The Original Old Dogs
Detective Chief Superintendent John Halford or Jack as he was always known was Sandra’s old boss when he was a serving policeman, so it was to Jack that she turned first when she had to put UCOS together. This made him the effective senior member of the team and both Brian and Gerry accepted his seniority … well most of the time anyway! Jack’s regular career had been brought to an end by his wife, Mary Halford’s death in 1998 after a hit and run. It was five years later that Jack agreed to return and it gave him the focus that he had been missing in the years since Mary had died. His methods were old school in terms of his approach to suspects which could be extremely abrasive, especially if he thought that this would trip them up. He liked the old methods of ‘proper’ policework, but he was also happy to use the new technology that became available if he thought it could help him get a conviction. He brought a sense of humour to the team that was as old school as he was and often Sandra would be left shaking her head in exasperation as he and the rest of the team started acting more like schoolchildren than pensioners! Despite the problems associated with becoming a subordinate of someone who you used to manage, Jack was seldom bothered by the reversal of roles unless it stopped him doing his job as he saw it. At those times he could be very cutting and sometimes downright unpleasant to Sandra. His occasional abrasiveness was offset by a genuine friendship with the other three members of UCOS, and he would often find himself either helping or covering for Brian and Gerry. The only time he lost control was when he was taunted by Ricky Hanson, an old school villain who he had never managed to put away. When he finds out the shocking truth about one of Hanson’s crime he decides to take the law into his own hands with disastrous consequences.
James Bolam has been one of the UK’s most popular actors for five decades with a string of hits like When the Boat Comes In, The Likely Lads, Only When I Laugh and The Beiderbecke Affair. Equally adept at comedy and drama he always delivered fantastic performances, seemingly without effort. With nearly 100 films or TV programmes to his credit he has built up a body of work that has made his name and face familiar to three generations of viewers.
Brian Lane was initially a character that seemed defined by his idiosyncrasies. His ability to recall every detail about a crime or a colleague earned him the nickname ‘Memory’ Lane. Despite its usefulness, his gift attracted snide comments from a number of the policemen he had worked with. He found it very difficult to maintain friendships due, almost certainly, to an autistic spectrum condition which, though never specified, was a fairly extreme form of Asperger Syndrome. His issues with everyday life led him to become an alcoholic. Although he had stopped drinking by the time he came to UCOS, the danger of relapse was never far away. When he was working on a case he could get completely obsessed to the extent of staying in the office all night and, on at least one occasion, refusing to take the medication that dampened his more manic side because of the effect it was having on his thinking processes. The only person who stood between him and disaster was his long suffering wife Esther who was completely loyal to him but also able to put him in his place at any time when he was becoming obsessed or in danger of slipping into bad habits. In this, she had willing accomplices in the form of Jack, Gerry and Sandra who would often intervene when needed. When she thought that his colleagues had let him down she could be incredibly angry and unforgiving, but that was purely because she loved him so much. For his part, Brian was, at times, the only person who could get through to Jack. When Jack went missing after a court case that saw a self-confessed murderer walk free, it was Brian who tracked him down, persuaded him to come back and kept an eye on him as he readjusted.
Alun Armstrong has been a regular on British screens for many years, with nearly 150 roles on screen. He would often be a supporting character but he would steal scenes with aplomb. During the early part of his career his paths crossed with James Bolam in The Likely Lads and Dennis Waterman in The Sweeney. As well as his TV work he has been a prolific stage actor with extensive experience of Shakespeare, and as part of the original cast of Les Miserables in the West End.
The longest serving member of UCOS didn’t treat his superiors with quite the respect they deserved at time, so it was a good job he was such an effective policeman! Gerry Standing, born Gerald Lestade, came from a family of butchers. He turned his back on the family trade to become a policeman, much to the anger of his father. For that reason he does his best to keep those two sides of his life separate, although in one memorable case they collide head on. Gerry collected three ex wives and three children along the way and is constantly complaining how much they all cost him, but in reality he would give them his last penny. Add to this his penchant for gambling which Sandra tried to curb, and which came back to haunt him on a couple of occasions, and his long service with UCOS makes sense in financial terms. However, that is far from the only reason. He loves to belong and to feel like he’s contributing and UCOS allows him to do this. Perhaps more than any other old dog, Gerry Standing is prepared to do whatever it takes to get his result. He has a string of dodgy contacts from his past, although his nickname ‘Last Man Standing’ reflected his determination to steer clear of bribes when the rest of his unit were on the payrolls of criminals. Sandra and Sasha both had to dig deep to save him from himself on a number of occasions, but he was the type of copper who thrived on loyalty to others and expected it in return. Initially, he was at daggers drawn with DAC Robert Strickland, but over the years he realised that within the limits of his job, Strickland was prepared to protect UCOS with everything at his disposal. When he finds himself accused of corruption and murder it is Strickland who gives him the chance to clear his name. It’s not too much of a stretch to say that the two men become friends over time.
Dennis Waterman needs no introduction to anyone who has been watching British TV since the early 70s. He has appeared in The Sweeney, Minder and New Tricks, three of the most popular programmes of their eras, and his acting talent and the twinkle in his eye have made him a popular actor across three generations of viewers. He is a superb singer who had a big hit with the theme from Minder, I Could be so Good for You, and of course the theme to New Tricks. On stage he appeared as Eliza Doolittle’s father in the revival of My Fair Lady to rave reviews. He is iconic, and quite simply one of the most popular actors on British TV in the last 50 years.
Classic Episodes
Congratulations and Casualty (Series 3 Episode 8/ Series 4 Episode 1) – This is effectively a two-parter, with massive repercussions for UCOS and Jack in particular. Ricky Hanson is a nasty old time villain who Jack was never able to collar, and the case at the end of Series 3 sees an old arson conviction overturned when Luke Hanson is discovered to have an alibi. Jack is convinced that he was protecting Ricky and he decides to ruffle a few feathers as he desperately tries to pin the crime on him. It is a fantastically nasty, almost psychotic performance, from David Troughton as Ricky Hanson, and you realise why Jack’s failure to nail him has angered and frustrated him for so long. When he finds out that Ricky Hanson was responsible for another death Jack loses control and decides to take the law into his own hands. The first episode of Series 4 sees the aftermath of Jack’s decision as the full impact becomes clear. It is a tour de force from both James Bolam and David Troughton in both episodes as these two implacable foes square up to each other. New Tricks never shied away from the nastier side of life but never was it brought so much into focus as on these two episodes. It showed that New Tricks could be as powerful and uncompromising as any other police drama.
