BBC’s ‘Ashes to Ashes’

Basq

Promo here..

.. and well, my blog-entry says it all!

Starts February 7th at 9:00PM on BBC1.

Mr E

I like the direction they're taking this, Brian.... They're not starting the whole "am I back in time", "what am I doing here?" stuff that came in the first season of LOM. Keeley's character has read all of Sam's notes, diaries etc., and she knows how he got there and how he got back. She knows of Gene, Chris etc. from what she has read. That way its more a continuation of LOM, not a rehash of the same old stuff.

I think its a clever idea, but might make it harder for new people to latch on.

Basq

Heh.. to echo what I've replied to you with on my blog:

Ahhhhhh… I was unaware of this Dave.

What I assumed was it was more of the predicament Sam was in.. although I was wondering how she knew of Gene, Chris and Ray.

Now that I know of that, it does provoke more of an interest in it alright.

Anyways, it’ll be worth watching just for Gene ‘The Genie’ Hunt!

No Annie or Sam though?!

ixoy

Can't access the site here - what sort of sloppy setup is going on? I just wrapped up 'Life on Mars' this week so I'm curious about this..

I can't understand though how they're going to handle it given that

the original '73 was all in his head, induced by a coma

. Or are they taking a different slant?

Basq

ixoy wrote: »

Can't access the site here - what sort of sloppy setup is going on? I just wrapped up 'Life on Mars' this week so I'm curious about this..

Can access it fine here.. but blog has been iffy. Possibly too many plugins activated. Will look into it later.

PS - Just got a hit for that article minutes after I put it up from someone searching for 'Keeley Hawes' in Google. I'm sure the search was clearly for educational purposes or biographical information.

Bet they were pissed when they got a picture of Gene, Ray and Chris (with no Keeley!). There goes another subscriber!

Mr E

I found out about the background to A2A on Digital Spy a few days ago (they saw the first episode). Its not very spoilery (so tis safe to read), but they did like it, and they explained the background to what Keeley's character (Alex Drake) knows.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/a85879/cult-spy-ashes-to-ashes-the-verdict.html

mike65

Nonesence of course! There is no way all three would be transfered down south.















The south could'nt cope.

Mike.

Earthhorse

It is a great dissapointment to me to learn that your first name is Brian.

Basq

Earthhorse wrote: »

It is a great dissapointment to me to learn that your first name is Brian.

Well.. SCREWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW YOU!

Brian is my pen name... my real name is actually Agamemnon. *



















* May not be true!

Dont be at yourself

I loved the first season of Life On Mars, but it did seem to run out of steam about in the second season. The actor who played Sam was fairly annoying too.

I'll tune in, but my hopes aren't entirely high for this one.

ixoy

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

I loved the first season of Life On Mars, but it did seem to run out of steam about in the second season.

Nooo! You can never have enough Gene Hunt! I also liked the uncertainty as to what was going on, something that will be lacking in this new show. Still a third season may have stretched that element too much,

The actor who played Sam was fairly annoying too.

:eek:Basquille, Mr. E ban him! He insulted John Simms!

Dont be at yourself

I loved Gene Hunt, but he seemed to carry the whole show at times!

is_that_so

Best ending to a cop show ever. In a Gold Cortina. Looking forward to Ashes to Ashes myself and the promo has whetted my appetite. That and the very fine Keeley Hawes, who I like as an actress.

Lirange

I thought Simm was a good balance to Glenister. We'll have to see if Hawes can prove to be a good foil. Better eye candy anyway. :rolleyes: The only annoying character was Cartwright (White). What a priss.

ixoy wrote: »

Can't access the site here - what sort of sloppy setup is going on? I just wrapped up 'Life on Mars' this week so I'm curious about this..

I can't understand though how they're going to handle it given that

the original '73 was all in his head, induced by a coma

. Or are they taking a different slant?

Might be that reading Sam's notes has planted the seeds of imagination (i.e it informs her own comatose dreams). Or maybe it is really 1981 and 2008 hadn't happened yet. And you and I aren't really on Boards.ie because it doesn't exist and we don't exist. We are just part of an elaborate construct for Alex and Sam to believe they've come from an imaginary future.

Mr E

Just a bump to remind you that Ashes to Ashes starts tonight on BBC1 at 9pm.

Having watched all 16 episodes of Mars over Christmas (and absolutely loved it), I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it.

mike65

w00t!

