster. A 'Jack the lad', Gerry is an old-school police officer. He was a 'thief-taker', who passionately enjoyed catching criminals, but nevertheless mixed easily with them, leading to allegations of corruption. The final straw occurred when his boss, Don Bevan, wrongly accused him of sabotaging a stake-out by beating a young girl, prompting Gerry to break Bevan's jaw. Although he always denied corruption, he quit before he could be disciplined, with no remorse for hitting Bevan. He has three ex-wives, all of whom remain on amicable terms; he still occasionally seduces them, and is devoted to his daughters, although he regularly complains about financial strain. Despite becoming a grandfather, he maintains his devil-may-care lifestyle, insisting that he is "a naughty boy, not a bastard". Along with his familial commitments, he has a continuing interest in gambling, and thus joined UCOS for financial reasons. Gerry owns a 1977 Triumph Stag sports tourer, and has a passion for cooking fine food for his extended family and colleagues. After a tense beginning, he and Sandra share a mutually respectful but barbed friendship. They sometimes pose as husband and wife when undercover. In Series 10, Gerry is eventually left as the last original member of UCOS, and his first impressions of his two new colleagues are not favourable; he believes Dan Griffin was planted by the Murder Squad, and his new boss Sasha Miller only got the job due to her husband's rank in the force. Gerry even threatens to leave when Sasha reveals she has covertly gathered evidence without informing her new colleagues, but by the end of the case he has come to respect her. In September 2014, Dennis Waterman announced that he would be leaving the show in November after filming two new episodes of the next series. As a result of a cold case in which Gerry is unsuccessfully framed for murder, a major gangster is convicted despite several attempts on Gerry's life, and he decides to fake his death to protect his family. At his "funeral", a text to Sasha reveals he has retired to America. The title of his final episode, "Last Man Standing", refers to his surname, a nickname he was called in an earlier episode near the end of Series 4, and also that he is the last original member of the team from the first series.File:Denis Lawson cropped.jpg|left|thumb|Actor Denis Lawson, who portrayed Steve McAndrew
Steve McAndrew
Steve McAndrew : Retired Detective Inspector Steve McAndrew from Glasgow joins the team following Jack Halford's departure in A Death in the Family, after helping the team with a reopened case involving a missing girl. Described as "a bundle of energetic optimism with a tendency to get personally involved in the cases he's working on", and "the antithesis of Brian Lane's eternal pessimism", Steve has a reputation for being a whirlwind, and bringing anarchy to otherwise calm proceedings. During the course of the series, he is revealed to have an ex-wife called Trisha, who had an affair with a corrupt detective from Glasgow named Frank McNair. In an argument with his wife, Steve lost his temper and threw a radio across the room, which led to Trisha getting custody of their son Stuart; several years passed before he had any contact with Stuart again. He was initially in a relationship with girlfriend Charley, although it was implied in Series 10 that it had ended after he settled in London. Steve is considered to be the polar opposite of Brian, as he prefers a more hands-on approach to work. He and Gerry bonded and became fast friends. Despite being a year older than Gerry, he is a lot fitter and healthier. At the conclusion of the series, with his son having moved to Australia, Steve decides to get a private investigator's licence and move there himself.Dan Griffin
Dan Griffin : A retired Detective Chief Inspector with experience in both the Murder Squad and the Diplomatic Protection Group, recommended by Brian Lane following his departure. He is a reserved character who can nevertheless provide surprising insights. He is also skilled in self-defence. He is not as outwardly eccentric as Brian, but proves to be just as much of a maverick, and rarely apologises for secrecy. This causes Gerry to initially believe that he has been planted by the Murder Squad for information. He has a disabled teenage daughter, Holly, who enjoys jazz music. Dan's wife Sarah is in a secure unit at a mental hospital – Danny eventually tells Sasha that she suffered a neuropathic condition that caused her delusions, which eventually led to her harming herself, Dan and people in the street. Medication failed to ease her illness and she was committed after trying to drown Holly, who was then aged 13. Although he loved her deeply, Dan had long abandoned hope of ever being with her again, and is thus deeply conflicted when she finally begins to respond to new medicine. Despite this he embarks on a new relationship with Fiona Kennedy, a pathologist whose charm and optimism are matched only by her intelligence. At the conclusion of the series, while initially reluctant to leave Sarah as he is all that she has left, Dan decides to take a new job offer to be a criminal analyst for Interpol, moving to Aberdeen with Fiona.File:Tamzin Outhwaite 2015.jpg|left|thumb|Actress Tamzin Outhwaite, who portrayed DCI Sasha Miller