History Series / NewTricks

-->'''Jack:''' ''(throwing down the candidates' photos, one at a time)'' Dead... dead... as good as... alive, but he bores for England... retired, but currently under investigation by the CPS[[note]] Crown Prosecution Service, in the USA the equivalent would be the District Attorney or their office[[/note]]... ditto the DTI[[note]] Department of Trade and Industry[[/note]]... dead... alive, but don't leave him with your kids... retired sick - well, insane, really... dead... dead... [[NoodleIncident would be if I got hold of him]].

--->'''Gerry:''' ''(as Bevan gets knocked down)'' Same old glass jaw!\\
'''Jack:''' ''(as Bevan climbs to his feet and punches his assailant)'' You see, he's not fully following through... ''(mimes a punch)''\\
'''Brian:''' ''(as Bevan gets knocked down again)'' He's carrying too much weight.\\
''(they duck out of the way as the police drag several people out of the room, the violence continuing apace)''\\
'''Brian:''' ''(as Sandra knocks down one of the villain's family)'' Aw, good effort.\\
'''Gerry:''' ''(as Sandra keeps throwing punches)'' Dunno about you, but she's making me very excited.

* ChocolateBaby: Plays a role in the solution to "The Curate's Egg". A Polish woman had an affair with [[spoiler: the black son of the vicar]]. When she became pregnant, she married her boyfriend, hoping [[spoiler:the baby would be white]] and she could claim it was his. The baby was [[spoiler:not white]].

* ConspiracyTheorist: Brian turns into one of these if he comes off his anti-depressants, although he has shades of this even when he's on them (indeed in at least once he came off them because he was convinced modern medicine was a conspiracy); most notably in one episode where the team are investigating the suspicious death of a prominent 1970s trade unionist, Brian — himself a member of the Police Union during his service — becomes convinced that he's being observed.
* ContinuityNod: One case involves the team investigating a fictional brewers and pub chain called Felspar's, whose quality of beer and hospitality has noticeably declined, a few episodes later Gerry and Brian are in a cheerless pub and offhandedly mention they can't expect anything good because it is a Felspar's.

* CopsNeedTheVigilante: The retired cops sometimes take advantage of the fact that they are no longer official police to do things they could not do if they were still on the force. While they can still expect official censure, it will generally be light if their actions resulted in an arrest.

* DaChief: Sandra and her superior officers.

* DidYouJustHaveSex: The boys have this reaction when Sasha enters the office with a spring in her step in "The Lottery Curse". Leads to a SideBet about whether she had or not.
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: In "Ghosts", the murderer in a 60 year old murder case turns out to be [[spoiler:another resident of the nursing home where the wife of the victim now lives who Gerry interviewed once to gain information about the wife]].

* DotingGrandparent: Though he was shocked about discovering his daughter Paula was pregnant and intended to be a single mum to her child Gerry unashamedly adores his grandson Gerry Junior; Brian and Esther will clearly become this trope with the news that they would become grandparents in their last series as regulars.

** Jack has one when Brian and Gerry show up to his guest lecture on serial killers in "Where There's Smoke" from Series 7. When he tells the audience that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Nilsen Dennis Nilsen]] was Britain's most prolific serial killer after Harold Shipman, Brian whispers to Gerry that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_George_Peter_Lee Peter Dinsdale]] killed nearly twice as many people as Nilsen;[[note]] Nilsen was convicted of murdering 12 people between 1978 and 1983 but may have killed as many as 15 people; Dinsdale was a serial arsonist who was responsible for the deaths of 26 people between 1972 and 1979 in eleven fires, most of which the police had not initially viewed as suspicious.[[/note]] Jack overhears this exchange and begins arguing with Brian that Dinsdale doesn't count as he was convicted of manslaughter, not murder. As he explains that Dinsdale, as a serial arsonist, was more interested in setting fires than killing, he realises that this is likely also true of the perpetrator of the nightclub fire UCOS are investigating.

'''Mears:''' ''*makes a face*'' I don't like "Ian".

