IT surely can’t be coincidental that the return of TV’s unlikeliest hit series was marked with a storyline about old fossils.

Clearly the writers of New Tricks decided that the time had come to sit back, enjoy their success and give a knowing nod to the gently compelling show which initially appears to be classic Sunday night fodder rather than primetime viewing on a Monday night.

For the uninitiated, New Tricks centres on a bunch of retired detectives who have been called back into action to investigate unsolved crimes under the leadership of Amanda Redman, a part mother figure, part school mistress.

I’ll admit that I’m one of the legion of New Tricks fans. Sure it’s hackneyed, at times slow and even a little old fashioned, but the interaction of Messrs Waterman, Bolam and Armstrong as an unlikely three musketeers takes it to a new level.

Or at least it usually does.

But this week’s opening episode was disappointing, almost like a box ticking exercise to bring in all the components that make the series work but without really putting in any extra effort. Even the usual spark between the key players seemed to be missing as though they themselves knew that they’d not been handed the best of material to work with.

Let’s hope that it’s just a glitch and the series returns to form. It would be a shame to see something that has been surprisingly different just fade away.