Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Tamzin Outhwaite, Dennis Waterman, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Denis Lawson, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Liz White, Louis Emerick, Storme Toolis, Carol Starks, Hermione Gulliford, Gary Oliver, Alix Wilston Regan, Elliot Levey.
What did the Romans ever do for us? It might have been possible to hear John Cleese remonstrate with the three life-hardened detectives in New Tricks’ latest episode Romans Ruined but far from the nice simple case that perhaps Gerry Standing was expecting, what they find at the end of the investigation is a crime that, at least in the team’s hearts, is not the ending they would have liked to pursue.
Roman’s Ruined looks at the remains of many strands of life that it was perhaps one of the most serious of all the stories so far in the latest series and it was with little wonder that the effect on Danny Griffin’s life as the back story to his solitude was opened up for the viewer and the lethargy that is starting to hit home in Gerry Standing’s time at UCOS should be bought to full account with the episode being written by original devisor Roy Mitchell.
This back drop to the case, the bearing fruit of two of the team’s personal lives and age could really have only been captured by the man who bought the series to the television in the first place. It captured the mood and grittiness that the case required and with the use of a Roman re-enactment society as the means to the plot narrative, it showed that many things can be buried deep in the mists of time but sometimes the past is something that will eventually turn up, like a long forgotten coin stuck in a field in Hampshire minted 2,000 years ago, its secrets harboured closely.
The appearances of Louis Emerick, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Liz White greatly added to the episodes enjoyment and only served to highlight the depth of acting talent there is around when these three incredibly good actors cannot get more than just a passing nod in a programme such as New Tricks. Liz White especially stands out as the hard bitten ex-undercover policewoman. From her exceptional appearance in the superb Life On Mars, viewers may well have expected her to go on to bigger and brighter things, yet somehow like many a talented actor, she seems to have gone under the radar, only appearing in programmes that require the necessary skill she provides. At some point, surely, arguably, Liz White will get her day in the sun as the absolute lead in a series.
Fans of the programme may be distressed when they heard that Dennis Waterman, the only surviving member of the original team, is to leave during the next series but whilst his presence will be sorely missed, the programme will surely survive and carry on, certainly with Denis Lawson, the incomparable Nicholas Lyndhurst and Tamzin Outhwaite playing more of a central role, New Tricks teaches many an armchair detective the fundamentals of good research.
Ian D. Hall