New Tricks

- Season 5

(2008)

The trial of Ricky Hanson starts, and the members of UCOS are scheduled to appear as witnesses. Hanson is the man who killed Jack Halford's wife, but he's on trial for attempting to murder Jack, who was recovering from a car accident over a year ago. Hanson's barrister is clearly out to discredit each of them individually. While at the courthouse, they are asked by an acquaintance of Jack's, Sam Tallis, to look into the death of Ralph Wheeler, who was killed and left his fortune to a tart named Carrie Soper. As they look into the case, they find several possible ...

With Jack Halford away following the acquittal of Ricky Hanson, Sandra, Gerry and Brian investigate the death of actor Michael Austin, who was shot dead during the performance of a play. The gun was loaded with blanks, but a piece of metal lodged in the barrel killed him. The death was ruled accidental at the time, but Austin's daughter Catherine has recently written a book, and new evidence in the form of a threatening note has come to light. The team is joined by a young officer on the fast track for promotion, James Strickland, the DAC's nephew. They interview ...

The UCOS team investigates the death 10 years ago of popular disc jockey Johnny Deacon who died in a fire when the radio station was set alight. The police knew it was arson, but were never able to find enough evidence to charge anyone. Johnny was very opinionated on air and seemed to go out of his way to be offensive at time. He also had a number of female admirers, one of whom may have been stalking him. With Jack having virtually disappeared meanwhile, Sandra finds herself under pressure from DAC Strickland to start interviewing for his replacement. Despite their ...

Brian finally locates Jack who returns to the UCOS team but remains silent about his lengthy absence. The team investigates the death of rock star Andy Fletcher, who supposedly committed suicide in 1975. Gerry speaks to a dying woman who suggests otherwise. She overheard a fight just before his death, and although she reported it to the police after Fletcher was found dead, her information is nowhere to be found in the files. The band's former manager Clive Evans found Andy but doesn't believe there was foul play. The three remaining band members all deny any special ...

After a bent detective is discovered on the force, the UCOS team is tasked with investigating his only unsolved case. In 1998, assistant brewer Graham Thompson was found drowned in a vat of beer at Felspar Breweries. The dead man's girlfriend has always maintained that it wasn't an accident. Everyone concerned, including Sir Freddie Felspar ,says he was a brilliant brewer and a great loss. The original investigator failed to interview either of Sir Freddie's children and son Julian is now the company's Chief Executive. The brewery had won the gold medal for its beer 5...

At Brian's insistence, the UCOS team investigates a bizarre case from ten years before where a hypnotized woman subsequently killed her husband. Although the woman, Katie Briers, was found not guilty, the magician in question, Billy Carse, had his career ruined. Carse is now dead but as Jack examines the script used to hypnotize the woman, he realizes that there were subliminal messages throughout that led her to kill. The question is who planted the messages and why. They focus on Carse's rival, Brandon Skye. Meanwhile, a disbelieving Gerry allows himself to be ...

A new witness comes forward in the murder of 18 year-old Justin King. Justin had been missing for several months before his body was found but the pathologist determined he had been dead for no more than a week. He had also been tortured. Heidi, now 18 herself, tells the police that Justin had been living on a commune and that she saw him a week or so before he died. From all accounts, Justin simply left the commune one day and was never seen again. Sandra isn't buying it however and believes one of the commune's residents was involved in his death. Brian meanwhile is...

The UCOS team investigates the death of Eric Trimble, a soldier who was beaten to death in 1991. Their informant tells them that he and Eric, while still in the Army, were part of secret medical experiments that left the survivors paranoid. Their attempts to investigate those experiments come up against a military establishment that puts every possible in their way, including a visit from MI-5. As the investigation continues however, they discover several other possible motives including the fact that Eric was a bully and also gay. The fact that he is black also makes...