God’s Waiting Room (Series 4 Episode 2)
New Tricks had really got into its stride by this point, and it went from the deeply dramatic opener to Series 4 to one of the most comedic episodes of the whole run. However, even among the comedy, Amanda Redman turns in a beautifully conflicted performance opposite the magnificent Sheila Hancock as her embittered and largely estranged mother, Grace. It is due to Grace’s increasing frailty that Sandra decides to visit prospective care homes. A chance remark by a resident convinces her to investigate a care home where a murder may have taken place. In order to get the inside story Jack poses as Gerry’s father, much to his disgust and Gerry’s delight and becomes a resident of the care home itself! The digs that Gerry gets in are a delight as are Jack’s reactions, but the comic highlight comes later on in the episode. Gerry talks about what a brilliant singer his dad was, but he is talking about his own father. The other residents rope in a delighted Gerry and a seething Jack to sing a duet in one of the funniest scenes of the entire series.
Loyalties and Royalties (Series 5 Episode 4)
This episode was pivotal in turning Strickland into a boss who the old dogs trusted and came to like. It is the story of Bad Faith, loved by both Gerry and Strickland, a 70s rock band who made one huge album then split up. There are a lot of jokes at the expense of the rock star lifestyle and a minor storyline of Strickland trying to sign a reluctant Gerry up as the lead singer for a band made up of some of Strickland’s fellow officers that is played for laughs. The other major element of this episode that made it important was the return of Jack after an absence related to the Ricky Hanson events of Series 3 and 4. It is a typically low key return for Jack but the whole episode brings into focus the effect that his absence has had on the team. It is interesting to see a series prepared to delve into the interpersonal relationships of co-workers in such a subtle and well thought out way.
The War Against Drugs (Series 6 Episode 1)
This episode sees Brian booked into a rehabilitation retreat for addicts run by monks, as a last chance to save his marriage to the long suffering Esther and his job at UCOS. He discovers that there was a suspicious death in the retreat, and he rings Sandra asking her to help him investigate it. Esther has already torn a strip off of Sandra, blaming her for the chain of events that have led to Brian succumbing to alcohol once again, and told her that no one in UCOS is to go anywhere near Brian. In order to help him, Gerry goes undercover posing as a sex addict! When Esther discovers the team there she is livid and Sandra has to explain exactly what is happening, but the truth is more disturbing than any of them could have imagined. Susan Jameson as Esther was always great in the series, but her anger at UCOS and protectiveness towards her beloved but damaged husband are powerfully portrayed in an episode where she really shines.
A Death in the Family (Series 9 Episode 1)
I really had to choose this episode because it is Jack’s final appearance as a member of UCOS. The episode itself has the Brilliant Tim McInnerny as the incredibly slimy and deeply amoral Stephen Fisher. He only appeared in three episodes but such was his impact that he became very much part of the unfolding narrative of the series. The case in this episode is the coldest cold case ever, as it dates from 1851! It is really interesting watching UCOS build up the case without interviews or even the family of suspects. James Bolam is marvellously brittle in this final episode but he also exudes a calmness which says that this is his time to leave. Jack’s last conversation with Brian is beautifully played by both actors. It is a fitting swansong from the leader of the pack of old dogs.
Next time
The newer dogs, the supporting cast and more favourite episodes.
The start of the new decade
Yes, I know that technically 1979 wasn’t the start of a new decade, but if you look at everything that was happening, it was the year that the 1980s started culturally, politically, and musically. So many things happened in this year that were to become pivotal in all three areas, that I don’t think any history of the 80s can start later than 1979.
Britain turns to Maggie
On May 4, the UK woke up to the news that James Callaghan’s Labour government had, as expected, been ousted by Margaret Thatcher’s opposition Conservative Party. Cards on the table here, I was living in a staunchly Conservative area, and she was something of a heroine already to a number of the Tory supporters like my Dad and his friends. As a result I was as pleased as he was at the time. Let’s just say, I changed my views in the years afterwards(!), but this is looking back to 1979 and in our Tory supporting, Daily Telegraph reading household there was a genuine sense of optimism. To understand this, you need to know that even the least political person, and I had never been that, saw a country on its knees. Towards the end of January, public sector strikers went on strike and, for just over a month, the usual running of the country stopped. The BBC News showed the mass of black bags in the centre of Leicester Square where rubbish went uncollected during that time and the mainly hostile press went to town over reports of the dead being unburied. It really looked as though the country was falling apart. The abiding memories of those grim scenes are often coupled with James Callaghan’s response of ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’. Except of course, he never said it. It was a headline used on The Sun front page paraphrasing the much more nuanced response of
‘I don’t think other people in the world would share the view [that] there is mounting chaos.’
Callaghan looked, at best, complacent or, at worst, in denial. In all honesty the damage had already been done when he failed to go for a snap election in October 1978 when Labour were in a small but clear lead in the polls. When he blinked, much as Gordon Brown did 30 years later, he lost his chance and the Winter of Discontent made defeat inevitable. It is highly likely that the majority may have been very slim, or he might have been in charge of another minority government, but it would certainly not have given the Conservatives a 45 seat majority. In 1979, however, Thatcher’s room for manoeuvre was very small, and her attempts to drag the country to the right were thwarted by a combination of events and the more conciliatory approach of her mainly ‘One Nation’ colleagues. That, however, is a story for another year!
Terrorist assassinations
In 1979, two terrorist attacks hit the headlines more than any since the pub bombings of 1974. In March, Airey Neave, an MP, and Margaret Thatcher’s closest political friend was killed by a car bomb planted by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). Before coming into politics he had, like many other politicians been a decorated serviceman in World War II. Neave was the first person to escape from Colditz, and after the war he was part of the Nuremberg Trials where his legal training and fluent German made him an integral part of the team and saw him accorded the honour of reading out the charges to the Nazi officers on trial. A fiercely right wing politician, he masterminded Margaret Thatcher’s election as Conservative leader and influenced her approach significantly. The INLA bomb robbed her of her mentor just over a month before the election.
The second major assassination was an even more shocking one for the UK public as a whole and the Royal Family in particular. On August Bank Holiday Monday, 18 soldiers were killed in an Irish Republican Army (IRA) ambush at Warrenpoint, but that news was overshadowed by the IRA’s assassination of Lord Mountbatten of Burma, Prince Philip’s Uncle, and the Prince of Wales’s mentor. It was one of those moments that I remember exactly where I was. I was playing Monopoly with my friend Steve when the newsflash came up. My Dad was in the room, just about to go off to work, and the anger of his reaction is etched upon my memory. He took me up to the funeral the following week where I blotted my copybook by nearly fainting just before the cortege came along to where we were waiting. He had to get me to the grass where it was clear of people, and he lost the space we had been occupying for almost 3 hours! We could still see the funeral procession, but the view was nowhere near as good as it should have been. To say he was, quite naturally, unhappy was an understatement! For my own part I felt extremely guilty at the time and still do. It’s one of those moments I wish I could relive and change. If I could, I would have insisted on taking food for me to have during that 3 hours to give me a chance of staying upright for that vital extra 5 minutes.
