Interview with New Tricks star Dennis Waterman

Aug 10 2009 By Chester Chronicle

Dennis Waterman has long been the 'cheeky chappie' of primetime telly. Currently on screen in New Tricks on BBC One on Thursday nights, the actor reveals why he's perfectly happy with that label and why the show is the best job in the world.

MOST of us will have a Dennis Waterman 'moment' - the first show we ever saw him in, when he won us over with his loveable cockney wide-boy routine.

From Minder to On The Up and now New Tricks, the actor's the first to admit he's made a career out of playing telly's "cheeky chappie" - and, despite being 61, he's not about to give up that mantle any time soon.

It's more than 30 years since Dennis first found fame as tough nut cop George Carter in The Sweeney, but today he's very modest about his career longevity and shrugs it off as nothing more than luck.

"I don't think I've ever had an ambition really, I just want to keep working. And I've been unbelievably lucky that I keep falling into really good work.

"I've never thought, 'I must play Hamlet before I'm 70," he says, letting out a huge guffaw. "And now I'm not really thinking of Lear."

Earlier this year, Dennis stepped out of his good-guy comfort zone, by playing a sleazy public figure in the hard-hitting BBC three-parter Moses Jones.

"I really enjoyed it, because it was a very different kind of character - and that's important. On television in Britain, I'm sort of the cheeky chappie, everybody's mate, but I've never played anything like that in the theatre. It's strange that you get cast as different things in different parts of the media."

While London-born Dennis likes to dabble in darker roles, he admits he's never really been bothered about becoming typecast, instead choosing his roles for the script.

Following the success of The Sweeney, Dennis was approached about "a thing called Minder".

"They said, 'it's set in West London' and I thought 'Hmm, should I do this, or should I actually be thinking of veering away from the Sweeney image?' And then I read it and thought, 'Sod the image! This is going to be massive, it's so funny and so good'. But every now and again you just need to test yourself and do something very different."

When the first series of BBC drama New Tricks aired in 2004, it marked Dennis's return to a long-running show for the first time in decade - and to playing the kind of role he does best.

As retired detective Gerry Standing, Dennis has helped to win the gritty, but often light-hearted, series a popular following.

Alongside fellow acting stalwarts James Bolam and Alun Armstrong, Dennis plays part of a cold case squad, who are often at odds with their detective boss, played by Amanda Redman.

Gerry's known for his constant scrapes and the current sixth series has been no different, with Gerry going undercover for a spot of sex therapy and getting into trouble for laughing at a racist comedian.

We're also about to meet members of his family, who he's never told his colleagues about.

"I come from a family of butchers, but I've never mentioned it because I didn't get on my father, so I got out and joined the police," he explains.

"My father's brown bread, he's dead, but we meet cousins who I haven't mentioned."

As well as an army of fans, the show has attracted a string of high-profile guest stars, including Faye Ripley and Diana Quick this time, as well as Shane Ritchie, who recently played Archie Daley - the nephew of Dennis's wheeler dealer character Arthur - in Channel Five's revival of Minder.

Dennis didn't revive his character in the show, and says he didn't watch it.

"I didn't watch it on purpose because I didn't want to have an opinion," he says, eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Shane had literally only finished filming it the week before he did New Tricks and he was green with envy, because we do five-day weeks and have comfortable places to eat.

"He was seriously good though. Jim and I did a day's filming with him and he was terrific."

Dennis's actress daughter Hannah also appears in New Tricks, although the pair didn't have as many scenes together in this series as they have in the past.

"When she first came in, the first episode, they were quite difficult scenes, because we were supposed to not know each other and we were nervous," he recalls.

"I was nervous because I wanted her to be very, very good and she was nervous for the same reason I guess," he says, with a chuckle.

"But what pleases me most is that people are happy when they know she's in an episode, the cast and crew are happy to see her back. Most people are happy to see her back... She's staying with me at the moment and it's a Godsend everytime she goes out," he jokes.

That's the thing about Dennis - he really is a cheeky chappie in real life and it's impossible not to love him.

Dressed today in crisp blue shirt, open at the collar and rolled up at the sleeves, to show off a deep tan, he seems totally relaxed and almost everything he says is rounded off with a joke.

When I comment that New Tricks got a lot darker last series, he quips, "That was night-time!"

Does playing an ex-copper make him want to be a law-abiding citizen?

"When I was in Minder, I used to steal a lot of cars and punch people... Actually, I don't think any of us break the law, we're too old, we couldn't get away... except for Amanda!"

One of the reasons for New Tricks enduring success - it's now in its sixth series - is the obvious chemistry between the four main cast members.

"You can never foresee how people are going to get on, but they just happened to have brought four people together who laugh at the same things, agree about the writing. Very rarely you would walk onto a set and feel the team element as much as we have," he says.

"The crew, the sparks, the props boys all want to make it better than anything they've worked on before, it's miraculous."

The show films for six months at a time and it's likely that a seventh series will be coming along next year.

But for now, Dennis has some time off and he's planning to spend most of it on the golf course.

"I've got a golf tour sorted out and if something comes up after that's finished, if it's interesting or lucrative or even better both, I might have a look at it, but if not, I'm quite happy to go to the Forresters and then to the golf club, and back to the Forresters... I'm wanting to work like an animal!"