Mike.

Basq

Yaaaayyyyy..

.. oh wait, I only have RTÉ1 and RTÉ2. Thanks to fecking UPC's inability to install digital lines in my area! :mad:

Mr E

Sligo tourism rep extraordinaire has spoken.

OPENROAD

basquille wrote: »

Yaaaayyyyy..

.. oh wait, I only have RTÉ1 and RTÉ2. Thanks to fecking UPC's inability to install digital lines in my area! :mad:

:eek::eek: my heart goes out to you, only RTE1 and RTE 2, does not bear thinking about.

Basq

OPENROAD wrote: »

:eek::eek: my heart goes out to you, only RTE1 and RTE 2, does not bear thinking about.

Yep..

It's not that bad.. it's not like I have no choice. I've a choice to get the rest of the channels but I refuse to pay Chorus for shoddy analogue service (especially seeing as analogue is the same cost as digital).

So still waiting for them (for 3 months) to install digital lines.. and not allowed to install a Sky dish in apartment. Was sent an letter last October saying they were installing digital lines and still nothing - useless feckers!

.. back on topic now!

mike65

Brilliant fantastic lovely and thats just Keeley Hawes!

Great opening episode, trod a well judged line mixing humour and drama. I nearly fell off my chair when I heard I'm In Love With A German Film Star on the soundtrack.

Did I mention Ms Hawes?

Mike.

OPENROAD

mike65 wrote: »

Brilliant fantastic lovely and thats just Keeley Hawes!

Great opening episode, trod a well judged line mixing humour and drama. I nearly fell off my chair when I heard I'm In Love With A German Film Star on the soundtrack.

Did I mention Ms Hawes?

Mike.

Love Keeley also, though could not get Spooks out of my head each time I saw her.

Good opening episode, glad it is set in London this time.

odyssey06

Speaking of the music in the series, does anyone know the name of the song that played over the closing credits last night? I think it's a Roxy Music track.

kevmy

I was really impressed with this.

I'd seen a good few episodes of Life on Mars but I was a bit all over the place. So I've decided to start watching this from the start. Thought it was good the way she played Hunt and co. to be total figments of her imagination. Really well down.

I'll be tuning in next week

mike65

odyssey06 - the music was Roxy Music Same Old Scene (geddit?!)

Mike.

odyssey06

mike65 wrote: »

odyssey06 - the music was Roxy Music Same Old Scene (geddit?!)
Mike.

Cheers Mike. 1981 was a little before my time but I recognized most of the other tracks as they seemed to get a lot more re-play over the years

"V"

I missed it last nite so i was gutted because i thought LOM was fantastic so i was really looking forward to this. Does anyone know if it will be repeated on bbc 3/4 during the week like they with LOM last season?

Basq

V wrote:

I missed it last nite so i was gutted because i thought LOM was fantastic so i was really looking forward to this. Does anyone know if it will be repeated on bbc 3/4 during the week like they with LOM last season?

Afraid it doesn't look like it.

I did a search on TheCustard.TV (who use the same guide / engine as DigiGuide) and it's not on there.

purplegeko

I loved last nights episodes, so many memories flooding back from the eighties - my dad had a tie just like Gene's or should that be "Gene's"!

Great opener leaving the way open for a must see season.

mike65

Tasty bits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVX2QiCGzbs

Mike.

Niamho!

:eek:

I dont think i could find this forum when Life on Mars was on!
I thought i was in a Massive minority watching it!
Tried to get people to watch it all the way through so if i missed one i could ask about it.

I thought it was Good. Very similar. i se an addiction Starting!

OPENROAD

Niamho! wrote: »

:eek:

I dont think i could find this forum when Life on Mars was on!
I thought i was in a Massive minority watching it!
Tried to get people to watch it all the way through so if i missed one i could ask about it.

I thought it was Good. Very similar. i se an addiction Starting!

I missed Life on Mars on tv, but got the dvd and watched it all, pure class, Gene is superb, a great actor imo.

John R

V wrote:

I missed it last nite so i was gutted because i thought LOM was fantastic so i was really looking forward to this. Does anyone know if it will be repeated on bbc 3/4 during the week like they with LOM last season?

Episode 1 is repeated on BBC 4 next Thursday immediately after Ep2 on BBC 1.