A comedy hero
The death that touched me most deeply that year came in March. One of my favourite actors at the time was a young comedian called Richard Beckinsale. He had appeared in Porridge, one of the finest comedies ever written, and its sequel Going Straight, alongside the great Ronnie Barker. He was one of the biggest stars of the time for this and his role in Rising Damp with another comedy great Leonard Rossiter. At 31 his career was already the envy of much more established actors, and he had started to branch out, filming a drama which would have shown him as a very gifted straight actor. Then, on March 19, 1979, came the dreadful news that he had died of a heart attack. Ronnie Barker was heartbroken and could barely speak when he collected an award for Going Straight. Like all of Beckinsale’s fans he couldn’t come to terms with the unfairness of life. His death, as well as robbing him of 40 or 50 years of life, had robbed us of an actor who would undoubtedly have become an all-time great of both comedy and drama.
A pivotal year in music
As I said at the beginning of this article, 1979 was the start of the 80s. Nowhere was this truer than in music. This was the year where New Wave exploded on to the charts in all its variety. Initially seen as an offshoot of punk, New Wave quickly overtook its originators and became the dominant force in music, seeding its influence throughout the 80s and beyond. A number of artists who became indelibly associated with the following decade saw their first major chart successes in 1979 and there were two one hit wonders whose records were always, in my mind at least, associated with the 80s. It was a year when my record buying started to increase in frequency and the importance I attached to music move up a gear as, more than ever, it became my escape from everyday life.
An arresting sound
The first New Wave group I really became a massive fan of was The Police. They were a three piece made up of Sting on Bass and Lead Vocals, Andy Summers on Guitar and Stewart Copeland on Drums. The first hit of theirs that really made me sit up and take notice was, Can’t Stand Losing You, with the heady mixture of Sting’s iconic vocals, the reggae inflected sound and the sardonic lyrics about a young man’s problems in love featuring lyrics like
‘Your brother’s gonna kill me and he’s 6 feet 10!’
A blackly humorous line that always makes me laugh when I hear it.
‘I see you sent my letters back
And my L.P. records, and they’re all scratched.’
That second lyric definitely struck fear into my vinyl loving heart! Eventually the young man decides he is going to kill himself with the spiteful comment.
‘I guess this is our last goodbye
And you don’t care, so I won’t cry
But you’ll be sorry when I’m dead
And all this guilt will be on your head.’
This record caused a certain amount of controversy when it was released originally in 1978, not only for the lyrics but also for the original cover which showed Stewart Copeland standing on a block of ice with a noose around his neck, presumably waiting for it to melt! It was banned by the BBC, which obviously ensured that this new band would get noticed. Upon rerelease the cover was changed to a picture of The Police, the track was unbanned by the BBC and in July they had a Number 2 record.
From September, The Police went from promising newcomers to the best band in Britain with the release of their first Number 1 single, the incredible ‘Message in a Bottle’. I was utterly hooked from the opening guitar intro, one of the best ever in my opinion. Then came Sting’s lyrics where he spoke of the loneliness of someone going through life without finding anyone to share it with. He sends out an S.O.S. in a bottle and waits for a reply that he decides isn’t coming. Then he wakes up one morning and finds ‘a hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore’ of his desert island. In other hands those lyrics would be trite, but Sting sang every word as if it were vitally important. It was quite simply one of those songs that come about rarely in life and change your entire musical universe. Their album, Regatta De Blanc, was a work of genius that just captivated me throughout, and it is still one of my all-time favourites.
Blonde ambition
Debbie Harry and Blondie came from the punk scene of New York, but they were definitely part of the New Wave invasion of the charts. The combination of Harry’s incredible voice, the fact that she was drop dead gorgeous and Blondie’s knack of recording brilliant song after brilliant song made them one of the biggest acts of the year. Their two Number 1 records were the synth powered Heart of Glass and the pure pop of Sunday Girl. Heart of Glass was influenced by Giorgio Moroder, whose disco sound had already provided huge hits for the likes of Donna Summer. Blondie gave it a rock twist by combining the synth style drum track with real drumming giving the song that edge which made it so popular. My favourite record of theirs, though, was the gorgeous Sunday Girl, which was a throwback to the pure pop of 60s girl groups and one of Harry’s most appealing vocal performances. There was, unusually, another version sung completely in French, part of which was borrowed for the English version which gave it a more cosmopolitan vibe. Debbie Harry and French were definitely a match made in heaven! Her ability to turn her amazing voice to any style of music was definitely the main reason for Blondie’s success, but without the superb musicians behind her she wouldn’t have the right backing to make Blondie such a phenomenon.
Punk makes a splash
The great thing about the charts of 1979 was the sheer variety of acts who were having hits. Three groups who came out of the punk rock bands of the time to make a huge name for themselves proved that you didn’t have to tone down your approach to become successful. First of all you had Ian Dury and the Blockheads with the humour and wordplay of Hit Me with your Rhythm Stick. They were witty, earthy and educated and made full use of those qualities in their impossibly catchy Number 1 hit. Like Debbie Harry they used languages other than English, but to very different effect! It was a classic teenage singalong, but one that was a cut above the rest.
The big hit of summer 1979 was I Don’t Like Mondays by The Boomtown Rats. Lead singer Bob Geldof was controversial, intense, and seemed intent on stirring up a section of the record buying public. The previous year, their first Number 1, Rat Trap, was the song that finally knocked Summer Nights off the top. They celebrated on Top of the Pops by ripping up pictures of John Travolta and Olivia Newton John! Their lyrics were always socially aware, but I Don’t Like Mondays moved that up a notch by setting an early school shooting in America to music. Even then, they did not look to glorify the shooter. Geldof saw it as the ultimate senseless act. The iconic opening line, ‘The silicon chip inside her head had switched to overload’, was based on meeting Steve Jobs of Apple. The line about the telex machine typing was based on the first news report he saw on the case. It became an iconic piece of music that was played to such great effect 6 years later during Live Aid.
A number of punk bands hit the Top 10 during 79 with the Sex Pistols seeing three records hit the charts as a result of the Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle. Memorable one hit wonders that year came from The Skids with Into the Valley, The Ruts with Babylon’s Burning and, perhaps most memorably, The Dickies with the speeded up thrash of The Banana Splits Theme Tune! Clocking in at 1 minute 51 seconds it was one of the shortest records ever in the UK Top 10. Finally Sham 69 reached Number 6 with Hersham Boys, their third and final Top 10 hit.
