TV writer's New Trick: An entire cast named after his favourite football team

To fans, it is a feel-good detective drama showing off the considerable acting talents of Amanda Redman, Dennis Waterman and James Bolam.

And yet, unnoticed by all but the most eagle-eyed football followers, BBC 1's New Tricks is also a subtle tribute to its creator's favourite soccer team.

It seems writer Roy Mitchell had a few tricks of his own up his sleeve when he dreamt up the series - naming the entire cast after his beloved West Bromwich Albion.

While his in-joke went undetected for some time, suspicions were raised when police officer Ed Koumas turned up in the first series.

The unusual surname is a homage to former West Brom midfielder Jason Koumas.

When characters Imogen Hoult, based on former goalkeeper Russell Hoult, Colin Dobie (striker Scott Dobie) and Eleanor Clement (defender Neil Clement) appeared, the game was up.

It was then that suspicion focused on the show's three main stars, who play retired detectives lured back into the world of crime-fighting. James Bolam plays Jack Halford, Alun Armstrong is Brian Lane and Dennis Waterman is Gerry Standing.

At first glance, this seemed to dash the conspiracy. But put the three surnames together and you end up with Halford Lane Standing - or the Halfords Lane Stand at West Brom's ground, The Hawthorns.

Mr Mitchell, 50, who has been watching West Brom for 40 years, said: "I didn't use to sit in the Halfords Lane End as a child but it's the best of the stands for the main characters. After all, one of the ends was called the Rainbow End, so that was out."

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When he first presented the script to producers, he was asked about the names.

He said: "I told them Halford was just a good English name, Standing was for the character's nickname, Upstanding, and Lane was as in Memory Lane. Of course that was all rubbish - it was just for the Albion connections."

But he admits he ran into trouble when he tried to repeat the trick for a show with Asian characters, using the names of the 1990 Indian Test cricket team.

"An Indian colleague told me the names I had chosen were from a different caste to my characters. So I had to start all over again," he recalled.

Filming for the fifth series of New Tricks starts in December.