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| ==Background== | ==Background== | ||
| ''Ashes to Ashes'' features ] ] (played by ]) as its |
''Ashes to Ashes'' features ] ] (played by ]) as possibly its best known character from Life on Mars. He is joined by a new female detective from the 21st century, ] ], who is stranded in 1981 after being shot in a hostage situation where a man she does not know but he seems to know her has a hostage on the embankment of the ] she is shot later when the hostage taker abducts her. When she wakes up in 1981 she see's this man in a younger form but he still displays the same charactersitics such as a hate for people staring at him. 2008.<ref name="press">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/04_april/11/ashes.shtml|title=Ashes to Ashes - swapping the Ford Cortina for an Audi Quattro, DCI Gene Hunt rolls up his sleeves and embraces the Eighties in sequel to Life On Mars|publisher=]|date=]|accessdate=2007-04-11}} </ref> She is played by ].<ref name="keeley"/> Also reappearing are Chris Skelton (played by ]) who emerges as a "technical wizard" and Ray Carling (played by ]). All have transferred to the ] in ] and Chris and Ray remain loyal to Gene. New recruit, WPC Sharon 'Shaz' Granger, (]) replaces WDC ]. | ||
| ==Continuity with ''Life On Mars''== | ==Continuity with ''Life On Mars''== | ||
Revision as of 18:00, 9 February 2008
2008 TV series or program| Ashes to Ashes | |
|---|---|
 Philip Glenister and Keeley Hawes as Gene Hunt and Alex Drake | |
| Genre | Time travel Police procedural |
| Created by | Matthew Graham Ashley Pharoah |
| Developed by | Kudos Film & Television |
| Starring | Philip Glenister Keeley Hawes Dean Andrews Marshall Lancaster Montserrat Lombard |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 (commissioned) |
| No. of episodes | 8 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Jane Featherstone |
| Producer | Beth Willis |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC |
| Release | February 7, 2008 - present |
Ashes to Ashes is a British television drama series, which serves as a sequel to the 2006 series Life on Mars. It is a Kudos Film & Television production for BBC Wales, currently being broadcast on BBC One. It premiered on 7 February, 2008 at 9:00 PM GMT.
Background
Ashes to Ashes features DCI Gene Hunt (played by Philip Glenister) as possibly its best known character from Life on Mars. He is joined by a new female detective from the 21st century, DI Alex Drake, who is stranded in 1981 after being shot in a hostage situation where a man she does not know but he seems to know her has a hostage on the embankment of the River Thames she is shot later when the hostage taker abducts her. When she wakes up in 1981 she see's this man in a younger form but he still displays the same charactersitics such as a hate for people staring at him. 2008. She is played by Keeley Hawes. Also reappearing are Chris Skelton (played by Marshall Lancaster) who emerges as a "technical wizard" and Ray Carling (played by Dean Andrews). All have transferred to the Metropolitan Police in London and Chris and Ray remain loyal to Gene. New recruit, WPC Sharon 'Shaz' Granger, (Montserrat Lombard) replaces WDC Annie Cartwright.
Continuity with Life On Mars
As with the parent series, the show's name comes from a David Bowie song of the era in which it is set, in this case 1980's "Ashes to Ashes".
It is established that DI Alex Drake, a trained police psychologist, has been studying the suicide of DI Sam Tyler and is familiar with the detailed description he recorded of his experiences of "life" in "1973" (whilst he was actually in a coma in 2006).
When Drake herself is shot during a hostage situation and finds herself transported back to 1981, it is her familiarity with Tyler's world that leads her to deduce she is "hallucinating". She also draws upon her knowledge of Tyler's experiences in 1973 to inform her decisions on how to act in the world of 1981. For example, she spends time finding and tuning a powerful radio so that she can receive information from the "real world", because this is how Tyler received information about the progression of his coma in his world of 1973. Alex does eventually receive messages from Rainbow characters Zippy and George, a handheld radio and the television set.
Drake is also stalked by a sinister Pierrot (resembling David Bowie's appearance in the Ashes to Ashes music video), who appears to echo the role of the Test Card F girl in Life on Mars.