An Electronic Pioneer
Gary Numan was responsible for two of the most influential Number 1 records of the year. His first was under the name Tubeway Army with Are Friends Electric? The band had first been noticed when they provided the jingle for jeans brand Lee Cooper. The track, Don’t Be a Dummy didn’t become a hit in its own right, but it probably paved the way for the Kraftwerk style tone of the single being accepted by the record buying public. It was Number 1 for four weeks. Numan then dropped the Tubeway Army name as he had recorded a new album, The Pleasure Principle, with a new line up and he put himself front and centre. His image was one of an android who was totally divorced from the real world. Cars, his second single played on this isolation with the line, ‘Here in my car, I feel safest of all’. This record was to be his final Number 1, but his influence on the next generation of electronic bands was enormous.
Other hits in other styles
The fascinating state of flux the charts were in could be best shown by the middle of May. Number 1 was Bright Eyes, written by Mike Batt for the film Watership Down. It was beautifully sung by Art Garfunkel and stayed at Number 1 for 6 weeks becoming the biggest selling single of the year. Just failing to dislodge it was the iconic and rather brilliant single Pop Muzik by M. Its futuristic sound and insistent beat with the chorus ‘New York, London, Paris, Munich, everyone’s talking bout Pop Muzik’ not only captured my imagination then, but four decades later sounds just as fresh. At three and four in the charts were Europop stalwarts Boney M and ABBA. The Number 5 record was from the Chinn and Chapman stable, which had been responsible for a large part of Glam Rock. It was the catchy and sexist (not that that was a consideration at the time) Some Girls by Racey. The record was reminiscent of Mud and it was making its slow way down the charts having reached Number 2. It was a marvellously varied period of chart history that probably led to the eclectic tastes that I have displayed since!
The final Number 1 of the 70s was the Christmas chart topper Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd, their first hit for 12 years and their only Number 1. My parents hated it due to its chanted, menacing refrain,
‘We don’t need no education. We don’t need no thought control. No dark sarcasm in the classroom. Teacher leave them kids alone!’
As someone who hated every minute of my secondary education, it became a kind of inner theme tune as I’m sure it did for many, many others.
Next time
Ska, 2-Tone, John Lennon and The Jam all play a part in broadening my horizons.
If you are interested in listening to some of the music on this blog, go to my personal 70s playlist covering every possible genre.
Marking Time before everything changed.
In many ways, 1978 was a year where very little seemed to happen. After the drought in 76 and the Jubilee in 77, it was a year with no obvious focal points. As a student of politics, however, I can see it as laying the groundwork for the following year’s election.
After years of Post-War Consensus, where both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party agreed on Nationalisation of vital sectors, a large welfare state and high taxes, the speeches of Margaret Thatcher, the opposition leader indicated that she wasn’t interested in continuing with that approach. Most commentators, however, saw it as political positioning, prior to an election that could come at any time, so ingrained was the idea of that consensus. Thatcher’s position as Prime Minister in waiting grew in strength as the year continued and the Labour Party under Jim Callaghan became a minority government reliant on support from small parties to stay in power. The next election had to be no later than November 1979, and although Labour limped through to the end of 1978, it was clear that they were highly unlikely to get that far.
She was connecting with voters by being prepared to move outside the coded political language of the time. In February 1978 she used the word ‘swamped’ in relation to immigration which, deliberately or not, echoed the language of far right MPs such as Enoch Powell and reflected a number of prevailing attitudes in the UK at the time. For example, the first black footballer to play for England, Viv Anderson, made his debut in a European Championship qualifying game against Czechoslovakia in November 1978. Although he was hugely talented and there on merit, he faced volleys of abuse from his own fans. Every week in the league for Nottingham Forest he faced fans throwing bananas at him and shouting racial abuse at him in every game, as did the growing number of talented black footballers like Laurie Cunningham and Cyrille Regis. Although their talent laid the groundwork for the increasing profile of, and opportunities for, later generations, they had to face huge amounts of abuse in an era when football was an expression of attitudes that were even more hostile than those in wider society. The National Front, a fascist party who were close to winning seats on local councils at the time especially in London and the West Midlands, were still active and activists could be found handing out racist literature at Secondary schools in areas where it had some support, like Kent where I lived at the time.
The start of a children’s TV institution
in February 1978, the cosy middle class world of children’s television was shaken up by a new programme set in a North London Secondary school called Grange Hill. It tackled issues such as racism, poverty, bullying and domestic abuse. The topics had hardly ever been brought up in a mainstream children’s programme before, and it was extremely controversial right from the start. Parents hated it and kids loved it because it showed the reality of school beyond the gates and away from the carefully constructed image of parents’ evenings and the open evenings, where junior school children and their parents were given the picture of a supportive environment with kind teachers and well behaved students. The reality was, of course, bullying by staff and other students in a place where the law of the jungle ruled. Phil Redmond nailed the nastier side of school so well that those, who like me saw that side as their daily reality, but parents who were apparently suffering from amnesia after leaving their own schools 25 years earlier, were up in arms!
The cast of children were the polar opposite of the RP stage school types that otherwise dominated children’s TV. There was a reality about them that made Grange Hill more documentary than drama. The main characters for the first series were Tucker Jenkins (Todd Carty), Benny Green (Terry-Sue Patt), Alan Humphries (George Armstrong), Trisha Yates (Michelle Herbert) and Justin Bennett (Robert Craig-Morgan). These characters lasted for the full 5 years – no sixth form for Grange Hill at that time! – but it was Judy Preston (Abigail Brown) who I most identified with, even though she only appeared in the first series and the final episode of Series 2. She was shown on her first day being terrified of the school after the stories she’d been told, only to have those fears rubbished by her mother. She was considered to be ‘posh’ as indeed I was having been to a private school for three years and was worried that this would make her stand out. When she got there she found that the stories were absolutely true, and by Episode 3 she was involved in serious bullying both during and after school. Luckily for her, Trisha is around to help her, resulting in a major crush on Trisha on my part(!), but for many of us there was no Trisha to help so the bullying continued unchecked. The teaching staff were also realistic with the odd, nice teacher like Mr Hopwood (Brian Capron) and Mr Mitchell (Michael Percival) very much at odds with the old guard of unapproachable and occasionally bullying staff who saw children as the enemy.
It is impossible to overstate the effect that Grange Hill had on children at the time. There were finally people and situations recognisable in real life played out on our television. Todd Carty and Michelle Herbert in particular became household names because they were flawed, but essentially nice, kids who were looking for a way through school with as little damage, physical and emotional, as possible. The new reality that Phil Redmond brought to the series paved the way for series like Tracy Beaker in later years, which in many ways would make Grange Hill’s early series look quite cosy! It was very much our programme, an impression reinforced by adult hatred of this new series. Once your parents started complaining about a show you knew it had to be a good thing!