DRAMA: Ashes To Ashes
On: BBC 4
Date: Thursday 14th February 2008 (starting in 5 days)
Time: 22:00 to 23:00 (1 hour long)

Deja Vue. Series 1, episode 1.
Drama series following the exploits of old-school detective Gene Hunt from the drama series Life on Mars. DI Alex Drake is shot and lands in 1981, coming face-to-face with Gene Hunt, the relic of old-fashioned policing she had read about in Sam Tyler's reports. Thinking that she is in a coma, Alex demands Hunt's help in tracking down the man who shot her in 2008.
(Stereo, Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2008)

Director: Jonny Campbell
Starring: Philip Glenister, Keeley Hawes, Dean Andrews, Marshall Lancaster, Montserrat Lombard, Adam James

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marked By: 'Category: Drama' marker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from http://www.getdigiguide.com/?p=1&r=629

Copyright (c) GipsyMedia Limited.

"V"

Cheers John R thats super. So the big question is if you had a choice would you choose to live in Manchester 1973 or London 1981 and why?
I would pick 1973 mainly because of the clothes,cars and football.

Stephen

Top stuff.



Miami Vice tribute anyone?

mike65

Not quite, sleeves are down and the wind is bloody freezing!

Mike.

OPENROAD

V wrote:

Cheers John R thats super. So the big question is if you had a choice would you choose to live in Manchester 1973 or London 1981 and why?
I would pick 1973 mainly because of the clothes,cars and football.

Has to be London for me, not just because I'm a Londoner at heart and love everything about the city but for the football and for the music well Madness, 1981 was a big year for them. Clothes wise though :eek:

Basq

I don't know lads. Didn't really enjoy the first episode of 'Ashes To Ashes' at all.

Felt too much like a parody, which wasn't really enjoyable. For example, the scene with Markham and his goons start shooting at Chris and Chris jumps about and avoids all the bullets, and then Gene does a little moonwalk type step while shooting (anyone else notice this shot?). It just looked all very daft!

And I think Keeley Hawes was decent.. but John Simms was much much better. Of the new cast, they all blended in with no real introduction. Except for Chas.. who was just annoying personified!

There was a few nice touches in there.. Zippy and Bungle, the clown from Bowie's 'Ashes to Ashes' cover, nice 80's references (Pong, Pacman cups).

And also no real great (and quotable) Gene Hunt lines in this one (as far as I remember). I'll watch next week but the first episode just didn't do it for me.

EDIT: Was trying to think where I saw Edward Markham from the episode. And from a quick glance on IMDb, now realise he was Andy's agent in the 'Extras - Christmas Special'.

Mr E

Harsh basquille, Harsh. I had it Sky+'ed, and just watched it.

Loved it.

Yeah sure it was silly in places (Chris dodging bullets, Gene managing to just graze Layton with a machine gun at close range), but it was really solid and a nice continuation of the Life on Mars legacy.

You know something else? It looks like we are 99% guaranteed a cameo from Sam Tyler before Alex Drake gets home. They'll probably leave it until the last scene of Episode 8, but its going to happen...

purplegeko

Mr E wrote: »

You know something else? It looks like we are 99% guaranteed a cameo from Sam Tyler before Alex Drake gets home. They'll probably leave it until the last scene of Episode 8, but its going to happen...

How can there be a cameo if Sam Tyler died? Would it be like in one of her visions or something?

Mr E

It was mentioned in Ashes to Ashes that he drove his car into the river and the body was never found. Sounds like an opening to me.

mike65

Quick bump - the first episode is on BBC4 tomorrow night at 10 pm (ie straight after ep 2 on BBC1)

Mike.

iguana

purplegeko wrote:

How can there be a cameo if Sam Tyler died? Would it be like in one of her visions or something?

But it has only been established that Sam is dead in 2008 and Drake is assuming that it is all a hallucination. Perhaps he actually did go back in time and by choosing to stay in the 70's his body in the 21st century died because it was no longer needed. And perhaps Drake has also gone back in time, where Sam is assumed to be dead but his body was not recovered.

I'm assuming we will definitely see Sam at some point and most likely Annie as well.

