Characters / New Tricks

The Original Team

The Team As a Whole

Left to right: Jack, Gerry, Sandra and Brian

Three retired policemen assembled and led by Sandra Pullman. Eccentric and with their own quirks, but very effective at solving cold cases. The team members gradually leave over later seasons to be replaced by a new group. The members of the group represent several police/detective archetypes, with Brian a Sherlock Holmes style eccentric, Gerry a rougher, more street smart type, and Jack as the standard operator.

• Cowboy Cop: All of them to an extent, Gerry more so, Jack less so, since this behavior was more accepted before they retired. Sandra generally averts this and tries to keep things under control, since she is currently active and follows modern rules.
• Defective Detective: All of them in their own way. Sandra has little going on outside the job, Brian is a recovering alcoholic (and slips back at least once during the show) and is always a bit paranoid and perfectionist, Gerry has a number of vices such as gambling and smoking, Jack is the most normal but is still strongly effected by his wife's death.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: A very obvious example, with Pullman as Choleric, Brian as melancholic, Jack as phlegmatic, and Gerry as Sanguine.
• Female Flatfoot and Snarky Guy: Sandra fills the flatfoot role, while the other three occasionally are snarky. Gerry tries this full on in the first episode, but gets quickly shut down.
• Inspector Lestrade: while sometimes the team (usually through Brian) solves cases with unusual insights or making connections no one else saw, a lot of their work is basic police work done thoroughly.
• No Badge? No Problem!: The retired police act like full police in many ways, but lack certain powers. Sandra as an active officer is needed for things like arrests, getting warrants, and such.
• Old-Fashioned Copper: The retirees hired for UCOS. Interestingly justified; they're hired, not so they can police the old-fashioned way, but so they will know the weaknesses of old investigative methods, the shortcuts that lazy coppers might have taken, and even (sometimes) the specific officers who did the investigating and their weaknesses, vices, etcetera.

Sandra Pullman

An ambitious police officer, rising through the ranks as she...Whoops, looks like a kidnap rescue operation went a bit off script, resulting in a shot dog. Sandra is sidelined to lead UCOS, but makes a great success of it over the show's run.

• Dark and Troubled Past: Her father died when she was 14. Gets darker when we find out why he died a few seasons in.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Choleric. Ambitious, takes work seriously, often the angriest of the group.
• Inspector Javert: Sometimes falls into this, having strong opinions about who is guilty and chasing the theory a bit too strongly.
• Married to the Job: Focuses on little outside of work.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: What UCOS was meant to be. Starting out, it is in the basement with basic equipment, and is considered so important it most be staffed by retired police as active duty personnel cannot be spared. Jack even calls it "unsolved crime and waste of time initiative" sarcastically. However:
• Reassignment Backfire: Not really a backfire since the met is generally happy for them to do a good job, but UCOS was much more a success than expected, leading to several job offers for Sandra.
• Shoot the Dog: The operation that starts the series. Sandra's team enters a building to rescue a kidnap victim. The team enters what looks like a cockfighting room, and has the crowd under control. But than one of the people releases a dog that charges Sandra, which she shoots. Than the blindfolded, hands tied kidnapee, already scared from the noise downstairs, jumps out a second story window onto a car (he survives). The operation is mostly successful, though the kidnapee is injured from the fall, but Sandra is now "the woman who shot the dog".

Jack Halford

Sandra's mentor, currently retired. When Sandra is asked to set up UCOS, Jack is sarcastic towards the idea,but helps anyway and joins the squad.

• Beware the Nice Ones: When he gets angry, he noticably changes, getting much more stern, standing his ground, and changing his voice.
• Butt-Monkey: a more serious version in season 3. Is almost killed a couple times, gets harassed in "Diamond geezers", gets tazed in "Wicca Work". The last episode in season 4 is a more conventional version, where circus hater Jack gets splashed with various things at a circus.
• Excellent Judge of Character: When hiring for UCOS, he recommends Gerry and Brian, who in the earlier terrible interview montage did not stand out as the obvious candidates, and Sandra even pushes against these choices. However, these two prove excellent additions to UCOS. On cases, he is more mixed.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic. Is almost always the most normal seeming, relaxed of the four, and is very loyal to his (dead) wife Mary.
• Inspector Lestrade: Doesn't have unusual insights and unusual interests like Brian or the social skills/contacts of Gerry, but is a solid detective in his own, more standard way.
• The Lost Lenore: His wife Mary, who he has a shrine to in his backyard, which he often talks to about the case. During season 3, we find out who killed her and why, which comes up in some episodes over the next three seasons.

