I've been waiting for this DVD for about a year, and I'm glad to say it hasn't disappointed - in fact the stories are better that I remember, from seeing them originally broadcast.
For the third series of New Tricks, you got the feeling that the writers had decided, in order to keep it fresh, some changes had to be made. The plots move away from the more straightforward cold cases, of the previous two series and enter into stories that require a little more imagination - from War Gaming to Witchcraft, they haven't been frightened of exploring areas more off the beaten track. Don't panic though, there's nothing far fetched about any of this - in fact, the couple of episodes that do stick to a more straight forward plot, come off looking the weaker of the series.
Whatever format it follows though, there's not an episode I didn't enjoy.
Now the bad news - the Special Features do leave a lot to be desired - in fact they are practically none existent, aside from a crummy 'fan cam' style, look behind the scenes (which believe me, you will only watch the once - the sound and picture quality is poor). A Photo Gallery and a Filmography are also thrown in - just for bulking out purposes really.
It would have been lovely to have at least a few episodes with commentary and a decent half hour, filming documentary, with proper interviews. I very nearly rated it only 4 stars because of this, but decided against it - at least what is included is an improvement on the pervious two series DVD's which had no extras at all. But fans have been waiting a long time for this release, and it would have been nice to give them a little bit more, so I must say that was a slight let down.
However this shouldn't take away from an exceedingly good show. If you haven't caught up with the UCOS team yet, stick this in your basket now.