Dennis Waterman has admitted 'New Tricks' "wasn't the same" without Amanda Redman and Alun Armstrong.
Dennis Waterman
The 67-year-old actor has starred in the BBC One comedy-crime-drama since its first episode in 2013 but he's confessed he didn't enjoy it as much after his co-stars quit the show.
He said: "This is no slight on the new cast, but everything did change really dramatically and suddenly when Amanda and Alun left.
"I'd already signed up for the next season. I did ask Amanda if I'd look sad carrying on after everybody else had quit and she said, 'Don't be daft'. And then my wife started buying another bleeding house and I had no option. But it wasn't the same."
Although Amanda and Alun - who were replaced by Nicholas Lyndhurst and Tamzin Outhwaite - weren't the first stars of the show to step down from their roles, Dennis has admitted he didn't take James Bolam's departure as badly.
Speaking about Denis Lawson joining the show in Bolam's place, the 'Sweeney' actor told Radio Times magazine: "When Dennis joined it wasn't too sharp a shock because Amanda and Alan were still in it, and he knew us and it carried on."
Dennis has since quit the show himself ahead of the 12th and final season.
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