The home grown Starsky and Hutch!
During the first three months of1978, Friday nights were set aside for the most exciting UK series since The Sweeney made its debut. The Sweeney started its final series in 1978 so it was good timing. With an explosive theme tune and the close, but definitely blokey, professional and personal relationship between the two lead characters, Bodie and Doyle, the Starsky and Hutch influence was clear. However, being British TV, the storylines could be more controversial, the action more brutal and the language nearer to the knuckle. Martin Shaw, already an experienced actor with an appearance in Roman Polanski’s Macbeth playing Banquo under his belt, played Ray Doyle, a no-nonsense former policeman. Lewis Collins played the ex SAS hardman, William Bodie, although he was only ever known by his surname. The interesting aspect of Bodie’s character was the fact that he was actually allowed to be as intelligent as Doyle, but he kept it hidden from all but his close associates. Overseeing the two CI5 agents was Gordon Jackson, who had become a household name as Hudson in Upstairs Downstairs, as George Cowley. Tough and uncompromising, Cowley was prepared to accept that Bodie and Doyle would go to any lengths to get a result, but they knew that if they let him down or directly disobeyed him that he would waste no time in getting rid of them.
The Professionals threw its two heroes into a variety of situations that, in one case, was too much for even the more relaxed TV censors of the time. Klansmen was an episode based around a racist group in London, and the language, in an era where racial terms were used with a certain amount of freedom, was too much so the episode was never shown on terrestrial television. Of course, we knew nothing about that at the time and the 12 episodes that were shown made The Professionals a must watch series.
The Scottish star of Saturday nights
The BBC was still the channel to watch on Saturday night, and in September of 1978 they made the decision to continue The Generation Game despite Bruce Forsyth’s defection to ITV. Forsyth had made the show, where two pairs of related couples like Mother and Son, Father and Daughter, Uncle and Niece or Aunt and Nephew, competed against each other for the chance to win prizes from a conveyor belt at the end of the game. Quite honestly though, I wasn’t tuning in for the show or the new host Larry Grayson, brilliant though he was. I was tuning in week after week for Isla St Clair, his Scottish co-host, and another huge crush, who was the first celebrity to send me a signed photo! As you can imagine that was a picture that took pride of place on my wall for a good few years!
Grease is the word – pretty much all year!
The biggest film at the UK Box Office in 1978 was Grease, so it isn’t too surprising if the film soundtrack for the film had spawned a hit or two. Except, it didn’t just do well, it dominated the charts. Although it felt like a whole year when you couldn’t escape from it, it seems that my memory was playing tricks on me. The first single to hit the charts was You’re the One That I Want by John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. It stayed at Number 1 for 9 weeks from the beginning of June and is the fifth bestselling single of all time in the UK, having exceeded the 2 million mark.
Even if you weren’t a big fan of it, you had to admit it did everyone a favour by keeping one of the worst novelty songs ever off of the top spot. The Smurf Song by Father Abraham and the Smurfs was at Number 2 for a frankly baffling 6 weeks. At the time I wondered who was buying it, and the radio was turned off every time it came on. Even Top of the Pops was muted it was that bad!!
After a five week breather, the second mega single from the film, Summer Nights, (definitely my favourite of the two) hit the charts in September and spent 7 weeks at Number 1 selling a ‘mere’ 1.6 million copies. As well as this, Sandy by John Travolta and Hopelessly Devoted to You by Olivia Newton John both hit Number 2 in November, Grease by Frankie Valli got to Number 3 in September and Greased Lightning again by John Travolta got to Number 11 just before Christmas 1978. Between those six singles they shifted nearly 5 million copies and Travolta racked up nearly nine months in the Top 10 on his own! I never saw the film until years later and I never bought any of the singles, but in 1978 Grease was inescapable!
L S Lowry has a brush with musical fame
One of the most unusual Number One records of 1978 was also my favourite. Like Vincent, 6 years earlier, the subject was an artist who became famous for his individual style. L S Lowry was a painter from Salford near Manchester who painted scenes featuring the industrial landscape of the city. It was his instantly recognisable matchstalk figures that gave Brian and Michael (actually Kevin Parrott and Michael Coleman) a very unexpected hit. The song’s chorus that became so familiar was in some ways as apparently simple as the art that inspired it, but as with the art it hid a real talent in plain sight. The song appealed to record buyers of all ages and was Number 1 for 3 weeks. When I bought the single I started to listen more carefully to the words of the verses which told the story of Lowry’s life with economy and understanding, and which are true masterpieces of the songwriter’s art. The third verse probably demonstrates their brilliance most effectively as they are written with wry humour and a certain dismissiveness of ‘experts’.
Now canvas and brushes were wearing thin
When London started calling him
To come on down and wear the old flat cap
They said tell us all about your ways
And all about them Salford days
Is it true you’re just an ordinary chap?
The hidden gem on the B Side is ‘The Old Rocking Chair’, a song that made me very misty eyed when I first listened to it, and indeed every time since. It wasn’t just me who was left emotional. The Ivor Novello award for best lyric went to this incredibly beautiful B Side. I will just leave you to consider the chorus, sang by an old man about his wife.
She was bonny, she was fair
And we made a lovely pair
I’d give half the world to see her
In the old rocking chair.
The best of the rest
Showaddywaddy, in their last really successful year, had three more Top 5 hits. At the time, my least favourite of the three was A Little Bit of Soap. That wasn’t to say that I didn’t like it, but it didn’t appeal to me. I changed my mind after my first trip to see them in concert at the Chatham Central Hall. Listening to Dave Bartram singing that song live gave it a whole new feel and it became a firm favourite from then on. Obviously, I couldn’t admit to kids at school that I had gone because they were as uncool as you could get by then, but I know that everyone else missed out seeing one of the finest live acts of the time!
Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty was one of the most recognisable and classy hits of the year with an incredible saxophone solo that blew me away and gave me a lifelong affection for that song and made me a fan of any song that made use of a saxophone solo! When I was preparing for this blog I wanted to see how long it was Number 1 for. I had a feeling it was 3 or 4 weeks. The answer? It never got to Number 1! It spent two weeks at its highest position of Number 3. Despite this it has to be one of the greatest records of the decade.
The Christmas Number 1 of 1978 was the third Top 10 hit of the year for Boney M, who couldn’t put a foot wrong in 1978. Rivers of Babylon got to Number 1 for 5 weeks in May, outselling You’re the One That I Want, the third biggest selling single of the decade, to become the best-selling single of the year! A fairly accurate historical account of the life and death of Rasputin was a relative failure peaking at Number 2 behind Summer Nights. Their Christmas Number 1, Mary’s Boy Child became the fourth biggest seller of the entire decade. In a year of Grease dominance they were the one act who more than held their own.