Brian Lane

Nicknamed "Memory" for obvious reasons. Former police officer, used to be alcoholic, and takes medication to stay calm. Often has the most unusual interests or knowledge that helps solve a case, in addition to his eye for detail and good memory.

• Fleeting Passionate Hobbies: Many episodes he either finds a new one or rediscovers an old one, forgotten once the episode ends.
• Foolish Husband, Responsible Wife: Brian and his wife Esther often fall into this, with more levelheaded Esther maintaining the house while Brian obsesses over a case or gets into a new hobby.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic. Perfectionist, eye for detail, obsessive, must do things a certain way.
• My Greatest Failure: Brought in a suspect named Anthony Kaye, who died in custody when Brian went to drink for a couple minutes. Finding out who let Kaye die is a major reason he joined UCOS. In season 10, he gets evidence for what happened, releasing said evidence publicly leads to his firing.
• Sherlock Homage: Eccentric detective with unusual insights the solves otherwise difficult cases. Sound familiar?
• Undercover as Lovers: Brian and an undercover policewoman from another department in "Diamond Geezers", as a shady businessman and somewhat clueless wife.

Gerry Standing

Retired policeman. The most social of then the three, very comfortable talking to career criminals, many of whom he knows.

• Amicable Exes: Gerry's ex wives. Seen eating together several times, all get along with Gerry and occasionally sleep with him.
• Can Always Spot a Cop: In season 11 episode 7, Gerry tries to the go into a pub "incognito". The pub owner immediately spots that he is police and asks if he is right when he sits down. UCOS is just there to ask some basic questions, so this causes no harm.
• The Casanova: Was when he was younger, with three marriages and many successes beyond that. He flirts with some of the women he meets through the job and isn't often rebuffed, although none of them turn into an ongoing relationship.
• Dirty Cop. Subverted. Gerry has a reputation as one, and is very comfortable around full on criminals. However, he makes a big deal about not taking bribes, in several cases getting into trouble for avoiding doing so. His nickname, "Last Man" Standing, was given to him by a mob boss because Gerry was the only member of his unit who didn't take a bribe... and thus, the only one who was accused of corruption as a result, as all the actually corrupt cops covered for each other.
• Expy: At the start, Gerry Standing was something of a re-imagined update of Dennis Waterman's character (George Carter) from The Sweeney, complete with similar vices and dress sense (Good grief, those kipper ties...). Over the series run, Gerry got to develop as a character to the point where, while the comparison still holds, it feels more down to being played by the same actor than anything else.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine. Highly social, loves sex, food, wine, and cigarettes, sloppy with rules.
• Old-Fashioned Copper: The most old fashioned of an old fashioned group, despite not actually being the oldest.
• Token Good Cop: The episode "Last Man Standing" reveals that Gerry was this earlier in his career. Back when he first joined the CID in the early eighties, he discovered that the rest of the unit were on the take for the vicious Chapman family and confided in his governor DCI Martin Ackroyd who tasked him with watching the others but really also worked for the Chapman's, having Gerry abducted and dragged before the sadistic Dominic Chapman. When beatings and threats failed to deter Gerry, Ackroyd threatened to go after Gerry's new born daughter unless he got with the program. Thus Gerry used his contacts to convince the underworld that Ackroyd was about to blow the whistle on the corruption, making clear to Ackroyd his only option was to run. Unfortunately, Ackroyd foolishly tried to work things out and the sadistic gangster beat him to death. Apart from Gerry, there was only one other honest detective in the unit, and even he was aware of but willing to overlook the corruption.

The New Team Members

The Team as a Whole

Left to right: Ted, Steve, Sasha and Dan

In later seasons, the original team members were replaced. Jack left at the beginning of season 9 and was replaced by Steve. In season 10 Brian and Sandra left, replaced by Danny and Sasha. In season 12 Gerry left at the beginning with Ted as a replacement. Even though the team had different compositions, the new characters are lumped here to keep things organized.

