New Tricks: The Gentleman Vanishes
12:20 am - 01:40 am, Monday, December 22 on U&Drama +1 (60)
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About this Broadcast
The Gentleman Vanishes
Season 8, Episode 7
The team investigates the mystery of a missing scientist, after the man's wife receives a series of emails from someone claiming to know what happened to him. The physics professor was last seen in 2004, on a train to Paris for a conference, and when he disappeared he was working on a potentially lucrative cold fusion project that had attracted attention from many large organisations. However, as the detectives dig deeper, a shadowy Whitehall figure warns Sandra's boss Strickland they should drop the case
subtitles
16x9
audio-description
Detective/Thriller
Movie/Drama
Cast & Crew
Alun Armstrong
(Actor)
.. Brian Lane
James Bolam
(Actor)
.. Jack Halford
Amanda Redman
(Actor)
.. Sandra Pullman
Dennis Waterman
(Actor)
.. Gerry Standing
Anthony Calf
(Actor)
.. DAC Robert Strickland
Tim McInnerny
(Actor)
.. Stephen Fisher
Rebecca Front
(Actor)
.. Bea Mackenna
Matthew Blackmore
(Actor)
.. Paul Leonard
Shaun Williamson
(Actor)
.. Martin Fallon
Keeley Forsyth
(Actor)
.. Alice Fox
Amy Phillips
(Actor)
.. Kirsty Daniels
Gary Powell
(Actor)
.. David Townsend
Kevin McMonagle
(Actor)
.. Peter Rowley
Andrew Woodall
(Actor)
.. Brian Rutland
William Key
(Actor)
.. DI Thomas Doyle
Keith Thompson
(Producer)
Julian Simpson
(Director)
More Information
Did You Know..
Alun Armstrong
(Actor)
.. Brian Lane
Born:
July 17, 1946
in
Annfield Plain, near Stanley, Co Durham
Best Known For:
New Tricks.
Early-life:
Alun Armstrong was born in Annfield Plain, near Stanley, Co Durham, on July 17, 1946. His father was from Cumberland and his mother was from Co Durham. He attended Consett Grammar School before going to Newcastle University. Unhappy in academia, he took a job as a gravedigger, where a colleague managed to get him an interview for a behind-the-scenes job with a theatre company. That in turn led to acting work.
Career:
Armstrong's screen debut came in the classic Michael Caine gangster movie Get Carter in 1971. Other early roles included parts in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Softly, Softly and The Sweeney. His many other TV roles include Austin Donaghue in Our Friends in the North, Detective Chief Inspector Frank Jefferson in In the Red, and George Mole in Adrian Mole: The Cappucino Years, alongside Alison Steadman. Film credits include The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Krull (1983), American Friends (1991), Patriot Games (1992) and Braveheart (1995). He has won countless accolades for his classic stage roles. He is currently best known for playing the role of Brian Lane in popular BBC series New Tricks, a part he played for 10 series.
Quote:
"I'm more concerned about losing my marbles than losing parts - especially when it comes to learning lines!"
Trivia:
Armstrong originated the role of Thénardier in the London production of Les Misérables and won an Olivier Award for playing the title role in Sweeney Todd.
James Bolam
(Actor)
.. Jack Halford
Born:
June 16, 1935
in
Sunderland
Best Known For:
Being a Likely Lad.
Early-life:
Born James Christopher Bolam on June 16, 1935, in Sunderland. His father died when he was young. The family left the North East when James was 12, and he attended school in Derby. There was no showbiz influence in his family, but Bolam went to the cinema every Saturday and that inspired him to try acting. He briefly worked as a trainee chartered accountant, before winning a place at the Central Drama School in London. He made his professional stage debut at the Royal Court in 1959.
Career:
Bolam appeared on stage alongside Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud, then followed it up with films The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and A Kind of Loving, before being cast as cynical Terry Collier in The Likely Lads in 1964. He agreed to reprise the role in Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? nine years later. James went on to star in When the Boat Comes In, Only When I Laugh and Alan Plater's Beiderbecke trilogy. He has also appeared in Clockwork Mice, The End of the Affair, Born and Bred, Grandpa in My Pocket, To Kill a King and controversial feature-length drama Shipman, about serial killer doctor Harold Shipman. He starred in New Tricks between 2003 and 2012 and continues to appear on stage.
Quote:
"I'm suddenly popular again. I don't know why."
Trivia:
He was awarded an MBE in 2009.
Amanda Redman
(Actor)
.. Sandra Pullman
Born:
August 12, 1957
in
Brighton
Best Known For:
At Home with the Braithwaites and New Tricks.
Early-life:
Amanda Jacqueline Redman was born in Brighton on August 12, 1957, the eldest of two children. She poured a saucepan of boiling soup over her torso and left arm when she was 18 months old and needed regular skin grafts until she was five. She studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She was shattered after her father died suddenly when she was 20.
Career:
Redman first attracted attention in 1981 with her steamy film debut in Richard's Things. Roles proved sporadic in that decade, but her career took off in 1991 when she played Roberta in Spender, and Sally in The Men's Room. Bigger roles followed, such as Dr Joanna Stevens in Dangerfield in 1995. She hit the headlines in 1998, first with Close Relations which featured a ménage à trois, then as Diana Dors for glossy drama The Blonde Bombshell. Her small-screen success was consolidated with roles as a teacher in Hope and Glory and as lottery winner Alison in At Home with the Braithwaites - but she has also appeared in the films Sexy Beast (2000) and Mike Bassett: England Manager (2005). She starred in popular BBC drama New Tricks between 2003 and 2013. More recently, she starred in TV movie Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This.
Quote:
"If you're seen as a strong woman, men think you don't need protecting. Yet, underneath it all, I'm quite vulnerable."
