Every year, hundreds of new TV and streaming shows are broadcast worldwide for audiences to consume and enjoy. Some are good and some are bad, but if they are lucky, they manage to break through the public consciousness, becoming popular long after they’ve finished airing.

Shows like The X-Files, Breaking Bad, and House have all maintained a level of popularity thanks to their dedicated fanbases and their surprising inclusion in mainstream internet culture. Others, however, haven’t been so lucky. Some shows, despite being popular on broadcast or because their time was cut short, have faded with time, destined to become just another name on a watch list that’ll never be got to.

In Forget Me Nots, my latest blog series, I’ll be illuminating lost TV greats that deserve more than just a quick click to put them on a watchlist.

To open this series, I’ve decided to go with a show that was once a ratings juggernaut: New Tricks. Running for 13 years and 107 episodes on the BBC, it was a crime procedural that didn’t always see eye to eye with critics.

The premise followed a newly created department at the Metropolitan Police known as the Unsolved Crimes and Opened Cases Squad (UCOS for short). Lacking the budget of a real department, it draughted in three retired detectives under the supervision of a hotshot superintendent, investigating cold cases with the help of new techniques and the benefit of time passed.

Featuring a healthy mix of comedic antics and good, old-fashioned detective work, New Tricks was one of many successful shows of its era designed for “comfort” viewing (characterised as a predictable show that offers an escape from reality). While this was great for drawing people in, it was what made audiences stay that earned it a place on this series.

Beneath the fun camaraderie, the show’s heart belonged to its flawed yet human retirees. After years in the police force, these characters — brilliantly portrayed by acting veterans Dennis Waterman, Alun Armstrong, and James Bolan — are struggling with their own personal demons. Whether fighting alcoholism, gambling addiction, or the strain of losing a loved one to the job, this show doesn’t hold back despite its usual lighter tone. Often showing how it negatively affects them and the ones they love, it helped the show’s longevity by grounding its characters with issues that the audience could relate to. Had these actors chosen to stay for the show’s later seasons, there was every chance that it could’ve gone on for longer.