Ashes To Ashes Series Two comes to BBC One
The Second Outing for the Life On Mars Spin-off for 2009
How do you follow up one of the most acclaimed and successful British TV programmes of the last 10 years? The answer, with great difficulty as the makers of time travel sci-fi drama series Life On Mars discovered when they unleashed Ashes To Ashes last year to a mixed reaction. The murky ‘70s was replaced with the shiny ‘80s but lost some of the charm and tension.
Alex Drake is still stuck in the 1980s
The second series is set in 1982 - as Thatcher and the Falkland’s War are in full swing - where DI Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) is still stuck in the past but receiving strange messages from her own time. She also comes across a man who appears to be in the same predicament as her, bringing doubts as to whether or not her current life is a figment of her imagination.
There’s police work getting in the way too. In the first episode a man found dead in a Soho strip club is discovered to be a cop, PC Sean Irvine, who was working in the vice unit. DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) suspects he died in a sex game gone wrong after becoming a part of that world but Alex believes after talking to the pathologist and Sean's wife that he was murdered. Could the killer could be one of their own?
Gene Hunt to be Silenced?
This year the cast have promised it will be much darker. Series one ended with Alex’s parents dying in a car bomb, a vivid image that haunted her mind throughout the episodes, with politically incorrect copper Gene Hunt coming to the rescue to save her younger self. Their relationship continues to be fiery with hints of sexual tension, not that either of them would admit it.
Gene has problems of his own when a new superior called Detective Superintendent Mackintosh – dubbed "Supermac" - arrives determined to restore police reputation in the eyes of the media and public by removing all forms of corruption and clean up the streets of London. Gene's instant admiration dissolves once he learns more about the man behind the title.
Actor Philip Glenister has recently kept himself busy playing an American vampire hunter in ITV’s terrible Demons. He said about returning to his most famous role: "In this series of Ashes To Ashes Gene is still out there being a maverick, but what I always say about him is that, while he bends the rules, he never breaks them. He merely manipulates and stretches them a bit.”
Can Ashes To Ashes finally step away from Life On Mars?
One of the criticisms laid at the first series is that unlike John Simm actress Keeley Hawes’ performance wasn’t strong enough to hold the audience’s attention. While it’s true that Hawes was overshadowed by Glenister the fault also lies with the extra focus on Gene Hunt as a lead and giving him the most memorable lines.
Life On Mars was very much about Sam Tyler and Simm made a very sympathetic character who was also tough but, importantly, was in every scene. Plus Life On Mars had the element of surprise as viewers really had no idea if Sam was imagining it or if he did indeed travel back in time; Alex not only knows about his experience but refers to her own flash to the past as a dream. But the new batch of twists could change this.
Ashes To Ashes wasn’t a bad series in its opening run, it’s just very hard to watch it without comparisons to one of the best TV shows of the decade. But it is worth saying that despite a shaky start Ashes To Ashes did at least build to a good conclusion last time round. The team behind the show need to keep the momentum going and prove that it’s worth mentioning in the same breath as Life On Mars.
Ashes To Ashes series two starts on BBC One on Monday, April 20 at 9pm.
Alex Drake and Gene Hunt
|
What do you think about this article?
Comments
More in Film & TV
Latest Articles