Trivia:
Redman received an MBE in 2012.
Dennis Waterman
(Actor)
.. Gerry Standing
Born:
February 24, 1948
in
Clapham
Best Known For:
The Sweeney, Minder, and New Tricks.
Early-life:
Born February 24, 1948, in Clapham, south London, the youngest of nine children, the son of a British Rail ticket collector. As a child he attended the Corona Theatre School and began his professional career with a role in Snowball, a 1960 Children's Film Foundation production. The same year he made Night Train to Inverness, and was asked to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. Playing William in a TV series based on the Just William books made him a star. He then tried to break into Hollywood.
Career:
At 16, Waterman returned to Britain and concentrated on stage work until an acclaimed performance in 1968's Up the Junction led to more film roles. Low-budget movies (such as Scars of Dracula) and TV shows (including Colditz) followed until, in 1974, he co-starred with John Thaw in Regan, the pilot episode of iconic series The Sweeney, which became a major TV hit. A 10-year stint in comedy drama Minder followed. Other projects include TV shows On the Up, Stay Lucky, and Circles of Deceit. He's also worked on the stage, most notably in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, and My Fair Lady. As Gerry Standing, in BBC drama New Tricks, he has introduced himself to a new generation of fans.
Quote:
"If I am not such a hell-raiser any more, it isn't because I've given up. It's just that my energy levels have fallen. I haven't stopped looking at women. I'm not blind."
Trivia:
He has made several records, including, famously, the theme tunes of several of his TV shows.
Anthony Calf
(Actor)
.. DAC Robert Strickland
Tim McInnerny
(Actor)
.. Stephen Fisher
Born:
September 18, 1956
in
Cheadle Hulme, Stockport
Best Known For:
Paying Captain Darling and Percy in Blackadder
Early-life:
McInnerny was born in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, in 1956, and educated at Marling School, Stroud, and Wadham College, Oxford. After graduating in 1979 he set about becoming a serious actor and joined several drama companies. His big break came when he was in the original production of Pravda with Anthony Hopkins, and on TV in Edge of Darkness (1985) where he played a revolutionary socialist.
Career:
After several well-received theatre roles he was cast as Lord Percy in Blackadder and has been linked to the comedy masterpiece ever since. Subsequent hits include Wetherby (1985), Erik the Viking (1989), a film production of Shakespeare's Richard III (1995), FairyTale: A True Story (1997), Notting Hill (1999), 102 Dalmatians (2000), The Emperor's New Clothes (2001), and Severance (2006). TV hits include Spooks and Trial and Retribution. He also played Dr Frank-N-Furter in the 1990 West End production of The Rocky Horror Show.
Quote:
"Blackadder was such good fun, but it was just six weeks' work once every two years."
Rebecca Front
(Actor)
.. Bea Mackenna
Born:
May 16, 1964
in
Stoke Newington
Best Known For:
The Thick of It.
Early-life:
Rebecca Louise Front was born in Stoke Newington on May 16, 1964. She comes from an artistic family - her father is an artist, her mother writes children's stories and her brother Jeremy writes (he and Rebecca often write together, most notably Radio 4's Incredible Women). Rebecca knew she wanted to act from the age of six or seven. After leaving school, she studied at St Hugh's College, Oxford, where she began performing with the Oxford Theatre Group.
Career:
Front's comedy career took off with the Radio 4 show The Bobo Girls, the second series of which was produced by Armando Iannucci, with whom she's worked with numerous times since, most notably on The Thick of It. Other comedy projects include On the Hour, The Day Today, Absolute Power, The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, The Spa and various Alan Partridge projects. Front has also dabbled in drama, with roles in The Rotters' Club, Kavanagh QC, Lewis, Jonathan Creek, and Humans.
Quote:
"I'd love a role in Sherlock. Or maybe I could play a Doctor Who monster or something. That'd be brilliant."
Trivia:
Front's father, Charles Front, designed the title logo for The Beatles album Rubber Soul.
Matthew Blackmore
(Actor)
.. Paul Leonard
Shaun Williamson
(Actor)
.. Martin Fallon
Born:
November 04, 1965
in
Maidstone, Kent
Best Known For:
Playing Barry in EastEnders.
Early-life:
Born November 4, 1965 in Maidstone, Kent. To pay the rent he worked for the Post Office; the Navy; a supermarket and as a holiday rep. Williamson created his own amateur theatre group and staged a production of A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg. The production won him Best Actor in the Kent Drama Festival. He completed a three-year acting diploma at The Webber Douglas Academy. In 1994 he landed the memorable part of lovable loser Barry Evans in EastEnders.
Career:
Williamson stayed with the soap for 10 years and after leaving Albert Square featured in the pantomimes Snow White and Cinderella, and starred in the stage productions Saturday Night Fever, The Rocky Horror Show, Oliver and Guys and Dolls. He enjoyed a new wave of popularity when Ricky Gervais cast him as a comic version of himself in Extras. Also appeared in BBC drama Funland; the movie Daylight Robbery; Comic Relief does Fame Academy 2007; Holby City and BBC One's Fairy Tales.
Quote:
"I don't mind portraying myself as someone who's a bit of a loser and who hasn't worked at all because I know it isn't the truth."
Trivia:
In 2009, he played Norman Stanley Fletcher in a stage version of TV comedy Porridge.
Keeley Forsyth
(Actor)
.. Alice Fox
Amy Phillips
(Actor)
.. Kirsty Daniels
Gary Powell
(Actor)
.. David Townsend
Kevin McMonagle
(Actor)
.. Peter Rowley
Andrew Woodall
(Actor)
.. Brian Rutland
William Key
(Actor)
.. DI Thomas Doyle
Keith Thompson
(Producer)
Julian Simpson
(Director)