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: {{Justified}} in "London Underground". The sewer they end up investigating is actually the Fleet River, which has been paved over an turned into a sewer: the lore associated with the Fleet being central to the case they are investigating.

%%* BadassGay: Ted, when a much bigger thug punches him, he takes it and knocks him back.

* TeamChef: Gerry has frequently shown his cooking prowess by cooking well-liked and classy meals for family and his UCOS friends [[FridgeBrilliance giving the reveal of his family being established and respected Smithfield Market butchers, his talent and intelligence for cooking and food makes sense]]

* BlessedWithSuck and arguably CursedWithAwesome: It's established that Brian's remarkable photographic instant-recall memory and outstanding abilities as a detective and forensic investigator are the direct result of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and a manic depression that, if he doesn't take his medication, leaves him with crippling, obsessive paranoia and at the best of times renders him an anti-social pedant. He is also a recovered alcoholic.

* NeedAHandOrAHandJob - During a case that briefly took Brian into Soho, a lady of the night approached him asking if he 'had the time.' Misunderstandings ensued.

* NoMedicationForMe - Averted, Brian never gets any better if he comes off his meds.

* OldFashionedCopper: - Jack, Brian and Gerry, although the writers [[LampshadeHanging hang a lampshade]] on the trope by having the characters gleefully excuse their actions with the (reasonable) justification that, technically, they aren't actually cops anymore.

* PacManFever - Averted, as Jack is seen playing ''Ghost Squad'' on the Wii and doing very well.

* PapaWolf: Gerry's father [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Norman Lestade]] may not have seen eye to eye with his son for not [[GenerationXerox becoming a butcher like him]] but when Gerry was in serious trouble with loan shark Danny Paye in the 1970's as his nephew Barry states: [[ThickerThanWater "he's going to be buggered if he's going to let his son take a kicking from a jumped up, bullying little toerag like Danny Paye"]] and Norman's solution to this? [[BadassGrandpa Personally lead a posse]] including [[SiblingTeam his brother]], [[BashBrothers Sid and Barry]] and [[TrueCompanions 30 others from Smithfield Market]] to confront Danny and his gang. [[CurbStompBattle It ended badly for Paye and his cronies.]]
* PhonyPsychic - Brian turns the tables on a fake psychic in "Dead Man Talking"; using [[SherlockScan cold reading techniques]] to reveal all kinds of incriminating information about him.

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad - Although they're not too bad for the most part, the boys can at times have difficulty adjusting to more modern ways of thinking about things like race, gender equality, etc., which can cause tension.

* LineOfSightName: In "The Rock Part 1", Gerry arrives at a casino and finds Brian undertaking some unauthorised undercover work. Brian introduces Gerry as his business partner "Vince... Table". This provokes an incredulous "Your name's Vince Table?" from the suspect.

* BadassGrandpa: Effectively the show for it, all the older cops while displaying different levels of frequency, have their moments reminding us that they still have it. The most prominent examples are Gerry, Steve and Ted.

[[indent:10:Jack Halford (James Bolam), an ex-Detective Chief Superintendent and Pullman's old boss and mentor, who left the job in grief over the unsolved hit-and-run death of his beloved wife Mary.]]

[[indent:10:Brian 'Memory' Lane (Alun Armstrong), a brilliant but highly eccentric and anti-social detective with an instant-recall memory and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. A recovered alcoholic.]]

[[indent:10:Gerry Standing (Dennis Waterman), a Jack-the-lad charmer with three ex-wives (that he is on excellent terms with), a gambling habit and some shady ethics, who left the force under suspicion of corruption after punching out his boss (who just happens to now be ''Pullman's'' boss). A softened-for-comedy version of what George Carter, Waterman's character in ''Series/TheSweeney'', would be like today, complete with long hair, wide flashy neckties, constant smoking etc.]]