• Darker and Edgier: The show changed in tone and feel as it went on, so cases worked by the later team are usually darker. A good example might be Wicca Work vs. London Underground, both deal with an occult/nonstandard religious group, but Wicca has only the main death and a good amount of humor mixed in, while London Underground has several killings, and is mostly serious all the way through.
• Inspector Lestrade: Danny most often is the guy with the insights, but once again standard police work does most of the job.
• No Badge? No Problem!: Kept the premise of three retired detectives working for an active police officer, so the same rules apply as the first group. Finally and thoroughly subverted in the last episodes of the final series, when Ted Case arrests a suspect, something he knows he is not allowed to do; the consequences of this bring the unit, and thus the series, to an end (albeit not an unhappy one).
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: averted for Steve and Ted, played straight for Sasha and Danny. This also breaks up the Four-Temperament Ensemble, as Steve and Ted, and Sasha somewhat, don't fit clearly into one type.

Sasha Miller

When Sandra leaves, Sasha is her replacement. A similar ambitious police leader, Sasha is impressed with the high success rate of UCOS and is excited to join. Less intense than Sandra, Sasha is still commanding, highly organized, and she often tries to organize activities outside of work for the group.

She was married to Ned Hancock, but caught him cheating on her during her first episode, the two divorced or separated soon after.

• Action Girl: is shown in a few punch ups, chases, even trying to break into a building on fire.
• Guy of the Week: Sasha's romantic/sexual adventures were a common outside of work storyline for her.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Blonde, ambitious policewoman with a similar sounding name in the same role? Sasha is even first shown leading a similar kind of raid, though this one has no dogs shot.

Steve McAndrew

Jack's replacement. Joins after helping UCOS with a missing persons case he had worked on years ago. Scottish, from Glasgow.

• Cowboy Cop: In season nine, is one these all the way through. Uses several illegal, or close to it, and improvised methods to get the information he needs. Toned down a lot in the next few seasons.
• Motor Mouth: He's high-energy and excitable - in his first episode, he talks the team's ears off for an hour straight.
• Violent Glaswegian: Is friendly most of the time, but uses this reputation to scare off some thugs in Last Man Standing.

Dan Griffin

Or Danny. Recommended by Brian,replacing him during season 10. Generally a more serious character, but still has some moments.

• Awesomeness by Analysis: Picks up a few skills this way.
• Dark and Troubled Past: His wife is in a mental asylum after attacking him and their daughter.
• Noodle Incident: Whenever he worked in diplomatic protection. Comes up a few times for current cases, but never explained in detail.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Like Brian, is eccentric, has a lot of random bits of knowledge, and is often the one with insights that solve a case.

Ted Case

Replaces Gerry. Brought on originally to help organize things after the events of season 12 episode 2, he sticks around for the rest of the season and presumably afterwards if the show hadn't been cancelled. Superstitious in a number of ways.

• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: To stop a suspect leaving, Ted arrests her, which he has no legal authority to do (See No Badge? No Problem! above). He blames doing so on this trope. It has consequences down the line.
• Dirty Cop: Ted is clean, but at one point was investigating these...as part of a unit lead by one and packed with more of them. Ted kept copies of useful evidence anyway, and it has some value.
• Good Luck Charm: Has a few of these, along with a number of other superstitions. Gets very worried when he loses a cigarette case in Life Expectancy.
• Straight Gay: He doesn't tell the others that his partner "Pat"" is a man until they meet him, and no one guesses. Pat is not happy with this, apparently Ted does this often.

Other Recurring Characters

Robert Strickland

UCOS's overall boss/supervisor starting in series 2, switching roles with Bevan, all the way to the end of the series.

• Benevolent Boss: Does his best to look out for UCOS and keep the unit happy and running well.
• Desk Jockey: Most of Stricklsnd's job is handling department politics, interaction/cooperation with other departments, and such while the four main team members do the investigating.
• Mysterious Past: Worked in intelligence at one point. Some details are revealed late in Season 9.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: In earlier seasons, he was a veritable fountain of management-speak and efficiency initiatives, particularly when it would get in the way of the main investigation or provide a comedic sub-plot. As time went on, while he was still often attending seminars and conferencing with other senior officers, he got serious Character Development and became a Benevolent Boss, as noted above.

Don Bevan

The original founder of UCOS, Sandra's original boss. Not seen as after season 1.

• Actor Swap: In episode 2, switches from bald and mustaccioed to clean shaven with curly hair.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: His main characteristic. Introduced getting a color consultant, setting the tone from the start.

PC Clarke

UCOS's IT person, and gopher for season 1.

• Put on a Bus: leaves with no explanation in season 2.
• Rabid Cop: hints of this in episode 2. When Brian asks how to disable someone, suggests shooting them twice because "If you have several bullets". Otherwise, mostly follows the rules, if corrupted somewhat by the UCOS crew.

