Stream On: ‘Ashes to Ashes’ takes up where ‘Life on Mars’ left off
Is she mad, dead … or has Detective Alex Drake really travelled back in time? Have we been here before?
A sequel television series to Life on Mars was broadcast between 2008 and 2010. Ashes to Ashes is set in London, with Detective Inspector Alex Drake being transported from the modern day to 1981 and meeting Gene Hunt and his colleagues from the earlier show.
/Streaming /🍿99% /Trailer /2008-2010 /TV14
Ashes to Ashes tells the story of Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes), a police officer in service with the London Metropolitan Police, who is shot in 2008 and inexplicably regains consciousness in 1981. (In Life on Mars, Sam Tyler was hit by a car in 2006 and woke up in 1973.)
In the first episode, Detective Inspector Drake, a 21st-century police officer, is investigating the notes written by Sam Tyler (John Simm) during the events of Life on Mars. During this time, Drake is shot and awakens in 1981, where she meets Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), Ray Carling (Dean Andrews) and Chris Skelton (Marshall Lancaster), characters from the earlier show, and about whom she has read in Tyler's notes, made on his return to 2006.
And in 1981, Tyler’s old mates, Hunt, Carling and Skelton, think she’s another oddball—they’ve got their own things going on. She turned up, like Tyler, with police credentials, and they were expecting an officer, so she settles in, like Tyler did, attributing larger meanings to the cases. Believing it’s all in her mind, she greets her colleagues with, “Good morning, imaginary constructs.”
Philip Glenister, who plays the colorful Detective Chief Inspector Gene Hunt, has top billing (Hawes as Drake has second)—in Life on Mars he became a breakout character, assuming more and more importance during the series, and in Ashes to Ashes his epic stature is played almost as a joke, with flourishes similar to ’eighties programs like Miami Vice and The A Team. (There’s a good dose of humor in the show.)
One interesting feature of the series among many is that Alex’ mother had died in a car explosion when she was a child, and in 1981 Alex meets her, a high-profile defense attorney, working on a case that Alex comes to believe is the one that killed her; Alex wants in on that; she thinks in case she’s really in 1981 that maybe she can save her Mum. From week to week and moment to moment she changes her mind about her “condition.”
Ashes to Ashes’ production is pretty splashy, in a good way; at times Life on Mars seemed only like an actual ’70’s detective show, but it was at its best when the audience was reminded of the time-travelling premise. In Ashes to Ashes the notion is always present, as Alex Drake is amazed to see the world that Tyler wrote about in his notes and she keeps talking about it, which the others put down to eccentricity.
Of special note is the contemporary soundtrack, as on Life on Mars, but the 1980’s pop, like the series, is just more memorable than that of the 1970’s—the first episode ends perfectly with Roxy Music’s “Same Old Scene.” Also, notably, are several songs from Dexy’s Midnight Runners that aren’t “Come On Eileen,” virtually unknown outside of Britain!
Being familiar with Life on Mars does seem to be a prerequisite for enjoying Ashes to Ashes (which takes its name from another David Bowie song, by the way—Drake’s visions include a character dressed like Bowie in the song’s video), but Mars had a huge following in the UK. Ashes to Ashes even has three seasons, as opposed to Mars’ two, so I’m thinking it was a great success. I’ve just completed watching the first few episodes, but I’m finding Ashes even more entertaining than Mars.
(The only DVD’s I’ve found are not playable on the Region 1 DVD players of North America.)
Sources include Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED).
Pete Hummers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to earn fees by linking Amazon.com and affiliate sites. This adds nothing to Amazon's prices. This column originally appeared on The Outer Banks Voice.