In the course of of Series 9 (2012), Jack was PutOnABus and replaced with DI Steve [=McAndrew=], played by Denis Lawson (AKA [[StarWars Wedge Antilles]]), a FishOutOfWater retired detective from Glasgow who originally came down to help with a case relevant to his past. In series 10 (2013) there was an even greater cast change, with Brian being replaced by DCI Dan Griffin (Nicholas Lyndhurst) and Sandra being replaced by DCI Sasha Miller (Tamzin Outhwaite). Gerry left the show in 2015, to be replaced by Ted Case (Larry Lamb).

* NeverLiveItDown: InUniverse. Sandra has been in charge of [=UCOS=] for nearly a decade after she was attacked in the press for shooting a dog in self defence, considered a dead-end job; the group in general has a reputation as a refuge for washed-up has been cops and officers. This despite the fact that they have put away crime lords, drug lords, serial arsonists and killers, corrupt police officers (including the [[MoleInCharge deputy commissioner]]), and numerous other high-level crime figures, basically putting the rest of the Met to shame several times over.
** Although it is played with, in that their hard work and achievements have been noted and rewarded several times over; Sandra has been offered 'better' jobs but [[StatusQuoIsGod for whatever reason]] has always chosen to stay with UCOS. However having been dumped out-of-the-way in the basement in the first series, each season has seen them be moved to increasingly nicer rooms before they reached their current, rather swish offices, suggesting that their overall reputation has gradually improved even if they do remain the butt of a few jokes.

* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: George Cole, Dennis Waterman's co-star in ''Series/{{Minder}}'', guest-starred in an episode. Sadly, John Thaw died before the series was made, thus denying us the chance of seeing [[Series/TheSweeney Regan and Carter]] reunited.

--> -- '''DSupt Sandra Pullman'''

* HypnoFool: We don't know exactly what Gerry was hypnotized into doing any time he heard the music of Gerry Rafferty, but it is apparently something pretty shocking to judge from the reactions of the rest of the team.

* FramingTheGuiltyParty: In the pilot movie, [[spoiler: DCI Lovett framed Roddy Riger for the murder of Anna Dubrovnik because he could't prove that Riger had earlier killed Willie Stiles, and was certain that Riger had killed Anna. Ironically, it turns out the evidence he used to frame Riger (his shoes, which Lovett smeared with Anna's blood) ''did'' have Stiles' blood on them, so the frameup was unnecessary]].

--> -- '''DS Sandra Pullman'''

* LostFoodGrievence: When somebody steals a sausage roll from Gerry's desk, he becomes obsessed with finding the thief.

* BadassFamily: Gerry's extended paternal family are more or less confirmed to be this in Season 6 episode "Meat is Murder" wherein it's revealed that his father, uncle and cousins and other Smithfield Market stallholders launched a CurbStompBattle revenge attack on a loan shark who had tried to force Gerry into becoming a DirtyCop and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome they won]]. The cousins involved remember this rather fondly, unnerving Jack in the process.

* WellDoneDadGuy: Both Gerry and Brian go through this at different times in the series. A JustifiedTrope as due to their respective issues. Relations between the Lane men thaw and improve near the beginning of series 10 as Brian bows out of UCOS; Gerry is surprised that his eldest daughter Paula considered [[GoodParents him a great father as he always listened to her and encouraged her to think for herself]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming relieving Gerry as he really believed he had stopped her achieving what she wanted in life. Paula tells him she is happy as a single mum to Gerry Junior.]]

* PointyHairedBoss: DAC Don Bevan from the pilot and season 1. He is an empty suit, obsessed with bureaucracy and management buzzwords, and his only interest in UCOS is how it can improve his media profile. His replacement DAC Robert Strickland is actually genuinely interested in making the squad a success.

* PyroManiac: In "Where There's Smoke", the team investigate the death of a LondonGangster in a suspicious pub fire. Initially convinced that the fire was set to kill the gangster, Brian realises that it is almost impossible to reliably start a fire in the method that the arsonist used unless you are very practiced. He discovers that the fire was actually the work of a serial arsonist, and the deaths were incidental. The serial arsonist turns out to be [[spoiler:a retired Metrpolitan Fire Brigade fire investigator, who had responsibility for investigating his own arsons.]]