Esther Lane

Brian's wife. Puts up with his shenanigans, but still generally attracted to him.

• Amateur Sleuth: Throughout the series, Esther’s insights into the details of the cases Brian can share with her often prove helpful. However, following Brian being fired from UCOS in “The Little Brother” she ends up assisting Brian in his investigation into the disappearance of Peter Sale and discovers that she’s picked up quite a lot simply by osmosis and makes a surprisingly good detective in her own right. The ending reveals the experience has piqued her interest in mysteries, with her revealing that she has managed to uncover evidence that not only do the police have the wrong man for an assault the previous week, but that suggests it is part of a much larger series of attacks, with the implication she and Brian will be enjoying their retirement solving further mysteries together.
• Foolish Husband, Responsible Wife: Much of her interaction with Brian fits this, as she deals with Brian's investigations and unusual interests while living a generally normal life.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Sort of. To keep Brian busy and mentally active after he is fired, she has him look for a friend's missing brother. But this search gets quite a bit more involved and dangerous as the story goes on.

Fiona Kennedy

A forensic anthropologist and Dan's love interest in seasons 11 and 12. Helps the team out in a number of cases.

• "Eureka!" Moment: has a few of these offscreen when examining evidence.
• Meet Cute: first meets Dan as they both talk about the features of a facial reconstruction program.

Ned Hancock

Another police commander and is married to Sasha Miller when he first appears, though the two split at the end of Sasha's first episode.

• Business Trip Adultery: After her first UCOS case, Sasha catches him having sex with someone while pretending to still be at a conference. (Most actually there for the conference had left early.) She splits as a result.
• Interservice Rivalry: His team is the rival during a couple of episodes. After London Underground, where UCOS runs a much better investigation than what his team did (that looked like a pointless side project at first), he acknowledges that they did a good job.

Emily Driscoll

A member of the police who claims to be Gerry's unknown daughter. Gerry has DNA tests done which show she isn't related, but pretends she is a daughter anyway.

• Consummate Professional: When Jack and Brian are sent to work with her murder investigation team in Shadow Show, she makes it clear they are following the official procedures instead of the more informal UCOS culture.
• Parental Substitute:. Why Gerry pretends to be her father after the DNA test, he wants her to feel like she has one.

Roger McHugh

"Roger the Dodger" seen in series 2 and 8, providing information to help with the case, though it takes some work to get the information out.

• Lovable Traitor: Comes across as one. Dishonest/questionable ethics, and doesn't like helping UCOS, but both times they get the information they want out of him.
• Private Detective: Works as one, and previous work of his comes up in both episode's cases.

Frank Patterson

Seen in seasons 6 and 7. In 6, he was involved in the original case UCOS is re-investigating, in season 7 he joins UCOS to look at another old case.

• Auction: How UCOS must get a car used in the crime in season 7.
• Hot-Blooded/Rabid Cop: As seen in season 7, he really, really wants to fight and break some rules. This gets taken advantage of to shut down UCOS temporarily, though they manage to solve the case anyway.
• The Infiltration: was assisting one of these in the season 6 case.

Stephen Fisher

A member of the intelligence services, shows up in a few episodes in seasons 8 and 9.

• Affably Evil: Comes across this way. Manipulative, slimy, sometimes dangerous, often interfering with UCOS's work.
• Brought Down to Normal: at the end of Parts of a Whole, he is visibly scared and shocked, losing the appearance of being in control.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In all his episodes, he ends up helping the investigation and doing what the main characters would want, but is still someone they badly want to avoid.

Ricky Hanson

The most murdering thieving...you get the idea, as described by Jack. It turns out he is the one who killed Jack's wife, in revenge for Jack investigating him.

• Amoral Attorney: His lawyers gets him out of the seemingly obvious case of attacking Jack in a hospital.
• Jerkass: All the way through. A criminal/gang leader obviously, but also does things like knowingly sleep with a daughter of his.
• Large and in Charge: a big, tall, muscular, intimidating person.
• Volleying Insults: how he prefers to talk when questioned by UCOS.

Characters in "The Rock"

Raphael Cruz

The cold case (among many other duties) officer in Gibraltar. Danny Bossano (The boy murder victim) is the one case he hasn't solved.