Drake learns from DS Ray Carling that Tyler returned to Manchester in 1973 and spent seven years serving faithfully alongside Gene Hunt. In 1980 he drove his car into a river during a car chase and is presumed dead, though the body was never found. A newspaper clipping paying posthumous tribute to Tyler's achievements hangs in Hunt's office. Hunt subsequently transferred to the Metropolitan Police, taking Carling and Skelton with him.
As in the case of Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, from Hunt's point of view Drake has asked to be transferred to his division from elsewhere. Unlike Tyler in Life on Mars, Drake is a DI in the present day and a DI in the past.
Reception
Based on overnight returns, The Guardian reported that audience figures for the February 7, 2008 broadcast of the first episode, in a 9pm slot on the flagship channel, BBC One, were seven million, about 29% of viewers. The figure was "in line with the final episode of Life on Mars in April last year, though well up on the earlier show's second series debut of 5.7 million two months earlier," but The Guardian noted "the heavy publicity blitz this week for Ashes to Ashes" as a factor in its success against the opposition
Critical reception to the first episode of the series was mixed, with positive reviews from the Telegraph, the Herald The Spectator, and the New Statesman and negative reviews from the Times, Newsnight Review, and the Guardian, which described the episode as "actually pretty bad". The popular national free sheet, Metro, gave the episode four stars as "a vote of faith" on what it described as "a dodgy start".
Cast
- Philip Glenister as DCI Gene Hunt
- Keeley Hawes as DI Alex Drake
- Dean Andrews as DS Ray Carling
- Marshall Lancaster as DC Chris Skelton
- Montserrat Lombard as WPC Sharon Granger
Episode guide
Main article: List of Ashes to Ashes episodesSoundtrack
The soundtrack features contemporary songs by groups of the period such as punk period survivors The Clash and The Stranglers, New Romantics such as Duran Duran, as well as the later period Roxy Music and The Passions' sole hit single, "I'm in love with a German film star" from 1981.
Depiction of 1981
As with parent series, there are anachronisms. At least one is intentional, however. The Audi Quattro was not available in right hand drive in the United Kingdom in 1981, only in left hand drive. Philip Glenister admitted that the production was aware of this but said "But who cares? It's a cool car". He also has jokingly claimed that Hunt probably got it as a dodgy German import.
References
- ^ "Keeley Hawes joins cast of Ashes to Ashes". bbc.co.uk. 2007-07-03. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Programme Information - Network TV Week 6 - Unplaced" (Press release). BBC Press Office. 2008-01-17. Retrieved 2008-01-17.
{{cite press release}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Ashes to Ashes - swapping the Ford Cortina for an Audi Quattro, DCI Gene Hunt rolls up his sleeves and embraces the Eighties in sequel to Life On Mars". bbc.co.uk. 2007-04-11. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Ashes burns up the opposition, The Guardian, 8 February, 2008
- A perfectly smooth change of gear, by Robert Hanks, The Independent, 8 February, 2008, retrieved 08 02 2008
- Last night on television: Ashes to Ashes (BBC1) - Cutting Edge: Who Killed the Playboy Earl? (Channel 4) by Gerard O'Donovan, Daily Telegraph, 8 February, 2008
- Back in the Day when PC meant Copper by David Belcher, The Herald (Glasgow), 8 February, 2008
- In praise of Ashes to Ashes, by Matthew d'Ancona, The Spectator, February 8, 2008
- Let's do the time warp again, by Rachel Cooke, New Statesman, 7 February, 2008
- Ashes to Ashes, TV review by Andrew Billen, The Times, January 16, 2008
- NewsNight Review, 7 February, 2008, on BBC iPlayer, duration 35 minutes, requires Windows XP or Windows Vista
- Last night's TV by Sam Wollaston, 8 February, 2008, The Guardian
- Ashes To Ashes could be a slow-burner, Keith Watson, Metro, 8 February, 2008
- Nathan, Sara (2008-01-17). "Ashes to Ashes: Dust to dust". The Sun. News Group Newspapers. Retrieved 2008-01-17.
External links
- Ashes to Ashes at BBC Online
- Ashes to Ashes at IMDb
- Ashes to Ashes at Digital Spy
- Fire Up The Quattro Unofficial fan website
| Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes | |
|---|---|
| Life on Mars | |
| Ashes to Ashes | |
| Characters | |
 Category | |