As I haven't seen the 1972-1992 series, I can't compare the two, but I am a huge fan of Marc Warren and watch anything he is in. That said, I had difficulty keeping up with all the characters in the current series.
To user billcarr31, who didn't know who Barry Foster was, he played the Van Der Valk character in the 1972-1992 series, which is played by Marc Warren in the 2019 series.
Review of Van der Valk
