New Tricks star Amanda Redman
Not all seems well in the world of New Tricks. Actually, it seems like it may just be one of the single tensest TV sets out there after the show's stars and writers started hitting out at each other.
While the show about aging detectives coming back to solve cold cases has never really risen above genial, the verbal barbs being slung around by the actors and the writing staff this week have been more than a little intense.
It all started when in an interview with The Radio Times the stars laid in to the show’s writers.
Amanda Redman said “It’s more bland now. The characters are not being as anarchic as they used to be, which I think is a shame.”
She was backed up by Dennis Waterman who said “You have to remind yourself that people aren’t as stupid as writers think. But that’s the way things are going in the industry. Basically, we all want to move to Copenhagen to get to do some really extraordinary television.”
The actors even claimed to alter the script when they found it lacking with Alun Armstrong claiming “If we felt that a story didn’t work, or that bits of the story could be improved, then – if the writer wasn’t around – we would set about rewriting it ourselves.”
These comments, unsurprisingly, didn’t sit too well with the show’s writers. Julian Simpson, one of the show’s writers and directors didn’t hold any prisoners on Twitter with him writing: "Wait a second... *smells a rat* if certain actors re-wrote the scripts, how come they don't know the lines better?
"I was going to be writing today, instead I'm just going to hand the actors a pad and pen. I wish I'd learned this 15 years ago.
"A New Tricks I wrote and directed airs on Monday. I can tell you EXACTLY how much of it the actors wrote: not a f**king comma.The following week, Sarah Pinborough's episode is on. I directed that too. Cast contribution to script? Big fat zero.
"I also wrote and directed episode 10 of the new series. How much did the cast change? Are we sensing a pattern here...?"
Simpson wasn’t the only writer up in arms, with writer Lisa Holdsworth also tweeting about the article saying “I'd like to say that shocked me, but it didn't. W**kers.” We added in the asterisks by the way.
With Simpson also denying it’s any type of PR stunt, it seems like the rumours that this may be the last season for these characters may just come true after all.
Tagged in BBC TV Dennis Waterman Amanda Redman