Next time
A new occupant in 10 Downing Street and a New Wave carries me away!
The Queen celebrating and the King leaving the building.
In 1977 the focus of the UK was on an event that, for many, would give a welcome respite from the trials and tribulations of a country that was still recovering from one of the worst economic periods in living memory at that time. The Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was the first major royal celebration since the Coronation, and it involved a large number of events culminating in an extra Bank Holiday on June 7 where people up and down the country held street parties. Not everyone was happy to celebrate, however, as there was a small but vociferous minority of Republicans who felt that the institution should be abolished. Punk rock made the news that month when the Sex Pistols released God Save the Queen. I didn’t hear the song until a few years later, but at the time I was able to guess that it wasn’t the National Anthem! All I remember is that on the Top 20 on a Sunday night and Top of the Pops announced that it was in the charts – reaching Number 2 on Jubilee week itself – but that neither was allowed to play it. That, in itself, gave the record a popularity, and an air of danger, which would probably have escaped it had the BBC not banned it. The actual Number 1 that week was I Don’t Want to Talk About It by Rod Stewart, although rumours persist that it sold fewer copies and was kept at Number 1 to avoid embarrassing Queen Elizabeth.
August 16 1977 saw the death of the biggest star of the 50s and 60s. Although Elvis Presley was already a figure of concern to some, and derision to others, as a result of his ballooning weight it was still a massive shock when his death was announced. It is one of those moments that I can remember exactly where I was. Elvis was only 42 when he died and the outpouring of grief from his grieving fans was a testament to his enduring popularity. There is a tendency to split Elvis’ career into the success of the 50s & early 60s followed by increasing artistic failure thereafter. This isn’t the place to analyse that, but I first got into his music with the previous year’s ballad My Boy and Moody Blue from March. Way Down which was released just after his death stormed to the top of the charts and demonstrated the heights that his voice could still reach. After his death I discovered his early records and his place in my musical affections was secure.
The Grand National and upheaval for cricket
In 1977, the Grand National was at the peak of its popularity. This was due entirely to one horse, Red Rum. He was a sporting star in his own right, and huge numbers of people tuned in to the race to see if he could finally win his third Grand National. After wins in 73 and 74, followed by 2 second places in 75 and 76, it was widely seen as his last chance to write himself into the record books. I was one of the millions glued to the TV on 2 April 1977. As well as watching it, I also recorded it on my cassette player and listened to the race so much in the months afterwards that I became almost word perfect! It was almost as if Red Rum himself knew that it was his last chance. Initially a horse named Boom Docker blew the field away, arriving at the start of the second circuit with the biggest lead ever at that stage of the race, at which point he refused to jump the next fence. This put Red Rum into second place. He hit the front after the leader Andy Pandy fell at Becher’s Brook, and from there on there was only one winner. He came home 25 lengths clear of Churchtown Boy and history had been made. Red Rum retired the day before the following year’s Grand National and had a long retirement before his death at the grand age of 30. Fittingly, he was buried at the winning post at Aintree after becoming the most famous horse in British sporting history.
The beginning of the year saw me glued to the radio in the early mornings as Test Match Special brought news of England’s rare victory over India in a test series played there, thanks chiefly to Tony Greig’s inspirational leadership and tactical brilliance. Then in March we actually saw highlights of the Centenary Test Match in Melbourne, a rare treat for all UK based cricket fans at the time. It was there, unbeknown to us that the preparations for World Series Cricket clicked into gear, with Tony Greig himself as a leading figure. Once the news broke, Greig became public enemy Number 1, with the cricket establishment and the traditional supporters piling in to denounce him. I was immediately a huge supporter of World Series Cricket because if he believed in it then so did I. The way he was treated by the MCC and by some sections of the public was appalling. He stuck to his guns throughout and never wavered in his belief that he was doing this for the good of cricketers everywhere. The years have proven him right, and the highly paid players of today owe him and Kerry Packer a huge debt of gratitude. At the time, it was the county players who saw an immediate improvement. Before World Series Cricket, players were employed by the counties for 6 months a year and left to fend for themselves for the other 6. Cricketers would be drawing the dole from October to April in some cases and selling Christmas trees to make ends meet in others! This was a thing of the past for most as the players started to be paid wages that would last them throughout the year. Mike Brearley, who took over as England captain, insisted on having Greig in the side, who were looking to regain the Ashes, throughout that series, and although the impending court case he was involved in distracted him and left him a reduced figure he still managed to chip in with important runs, vital wickets, and brilliant catches. He might have been a hate figure in some people’s eyes, but he remained my hero and I am pleased that he lived long enough to see that he was right and that the MCC, and the rest of his detractors, were wrong!
American cops and anarchic puppets on the box and in the charts
Television in 1976 went up a gear with the arrival of two wise cracking US cops with charisma to burn and an iconic car, the bright red Ford Torino with white stripes. Starsky and Hutch, played by Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul became the biggest stars on UK TV as their series ran rings round the bucolic British detectives with the exception of the ever brilliant Sweeney. I was very quickly a member of the Starsky and Hutch fandom and Saturday nights were much more exciting as soon as you heard the iconic theme tune. Not content with his success on prime time TV, David Soul showed another side to his talents as a rather brilliant singer of ballads. His first Number 1, and the first new Number 1 of the year, the dreamy and soulful Don’t Give Up on Us was the biggest hit of 1977 until Wings blasted into the Christmas charts with Mull of Kintyre. It sold over a million copies and set Soul up for a year of continuous chart success with follow up singles, Going in with my Eyes Open reaching Number 2 behind Abba’s huge anthem Knowing Me, Knowing You in March, and Silver Lady giving him a second Number 1 in October. This wasn’t a case of a successful programme giving a would be singer a boost, because he had been a singer in the late 60s where he became famous as the ‘Covered Man’ wearing a mask to avoid being marketed for his looks! For most of 1977, Starsky and Hutch pictures joined Julie Dawn Cole on my wall as I became obsessed with the show!
