Geekshow

TV Review: Ashes to Ashes

The amazing British series Life on Mars has a sequel. This time she’s back in the nick of time.

A few weeks ago I wrote about Life on Mars, a British import now on ABC. And a week or so after that article, ABC decided to not renew Life on Mars for a second season. Well, at least they’ll finish out their season and hopefully conclude the series in an original and imaginative way.

But throughout that article I mentioned that though the import was a fun and entertaining watch, the original BBC series was the superior show.

And now that series has a sequel.

Ashes to Ashes picks up eight years later in 1981. DCI Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) is a single mother who has risen through police ranks through psychological profiling. One of her cases, that of a now deceased Sam Tyler, introduces her to his world of time travel. She believes it to be a case of psychological trauma. That is, until the psychosis becomes her own.

She is kidnapped by a gunman before her daughter’s birthday party. He shoots her, and she wakes up in 1981. She believes she is stuck in her mind, just as Sam Tyler had been. And the arrival of some familiar faces does nothing to dissuade her.

Back on the scene, DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), DS Ray Carling (Dean Andrews), and DC Chris Skelton (Marshall Lancaster), reprise their original roles from the original series. And I’ve got to say, it’s great to see Hunt back in rare form.

The immediate chemistry between he and Drake is palpable. The relationship is such an immediate change from Hunt’s relationship with Sam that it is at first jarring. You expect animosity and instead get curiosity. It seems as though Hunt’s been through this before and rather than fight her “craziness” he’s going to get wrapped right up in it.

As in the original we get jarring visuals. In this series, Alex is stalked by a creepy clown (similar to David Bowie’s clown on his Ashes to Ashes album cover). The clown seems to be giving her clues and leading her to the reason why she is stuck in 1981. The same year her parents were murdered by a car bomb.

There are still the same weekly crimes to solve and new mysteries to reveal, but the tone of the show is much more laid back. The viewer gets so wrapped up in the relationship forming between Drake and Hunt that her reason for being there is almost secondary.

If you’re a fan of the original BBC series, you’ve got to give Ashes to Ashes a chance. And, if you tried the American series and are looking for something to fill your crime-drama-time-travel niche, then tune in to Ashes to Ashes. Because if nothing else, Glenister’s Gene-the-Genie is such a delight to watch, you won’t be able to turn away.