The Chinese Job was the first episode of the first series of New Tricks.
After an attempt to rescue a kidnap victim goes horribly wrong, Supt. Sandra Pullman, the officer in charge who shot a dog during the raid, is reassigned. DAC Donald Bevan puts her in charge of UCOS, a new unit focusing on unsolved cases. There are no resources available, but Sandra is authorised to hire retired detectives and turns to her mentor, Jack Halford, to help her assemble a team. Together, they interview a number of ex-policemen and settle on Brian Lane, a reformed alcoholic who retired after a prisoner in his custody died, and Gerry Standing, an "old-school cop" with a reputation within the force for mixing with criminals and who won't hesitate to cut corners if it will get him a result. Their first case is the murder of a nightclub waitress in 1981 when the accused, Roddy Wringer, is released after 21 years in prison when one of the officers on his case is found to have been corrupt. Bevan is convinced Wringer is guilty and makes it clear that he expects Sandra to prove that. As the investigation progresses, however, it appears that Wringer may not have committed the murder that put him in jail and that the investigating officer knew that but withheld evidence.
Tropes:
- Bill... Bill... Junk... Bill...: Jack sorts through the list of potential UCOS candidates Sandra has been given and delivers one of these speeches. Most of the candidates are dead. The rest...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 CPSnote ... ditto the DTInote ... dead... alive, but don't leave him with your kids... retired sick - well, insane, really... dead... dead... would be if I got hold of him.
- Bystander Syndrome: The final arrest occurs at a dinner the villain is hosting, which results in a punch-up between the villain's family and friends and the cops, with everyone pitching in...except for one bloke, presumably not that fond of the villain, who just calmly finishes his meal with the chaos going on around him and walks out when everyone's gone, blithely muttering 'very nice' to the main characters as he leaves.
- In the same scene, Jack, Brian and Gerry — having caused the fight in the first place - decide discretion is the better part of valour and stand back to let the actual coppers take care of things, offering a running commentary all the while.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.
- In the same scene, Jack, Brian and Gerry — having caused the fight in the first place - decide discretion is the better part of valour and stand back to let the actual coppers take care of things, offering a running commentary all the while.
- Establishing Character Moment: Brian and Gerry each get one in the Terrible Interviewees Montage:
- On learning Pullman's name, Brian immediately rattles off her entire career history without prompting. When discussing his personal life after retirement, he disinterestedly rattles off a number of leisure pursuits he clearly couldn't care less about, only to immediately perk up when the subject returns back to working in the police force once again. We instantly get his obsessive attention to detail and his complete lack of a functional personal life outside of the job.
- On seeing an ashtray, Gerry immediately tries to light up, and gets petulant when told he can't. Upon realising who Pullman is, he eagerly brings up her shooting incident in order to piss her off. He's ruled by his vices, irreverent and disrespectful to authority.
- Framing the Guilty Party: DCI Lovett framed Roddy Ringer for the murder of Anna Dubrovski because he couldn't prove that Ringer had earlier killed Willie Sefton, and was certain that Ringer had killed Anna. Ironically, it turns out the evidence he used to frame Ringer (his shoes, which Lovett smeared with Anna's blood) did have Sefton's blood on them, so the frameup was unnecessary.
- Insult Backfire / Wrong Insult Offense: At the end of the episode, Sandra refers to the boys as 'criminals'. They react with offence. She amends the insult to 'crooks'. This, they can live with.
- Ironic Echo: The deputy commissioner tries to shut down Jack when he approaches him for a warrant by smugly pointing out that he's not actually a police officer any more. At the end, when the same deputy commissioner is getting his arse kicked in the climactic punch-up and begs Jack for help, Jack — who, with the others, his happily standing on the sidelines watching the chaos — 'apologetically' points out that he's "not actually a police officer anymore, remember?"
- Kick the Dog: Subverted/parodied; Sandra - a decent person - is forced to shoot one that is attacking her, but the resulting public outcry completely derails her career and makes her a laughing stock ("You shoot one dog in this country...")