• Establishing Character Moment: We first meet him chasing and catching a suspect by speedboat.
• Gilligan Cut: Said chase takes place after Gerry says "cold case officer here? You'd be bored out of your mind".
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: The police version. Gibraltar is a small place, so police can't specialize.
• Rabid Cop: Inverted. Cruz is deliberately low key, saying that compromise gets better results and is necessary where he works.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: With Gerry.
• What the Hell, Hero?: When Fletcher is killed, he gets angry at UCOS, accusing them of indirectly causing the event, and calling out their more aggressive style.

Levi Bossano

Danny (the other murder victim's) father. Works in a warehouse and used to work as a sailor.

• Briefcase Full of Money: Package full of money in this case, is given a package with lots of cash he clearly doesn't want in episode 1.
• Dark Secret: He clearly is hiding something. We find out it is that He witnessed the murder of Christian Highsmith by Truman and is being paid/threatened to cover it up.
• My Greatest Failure: He acts this way towards the death of his son, which clearly still effects him. He calms down and becomes more open with UCOS when he learns how this happened.

Harry Truman

Not the US president, but an online gambling magnate based in Gibraltar. Also was friends with Christisn Highsmith.

• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Gets into this with Sandra. Which Sandra seems to like.
• Beneath the Mask: Can be a lot more threatening, such as after the poker game with Brian.
• Trapped by Gambling Debts: Doesn't want Christian to have any gambling debt used against him. Which is a lie. He used such a debt by Christian to get ship access for drug smuggling.

Captain Sinclair

The main military contact in Gibraltar. His father fought in the Falklands war, and he grew up on the peninsula.

• Bothering by the Book: Might be doing this, he insists on sending UCOS requests to London and generally following rules tightly.
• Brits with Battleships: A high ranking military commander.
• Dark Secret: Seems to be hiding something from UCOS, either about the soldiers or about his father. He is partly responsible for Danny's death. When forced to reveal this, he is very distraught and at one point steps close to a cliff.
• I Just Shot Marvin in the Face:How Danny Bossano died. When he, Christian, and Danny were kids, he took along as gun his Dad had brought from the war while they played soldier. The gun was loaded.

Characters in "Last Man Standing"

Episodes in General

The two part episode leading to Gerry's departure. The body of a man named Martin Akroyd is discovered, a former police commander who Gerry worked under for a short time.

• Constructive Body Disposal: How the body was hidden.
• Dirty Cop: most of them who appear.
• Flashback: The story of what happened around the murder is told this way.
• Frame-Up: The actual killers try to frame Gerry in various ways.
• Peekaboo Corpse: The corpse is discovered while refitting a house.

Martin Akroyd

The murdered policeman at the center of the case. Seen in flashback.

• Bullying a Dragon:Threatens Gerry just a bit too much in the second episode. Turns out a man with lots of criminal contacts can fight back.
• Dirty Cop: According to rumors, he was about to expose some and killed as a result. He was one. He was not about to reveal anything, though the killer thought he was.
• The Stool Pigeon: He and Gerry build up evidence about corruption in his unit.

Bryant and McCabe

Two former police in Akroyd's unit who are suspected of corruption and were fired after he disappeared. They now run a security business.

• Cold-Blooded Torture:How the UCOS team gets a testimony out of the two of them.
• Dirty Cop: They are heavily, heavily implied to be corrupt, and shown to be so in flashbacks.
• Smug Snake: How they talk in the present day.

Tommy Naylor

Started as a small time criminal in the flashbacks, in the present day is an established underworld person. Is one of Gerry's contacts.

• Frame-Up:Gerry has Naylor spread a rumor that Akroyd will spill the beans on corrupt cops. Gerry thinks Akroyd will run, but instead he gets killed when he tries to talk to Chapman.
• Token Evil Teammate: A full on criminal who helps UCOS during the episodes.

Dominick Chapman

A powerful organized crime figure in the area. In flashback, helped run his father's organized crime empire.

• Big Bad: The main person behind most corruption in the episode. He is the killer
• London Gangster

Ronald Sainsbury

A policemen investigating corruption when the murder took place. Who is also corrupt.

• Dirty Cop: Is shown pretty quickly to be corrupt.
• Internal affairs: Investigating corruptiom.
• Law of Inverse Recoil: Defied. Knocks himself out when he fires a shotgun.
• The Bad Guys Are Cops: Gerry goes to him for help, but as soon as Gerry leaves,,we see him planning something with Bryant and McCabe.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Pretends Gerry beat him up in the first episode.

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