Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

Did You Know?

• In 2010, the Labour Party used an edited image of Gene Hunt on the Quattro with David Cameron's face in a general election campaign, with the slogan 'Don't let him take Britain back to the 1980s'.
• The Conservatives responded with a modified version of the image saying 'Fire up the Quattro. It's time for Change. Vote for Change.'
• Filming for the second series was shot on Super 16 film and mastered in 576p standard definition.

Premise

The series follows Alex Drake, a Detective Inspector with the London Metropolitan Police who specializes in psychology and is a divorced mother of a daughter named Molly. In 2008, while examining the case file of Sam Tyler—a Detective Chief Inspector who had an experience while in a coma and later died after a year in a prolonged coma—Alex is called to a school incident involving ex-criminal mastermind Arthur Layton. After being kidnapped and shot by Layton, she blacks out and regains consciousness in 1981, where she meets DCI Gene Hunt, DC Ray Carling, and DC Chris Skelton, whom Tyler had described. They work at Fenchurch CID, joined by PC Shaz Granger, a young woman who develops feelings for Chris. Like Tyler, Alex is uncertain of her location and purpose, experiencing out-of-reality situations that connect to 2008 and TV shows referencing her predicament. She uses her future skills to navigate police cases while the programme remains ambiguous about whether she is dead or alive in the present day. Each series has an overarching plot: a mysterious clown resembling one from a David Bowie music video and an encounter with her mother before her parents die in a car bombing; roses from a future police officer and police corruption; and stars and a young police constable with a head wound, with Ray, Chris, and Shaz beginning to have out-of-reality experiences. The final episode reveals the world is a limbo or purgatory for restless dead police officers, including Drake, Tyler, Gene, Ray, Chris, and Shaz, all of whom died violently.

Episode guide

The first series, set in 1981, consists of eight episodes written mainly by creators Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham, with additional episodes by Julie Rutterford, Mark Greig, and Mick Ford. Alex investigates her parents' deaths, connected to political unrest involving Margaret Thatcher's campaign and Lord Scarman's attacks on the police, while haunted by a clown from David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" music video, whose identity is revealed in the last episode. The second series, set in 1982 against the Falklands War, covers the cover-up of a police officer's killing in a nightclub. Alex's comatose body is found in 2008, and Gene confronts a corrupted force as Alex receives calls from Martin Summers, a hospital patient involved in corruption. The series ends with Alex awakening in the present but seeing Gene's face on monitors pleading for help. The third series, set in 1983, concludes the story.

Soundtracks

The soundtrack features contemporary songs by British groups from the period, including the Clash, the Stranglers, Duran Duran, Ultravox, Jon & Vangelis, OMD, Roxy Music, and the Passions' "I'm in Love with a German Film Star". In the second episode, Steve Strange performs "Fade to Grey" by Visage at The Blitz. The first series finale ends with Supertramp's "Take the Long Way Home", and the third series finale plays David Bowie's "Heroes". Philip Glenister noted that the move to 1982 was partly due to running out of good songs, fearing they would have to use Bucks Fizz's "The Land of Make Believe" (a snippet appears in the second series, as does "Making Your Mind Up" in the first). CD soundtracks for the first, second, and third series were released on 17 March 2008, 20 April 2009, and 12 April 2010 respectively. During the second and third series, UK digital TV viewers could access 1980s background music via the red button after the show, including clips from Top of the Pops and The Old Grey Whistle Test introduced by Philip Glenister as Gene Hunt.

Reception

The Guardian reported that the first episode on 7 February 2008 drew 7 million viewers, about 29% of the audience, in line with the final episode of Life on Mars but up from that show's second series debut. The heavy publicity blitz was noted as a factor. Critical reception was mixed: positive reviews came from The Daily Telegraph, The Herald, The Spectator, and the New Statesman, while negative reviews from The Times, The Sunday Times, Newsnight Review, The Guardian, and The Observer criticized direction, structure, and tone, though costumes and art direction were praised. Metro gave four out of five as a vote of faith on a dodgy start. The second episode on 14 February 2008 had 6.1 million viewers, down nearly one million, but still outperformed Trial & Retribution. The fifth episode on 6 March 2008 attracted 6.6 million viewers, and The Daily Telegraph stated that Ashes to Ashes stepped out of Life on Mars's shadow. Keeley Hawes's performance was singled out by critics such as Ally Ross, Jim Shelley, and Sam Wollaston, with Ross blaming her character for ruining scenes and Wollaston calling her unconvincing. Philip Glenister defended Hawes, and she sent flowers to her critics.