Bergerac review: This reboot gives the 80s detective a modern, touchy-feely makeover, but carries enough echoes of the past to make it a comforting watch

You can hear echoes of the 'twang-twang-twaaaaannng, twang-ta-twang-ta-twaaaaannnng' in the theme to the reboot of the popular show about a dipsomaniac detective fighting all sorts of dastardly deeds – as well as his own demons – on Jersey.

And those aren't the only echoes of the past which feature in this modernised version of Bergerac (U&Drama, Thurs, 9pm).

We meet this Jim (Damien Moloney) in an AA meeting in a dusty church hall, grieving over the death of his wife and explaining how he found solace in the bottom of a bottle.

“I drank because it hurt too much,” he says, all stubble and ruffled hair. “I stopped because it's meant too.”

So far, so familiar.

Meanwhile, Jim is on compassionate leave from his police job, but his soon drawn back to the job when the daughter of a prominent industrialist is found murdered in her beautiful modernist clifftop home.

He can't get to work in his pristine Triumph Roadster, as 80s Jim did, however, as that's up on bricks in the garage.

As in the 80s version, led so memorably by John Nettles, Bergerac's sometime ally, sometime nemesis is still Barney Crozier (Robert Gilbert), who has had his nose put out of joint by Jim's sudden reappearance in the office.

Even better, Zoe Wanamaker pitches up as a gender-flipped Charlie Hungerford, Jim's mother-in-law, who disapproves of his relationship with the bottle and takes in his daughter Kim.

She, of course, sees right through Bergerac's protestations of sobriety, and is given a nice line in waspishly sarcastic humour.

Dropping his daughter off at Charlie's palatial Channel Islands home, Jim says: “Maybe I should stay?”

“Of course,” says Charlie, “I'll much out one of the stables.”

All of this carries the imprint of the 80s Jim Bergerac, but this version comes with a very modern sensibility.

This, of course, makes sense – keeping Bergerac as the maverick cop with a booze problem would probably see him drummed out of the modern police force within the first 10 minutes.

Making Jim a little more touchy-feely allows him to be both a maverick and a man who is aware of his own self-destructive tendencies.

While he does his best to dodge a counsellor (Aidan McArdle) – one of the conditions of his return to work – and heads out on his own to roughly quiz a suspect, this Bergerac isn't above offering therapeutic to the grieving husband of the murder victim.

“There's a temptation to destroy everything, including you,” Jim tells the husband. “Don't do that. People will need you. Your daughter will need you.”

While this more sensitive Bergerac is a welcome change from the roustabout cops of the 80s, it's also a clever way for the programme makers to have their cake and eat it.

This Bergerac can still be the maverick, thinking-on-the-hoof type copper, all free and easy with the PACE Act and not above interrogating without legal representation.

But this Bergerac can also hate himself afterwards, and understand that what he does is not necessarily the best thing – for himself or others.

It makes him a more conflicted, interesting character, and Moloney plays him well – his soft voice and linen blouson jacket hiding a steely temperament.

Meanwhile, the main case – which stretches over the entire series, rather than just the hour of the episode – is satisfyingly knotty, with family secrets hidden away and red herrings all over the shop.

This Bergerac is nothing ground-breaking, but it makes enough changes to make it fresh, without losing those echoes of the past.

Now, if I can just get that theme tune out of my head...