* DeadPersonImpersonation: [spoiler: In "The Fame Game", a celebrity impersonator conspired with the wife of the celebrity to murder the celebrity (and the impersonator's wife). The impersonator then took over the celebrity's life.]]

* BadassGay: [[spoiler: Ted, when a much bigger thug punches him, he takes it and knocks him back.]]

* BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler:In the episode "Only The Brave" it turns out the murderer was ReverseMole Knowles who had gone native in the gang he was sent in to investigate.]]

* ChocolateBaby: [[spoiler: Plays a role in the solution to "The Curate's Egg". A Polish woman had an affair with the black son of TheVicar. When she became pregnant, she married her boyfriend, hoping the baby would be white and she could claim it was his. The baby was not white.]]

* HypnoFool: [[spoiler:We don't know exactly what Gerry was hypnotized into doing any time he heard the music of Gerry Rafferty, but it is apparently something pretty shocking to judge from the reactions of the rest of the team.]]
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: [[spoiler: One of the 'murders' in "The Rock" turns out to have been have accident caused by a boy stealing a gun from his father and using it to play soldier.]]

* NoodleIncident: [[spoiler: Whatever Gerry did when he got hypnotized and Gerry Rafferty music was played.]]

* ObfuscatingDisability: [[spoiler:The killer of the week in "Magic Majestic" has pretended to be confined for to a wheelchair for his entire adult life, referencing RealLife magician Chung Ling Soo. This allows him to escape from custody at the end of the episode.]]

* OffTheWagon: [[spoiler:Brian.]] Handled far ''far'' better than many instances of this trope though.

* ChocolateBaby: Plays a role in the solution to "The Curate's Egg". A Polish woman had an affair with the black son of TheVicar. When she became pregnant, she married her boyfriend, hoping the baby would be white and she could claim it was his. The baby was not white.

* DangerTakesABackSeat: In "Only The Brave" one of the gang members tries this on Sandra with a gun, but she breaks his nose instead.

* DeadMansChest: In "The Little Brother", a trail of clues leads Brian to a woman's body inside a box in a storage unit.
* DeadPersonImpersonation: In "The Fame Game", a celebrity impersonator conspired with the wife of the celebrity to murder the celebrity (and the impersonator's wife). The impersonator then took over the celebrity's life.

** In "Into the Woods", a shove during an argument impaled the VictimOfTheWeek on a sharp tree branch.

* FoodSlap: In "Lottery Curse", Fiona dumps a drink over Danny's head after she finds out he bet on whether Sascha had sex.

* FramingTheGuiltyParty: In the pilot movie, DCI Lovett framed Roddy Riger for the murder of Anna Dubrovnik because he could't prove that Riger had earlier killed Willie Stiles, and was certain that Riger had killed Anna. Ironically, it turns out the evidence he used to frame Riger (his shoes, which Lovett smeared with Anna's blood) ''did'' have Stiles' blood on them, so the frameup was unnecessary.

* HypnoFool: We don't know exactly what Gerry was hypnotized into doing any time he heard the music of Gerry Rafferty, but it is apparently something pretty shocking to judge from the reactions of the rest of the team.
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: One of the 'murders' in "The Rock" turns out to have been have accident caused by a boy stealing a gun from his father and using it to play soldier.

* MistakenForThief: In one episode, a group of homeless people think Brian stole his coat from their friend and so they knock him out and steal it "back". Brian gets his coat back [[spoiler: but it got smelly, so his wife burned it. Brian buys an identical coat, which also smells bad.

* BecomingTheMask: In the episode "Only The Brave" it turns out the murderer was ReverseMole Knowles who had gone native in the gang he was sent in to investigate.

* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: In the episode "Last Man Standing", Gerry tries to run a DirtyCop working for a mob boss out of town by [[FramingTheGuiltyParty framing him]] for double-crossing the mob boss and [[TheMobBossIsScarier warning him to leave or face the boss' wrath]]. The cop is too slow to run and gets killed by the boss.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: In real life, drowning victims tend not to struggle or cry out. As Brian puts it: drowning doesn't look like drowning.