The other crossover success of 1977 came in the form of The Muppets. The Muppet Show had started in 1976 and was shown on Sunday nights by ITV. It quickly became a huge favourite of children, who loved the anarchic puppets, and adults who enjoyed the knowing humour and the A list guest stars. Singers such as Elton John and Debbie Harry, actors like Dudley Moore and Peter Sellers and even ballet star Rudolph Nureyev appeared on a show that quickly became a sensation. The great and the good queued up to be subjected to the Muppet treatment and the charts were not immune from the influence of this groundbreaking show. In May, the ultimate earworm, Mah Na Mah Na was featured in the show and the original record by Piero Umiliani was rushed out, reaching Number 8 in the charts. I can only imagine how parents up and down the country felt as it quickly became a song that most children had in their repertoire for months on end! Even now, the mere sight of those words on a page will have those of us of a certain age singing along in our heads! The other Muppet single to reach the charts was sung by Kermit’s nephew Robin and featured an old A. A. Milne poem set to music. Halfway Down the Stairs was a gorgeous song with a wistful air and lyrics that were easy to learn. For me, it was a single that was probably the last ‘children’s record’ I bought, but it was a record that allowed me to escape to a time when life was simpler and I wasn’t being bullied every day at school. In that sense it allowed me a respite from real life, and for that I will always be grateful. That Christmas, the Number 1 album was The Muppet Show and I was overjoyed to find it under the Christmas Tree. As you might expect I was pretty much word perfect on it before New Year’s Day 1978!!
Plays and Films hit the charts.
In 1977, my favourite James Bond film of the series was released, and I went to the cinema to see it with my Dad and my cousin. The Spy Who Loved Me had everything, a top performance from Roger Moore, an iconic new villain in Richard Kiel’s Jaws, a brilliant opening scene ending with the Union Flag parachute and then to top it all, the best James Bond theme of the lot! Nobody Does it Better was just perfect, capturing the appeal of Bond and boasting a marvellous vocal from the great Carly Simon. It was a song that captivated me as soon as it blasted from the speakers in the Odeon Cinema in Rochester and one I never tire of hearing. The trailers for that film included one for an American sci-fi film that looked pretty exciting. By the time Star Wars reached the Odeon in January 1978 the expectation had built to fever pitch and I was sixth in a very long queue to see the first performance. It didn’t disappoint and I saw it a further 5 times that year. The release of Star Wars/ Cantina Band by Meco in October saw me rush to the record shop. It was a definite appetiser for the main course and an incredibly catchy tune in its own right. Compared to the TV sci-fi of programmes like Doctor Who it looked impossibly futuristic and exciting. Although Doctor Who struggled on against falling ratings for another decade, the big screen phenomenon of Star Wars showed up its lack of money and, as much as Tom Baker continued to make it an essential part of Saturday nights, the writing was on the wall.
In January, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber released the first track from Evita, their forthcoming musical. Don’t Cry for Me Argentina was an instant smash, and the first single I bought that year. I couldn’t tell you why it captivated me so completely, but at the age of 11 I knew that I had never heard anything so dramatic and powerful before. Although the hint of a much bigger story that intrigued me, it was the incredible performance from Julie Covington that made me buy it with some of my Christmas money. It is one of those tunes that raise the hairs up on the back of your neck no matter how often you hear it. It was many years later that I saw my first stage musical, but that track gave me the musicals ‘bug’ and it continues to infect me to this day!
The charts show little sign of the upheaval to come
In the first year of punk, only No More Heroes by The Stranglers really came on to my radar, and although I didn’t buy it I was struck by the power of the vocals and it sent me to the encyclopedia (in the days before Google) to find out about Leon Trotsky and whether he really had had ‘an ice pick that made his ears burn’! Although punk lay largely dormant after that for a while the seed of future listening was there as was my lifelong fascination with the USSR.
Other than that, though, my tastes were still fairly middle of the road and everything that punk was fighting against! It was also the year when instrumental music showed me its power. The prog rock reworking of Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man by Emerson, Lake and Palmer was an exhilarating piece of music that took the power of the classical original and turned it up to 11! Another iconic track gave me my first taste of the electronic, synthesiser based music that was to become the soundtrack to my later teens with Jean Michel Jarre’s Oxygene Part IV. It was like a message from the future that took the listener into another world where technology made anything possible.
Showaddywaddy were still churning out the hits with three more cover versions that reached the Top 5, but I was learning that my continued affection for the band needed to be kept quiet inside the school grounds! However, When and, in particular, the marvellous You Got What it Takes proved that in 1977 at least that Leicester’s finest still had what it took! It’s interesting how your memory sometimes plays tricks on you. I had thought that the sensual vocals of Baccara with their only hit, the Number 1 smash Yes Sir I can Boogie, was the soundtrack to that summer. It turns out that it hit the top just before Halloween! Whenever it was, it was a fantastic song that introduced me to the more European influenced pop that would appear in my record collection from time to time.
The year of punk’s arrival ended with Wings halfway through a 9 week stay at Number 1 and sales of 2 million for Mull of Kintyre, the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band at Number 2 for 6 weeks with The Floral Dance, and Bing Crosby who had died in September, during a round of golf, back in the Top 5 with White Christmas, a song first released in 1942! The old guard were clearly in no mood to move over for the young upstarts quite yet!
Next Time
Grease is the word as the film and the soundtrack dominates the year 1978!
The Programme
New Tricks started in 2003 with a pilot episode that featured Alun Armstrong as Brian Lane, James Bolam as Jack Halford, Amanda Redman as Sandra Pullman and Dennis Waterman as Gerry Standing. The team of 4 made up the Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad (UCOS), although as one suspect pointed out, the correct acronym would be UCOCS! By the time it finished its final series in 2015, UCOS comprised Larry Lamb as Ted Case, Dennis Lawson as Steve McAndrew, Nicholas Lyndhurst as Dan Griffin and Tamzin Outhwaite as Sasha Miller. Throughout that time the Deputy Assistant Commissioner Robert Strickland, played by Anthony Calf, trod the line between admiring their clear up rate and dealing with noses that UCOS had put out of joint! By the end though, he was the most loyal of supporters. In between the pilot and the final episode there were over 100 cases to investigate and guest stars that are pretty much a who’s who of British television. The invitation to join the ‘Old Dogs’ of UCOS was pretty sought after with TV institutions like June Whitfield, Richard Briers, Bernard Cribbins, Roy Hudd and George Cole all accepting roles of varying degrees of villainy!
It became a sure fire ratings winner, with audiences that peaked at over 10 million in its heyday and even regularly attracted 5 million for prime time repeats. It was pretty much unchallenged in its 9pm timeslot for the 12 years it was on the air, and the final series was still pulling in over 7 million viewers in the days before iPlayer artificially inflated such figures. It is one of those shows loved by the public and derided by the critics who constantly sniped from the side lines at its perceived lack of quality. Occasionally, even the actors were none too complimentary about the series as an infamous Radio Times interview, that made feathers fly all over the place, proved! However, that interview came from a genuine desire to see quality maintained and was well meant, despite the actors proving as direct as their screen alter egos! As the original cast started to leave, Bolam in Series 9, Armstrong and Redman in Series 10 and Dennis Waterman in the final series there was the understandable settling in period for the new cast members. By the end of the run, the new team showed huge potential as they brought a different dynamic to the programme whilst still making it recognisably New Tricks. Indeed, it is more than likely that one or two more series would have seen them as well regarded as their predecessors. Sadly they weren’t to get that chance, but they were definitely worthy inheritors of the UCOS banner.
