Ashes to Ashes

[Ace]

Bit of a lame episode following on from the excellent Life on Mars series.
Gene Hunt was hamming it up, and the music from the episode was a mixture of 1979 (I fought the Law, No More Heroes and Are Friends Electric?) 1980 (Same Old Scene) and A Team music (1983) so someone has it a bit wrong.
Good action and GREAT set of legs on DI Alex Drake.

A cash in by the BBC, but overall, worth it

[steve56]

Missed it i was watching some 80s DVDS must have forgot it was on ill watch the repeat

[dynatech]

They're a bit out on the car too really. Call me an anorak, but Audi Coupe's (let alone the hallowed Ur Quattro) hadn't really taken off in the UK in 1981, it was late 82 and 83 when they started taking off here (never mind a 79/80 V-reg!), a hairy-chested copper like Gene Hunt would have been emulating the Professionals in 1981 with a V6 Capri, or possibly maybe an Opel Monza or Toyota, the Audi was the choice of the very discerning motorist. Also the new-font reg plate they've given it is a piss-poor prop, it would have been simple to get an old-style one made up

This guy sounds a bit pissed off though
[url] http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... 486866[url]

[Pervert]

I'll give it time to see if it settles down. While Life On Mars managed almost immediately to capture the atmosphere of the era, 1973, Ashes To Ashes hasn't tapped into 1981. Airbrushing the Millennium Dome/O2 Centre and putting up a couple of Adam Ant posters isn't enough.

Hawes' character isn't as immediately sympathetic as the one played by John Simm either. Still, I will give it time to see if it develops.

[biffalo]

You're right Caractacus, I hated her from the start

[Steve R]

I have to agree with everything said by Caractacus.

[Robbo]

I'd still bang her though!!

!wink!

[Lucifer Sam]

Yeah I thought it was a bit like some 20somethings interpretation of what the 80s was probably like rather than how it actually looked. Too many Athena posters on the walls for my liking.

[The Last Word]

Didn't really work, did it. Namely because its focus on what constitutes eighties trends and ideals seemed unsure. And with this being a period that has recently undergone a quite sizeable cultural re-evaluation, treating it in a somewhat novelty-ish manner made it look not dated but simply out of step and behind the times. It may make its stance clearer as the show progresses of course.

However, Life On Mars harked back to the likes of The Sweeney, an archetypal cop show of its time. But the archetypal eighties cop show isn't British, it's American - Miami Vice. There was no UK counterpart and this lack of clear genre reference points might be the show's undoing.

[Cactus Jack]

To me, the best parts were the echoes of US cop shows. I could happily watch Gene Hunt & gang chase bad guys for an hour, with their great one-liners in a straight cop show, instead of farting about with all the time travelling weirdness and strange Bowie-esque clowns. Then again, I was 4 years old in 1981, so I've no idea what contemporary cop shows were like.

In a way, it's a bit like the Simpsons. In the first (few) series, Homer was a supporting character for the wacky adventures of Bart, and when they realised he was the best parts it became more and more The Homer Show. The writers of A2A know that people tune in for Gene Hunt, and so they're giving him more chance to ham it up, shooting machine guns, and driving speed boats.

Oh, and yes, DI Drake is well worth 3 minutes of my time, and I'm pretty sure that 'Shaz' will grow on me too.

BTW, am I the only one that remembers Phil Glenister as a brummie bin man is a short-lived Frank Skinner sitcom?