There was a rare treat in store for BBC1 viewers last night, with an episode of the popular series ‘New Tricks’ that focused on Eddie, the bereaved husband of a murdered woman, played by Deaf actor Julian Peedle-Calloo.
As well as featuring Peedle-Calloo, the episode showed several hearing actors using sign language, including Dennis Waterman, one of the stars of the show, and Sharon Small, who previously used sign language after starring in Dear Frankie, a film about a young deaf boy.
If you didn’t see it last night, make sure you check out the episode on BBC iPlayer at the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01ml70m/New_Tricks_Series_9_Queen_and_Country/ and let us know what you think in the comments below.
The Limping Chicken is supported by Deaf media company Remark!, provider of sign language services Deaf Umbrella, training and consultancy Deafworks, and the National Theatre’s captioned plays.
John David Walker
September 11, 2012
I enjoyed the programme and was pleased to see a Deaf person, and a fluent sign language user, in character. After so many false starts in popular TV programmes, I feel this is one of the many milestones for British TV. But if I can be candour, it was hard for me to believe the character. I was half expecting Julian to turn to the camera and do a ‘da dah’ because it felt like I was watching an actor trying to be someone. It made me wonder if Julian did enough to understand the character and be him, or is there a problem of direction, especially of someone using a different language? Other than that, big thumbs up for Dennis Waterman, who stole the show.
stageandsign
September 11, 2012
Thanks for drawing my attention to this episode. In my experience, if a deaf character is featured in mainstream TV there is normally a contrived storyline where the only interesting characteristic is their deafness and the “issues” around it. I enjoyed watching the characters involved where the only “issue” was the comical ignorance of the hearing investigator. A few giggle opportunities for people who know and are in the deaf community. I won’t spoil the story for you so check it out whilst it’s still on iPlayer.
Robert Mandara
September 12, 2012
I wouldn’t normally watch New Tricks so thanks for drawing my attention to it. The episode was very good and it is heart-warming to see a deaf character play a key role for a change. The downside is that it was quite obvious who the villain would turn out to be. Dennis Waterman’s enthusiasm to revise his sign language was really nice and, just maybe, it might tempt other people to learn.
Could someone here can explain why Eddie was wearing a hearing aid? If my deafness was so bad that I couldn’t understand speech with a hearing aid, I’m sure I would throw the thing away and just use sign language.