The Guv’nors
Sandra Pullman
Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman was the first current police officer to try to control the headstrong and wayward old dogs. In the pilot she was asked to form UCOS and set out its approach. A recurring theme was set up from the start of few resources and a constant battle against the Deputy Assistant Commissioner, originally Donald Bevan, who wasn’t really sure about the wisdom of letting three maverick pensioners look at old cases that often showed up the incompetence or corruption of the original investigation. Sandra was determined to make the unit work and through the 10 years she was in charge she constantly fought for her ‘boys’ but was never afraid to tear them off a strip when they were out of line. Her initial reluctance to accept their always unconventional, and sometimes borderline illicit, approaches to their jobs mellowed into a tacit acceptance and eventually a complicit encouragement that went far beyond turning a blind eye. Sandra’s loyalty to Jack Halford, her old mentor, was never in doubt, even when it was shaken by revelations over her Dad’s death, and over time that loyalty became just as firm when looking after Brian Lane and Gerry Standing.
Over time Sandra learnt to read the signs of trouble with all three of her charges. If Brian was acting more strangely than usual she invariably went to his no-nonsense wife Esther for help in dealing with it. Given Brian’s alcoholism, she was always very careful not to let him get into harm’s way, but when Brian slipped up, after a case involving a hypnotist, Esther blamed Sandra and UCOS for it and it led to something of an estrangement. Gerry’s problems tended to be related to women or gambling, but once she made it clear that he would be called out on it if they affected his work he became more careful even if he didn’t entirely stay on the straight and narrow. The obvious affection she had for Gerry, which had a frisson of attraction on his side at least (!), meant that he was far more likely to be cheeky to her, but it was always clear that she was in charge especially when he broke the rules. The most complex relationship was with Jack, who had been her boss and occasionally still took it upon himself to lead the team in a different direction if he didn’t agree with her approach. Their deep friendship meant that any blow ups between them tended to be spectacular and deeply upsetting to both parties, but even after Jack disappeared from the office he never fully disappeared from her life as she tended to wonder what he would do in different situations, particularly when she was agonising over her future. At those points she could conjure up his presence in her mind’s eye.
Amanda Redman was fantastic as Sandra over the 10 years and presented viewers with a complex character who continued to develop throughout the series. She was an inveterate romantic who never really wanted to settle down, or, more likely, valued her job more highly given the battle she had faced as a female detective. Quick witted and ready to give as good as she got from her old dogs, she could also be surprisingly sensitive to some of their jibes, particularly when aimed at her by Jack. She was empathetic and disarming to some suspects and confrontational to others, but she invariably got results whichever method she chose. All of these aspects became familiar to us, but Amanda Redman’s skill was to constantly wrongfoot the viewer and keep us guessing. My only thought is that she deserved more of a send off like her three co-stars got, but perhaps that was the way that Sandra was always going to go out, on her own terms with little fuss. She enjoyed making the programme and loved her co-stars, and that shone through.
Over many years, Amanda Redman has become a fixture on our TV screens with brilliant central performances in At Home with the Braithwaites, the marvellous Hope and Glory and her current ratings winner The Good Karma Hospital. in all of those series she has never been anything other than excellent. her range from comedy, at which she displays such a lightness of touch to drama where she can convey a multitude of emotions with just an expression. However, I don’t think any role has suited her more than Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman.
Sasha Miller
Detective Chief Inspector Sasha Miller had a rocky start as Sandra’s replacement, mainly because of Gerry, who made it clear that he wasn’t going to accept this new boss without a fight. He was disrespectful and did everything he could to destabilise her, whilst trying to bring Danny and Steve along with him. Mind you, they were not entirely eager to follow along as Gerry had form in that respect. Danny had been given a hard time by Gerry when he replaced Brian and even Steve found it difficult when he replaced Jack despite the fact that Gerry liked him personally, although his main difficulties were with Brian. Eventually, through sheer determination, and through showing him how good she was at the job, she won Gerry round and the end of Series 10 finished with Gerry calling her ‘Guv’nor’ to confirm that he had finally accepted her as his boss.
Sasha was different to Sandra in one very important way. Sandra had been brought up in the old fashioned days of policing. She had learnt her trade through following Jack and those of his era for whom the result was the main thing. Sasha, on the other hand was a new style by the book police officer who followed protocols. This was brilliantly brought into focus with Sasha’s second case, Wild Justice, where she investigated the killing of a renowned oncologist. She was sure that Edward Monroe, convicted for that murder was responsible for the murder of a former colleague, but she puts that to one side to build the case against him. Eventually, she finds out the truth. Monroe offers a full confession in return for her not arresting the real culprit. She has a sleepless night fighting with her conscience and then decides that the law must take its course. It is beautifully played and in just a couple of episodes you know that Sasha is going to lead UCOS very much her own way.
Early on, Sasha has problems with her unfaithful husband, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ned Hancock. They cross swords professionally, largely as a proxy for their personal animosity, which puts Strickland into an awkward situation which he resolves by backing Sasha on the case then tearing her off a strip for insubordination to a superior officer! It is noticeable that the UCOS team take her side and make things very difficult for Hancock, a further sign of their growing affection for her.
The final series sees Sasha completely in charge of the team, although a hiatus caused by an injury in the line of duty means that she isn’t around when Ted Case starts making waves with his unorthodox approach to policing. This causes her some problems, particularly when he shows no hesitation in going off piste and approaching 2010s policing with 1980s tactics. Despite her justified concerns as to the trouble UCOS could get in to as a result of Case’s unorthodox methods, she realises that sometimes it gets the results she can’t.
Tamzin Outhwaite had an incredibly difficult job following Amanda Redman, but she passed with flying colours. Her previous television work in Eastenders and the brilliant Red Cap prepared her perfectly for New Tricks, as did her guest appearance in New Tricks in Season 9 for the classic episode Love Means Nothing in Tennis. Her performance in that was subtle and very clever, with an underlying and unsettling brittleness that you couldn’t really put your finger on, and no doubt alerted the writers and producers, if indeed they needed it, that Outhwaite was someone who could definitely step into the role of Amanda Redman’s replacement. Finally, I must just mention her role as Di in Amelia Bullimore’s exceptional Di and Viv and Rose which I saw when Season 11 had finished. She played a Phys Ed student whose physical confidence was offset by an emotional vulnerability and was exceptional in portraying her character across nearly 20 years. Without New Tricks I wouldn’t have seen that play and I would have missed out on one of the best nights I have had at the theatre.
David Pearce - Popular Culture and Personal Passions 