But I do agree with Basquill's opinion on the 1st episode.

odyssey06

I thought the second episode wasn't great. I'm not sure if the show is worth watching just for Gene Hunt's one-liners, a great soundtrack and two very cute WPCs (Keeley Hawes and whoever plays Shazza)... The plots are predictable, and Alex's habit of talking out loud about how all of this is in her imagination just isn't working. I assume it's meant to be knowing and ironic but it just makes her come off as neurotic. She really doesn't seem like a policewoman, whereas John Simm you felt cared about what it meant.

is_that_so

Missed the first one and only caught up with both last night. So far it is only bedding itself in. Life on Mars took a good few episodes to get going. I like Keeley Hawes as an actress and I think she is doing a decent job here so far. Considering her character is a psychologist, the musings don't bother me much. She's convinced she's going home at any minute. Where Sam spent a lot of time looking confused she knows or thinks she knows what's going on.

I actually like the general silliness of it and there are some very nice touches ; the De Lorean - The A-Team complete with bullets missing everyone and Gene worrying about the Quattro. In that respect I think it is good that it is not just Life on Mars 2.

I have found it pretty enjoyable to date, although I would agree it hasn't the inventiveness of Life on Mars but then again if this was the first series and not the follow-up what would we think?

grumpytrousers

yeah, i hate to say it but i'm gonna have to wade into the 'not convinced' camp. I loved Life on Mars and i dearly dearly want to love Ashes to Ashes in the same way, but it's not happening. Y'see, i think the problem is that Tyler accepted that whilst he might be mad, he was still a cop out to do a job, no matter what the style of clothing was around him. Sure there were double takes a-plenty, but it was still bog standard cops'n'robbers with a bit of 'Sam trying to get back' shoved in as well.

In this, it's all too much about Drake wanting to get back to her time. Now obviously if this show was about Drake, that'd be all fine and dandy, save for the fact that her getting back to 2008 removes the entire raison d'etre of the show in the first place.

Ashes, more than 'Mars' is Gene Hunts show. It's that simple. The contrast between him and a similar 'ranking' cop from 33 years on worked a treat in the earlier show, but the contrast between him and DI Drake just isn't enough.

I have the show sky plussed and series linked. I'll watch all the rest, 'cos it's fun, but it's not doing it for me in the same way...

mike65

I think the best way to view A2A is not to think of it as a sequel to LOM, and watch it for its own virtues (and the chance to see Hawes ass being stamped "for Gods sake just stamp my ass"). As Drake is a police psychologist her musings are in character so I don't have a problem there.

Mike.

Hrududu

I only saw a couple of episode of Life on Mars, but i never really got into it. I think i was put off by the 70'sness of it. I never really liked The Sweeney or any of those shows so I couldnt warm to LOM. But all those 80s shows were right up my street so I'm finding it a lot easier to like A2A. Plus as I can't really compare it to LOM I'm not disappointed by it. I'll definitely be tuning in next week.

purplegeko

iguana wrote: »

But it has only been established that Sam is dead in 2008 and Drake is assuming that it is all a hallucination. Perhaps he actually did go back in time and by choosing to stay in the 70's his body in the 21st century died because it was no longer needed. And perhaps Drake has also gone back in time, where Sam is assumed to be dead but his body was not recovered.

Obv. some people were watching the first episode more carefully than me!!! I can see the possibility of a cameo now.

The 2nd episode was so-so it still had enough humor and storyline to keep it interesting. IE is she there to prevent her parents death? :rolleyes:
I liked the way she referred to them as constructs and they all just ignored her. Best part was her mother walking in on while she was getting stamped.

ixoy

I'm enjoying it - it's got a lot more humour than 'Life on Mars' and the difference in tone is important in identifying it as something other than a carbon copy.
I quite like how Alex knows what's going on but almost to no avail - her exasperation is good. Her interaction with Hunt works well because of it. She doesn't have the quiet intensity that Simms brought to Sam but nor should she have - she's far more aware of the rules of the game than he was.

iguana wrote: »

But it has only been established that Sam is dead in 2008 and Drake is assuming that it is all a hallucination. Perhaps he actually did go back in time and by choosing to stay in the 70's his body in the 21st century died because it was no longer needed. And perhaps Drake has also gone back in time, where Sam is assumed to be dead but his body was not recovered.

Or perhaps, given it's in her head, she can just subconsciously manifest Sam!

I'm assuming we will definitely see Sam at some point and most likely Annie as well.

But I do agree with Basquill's opinion on the 1st episode.[/QUOTE]

Utopia Parkway

It's kinda enjoyable but not a patch on Life on Mars IMO. Sometimes it just feels like an 80's tribute programme. Can you remember than tune from the 80's? Can you remember those clothes from the 80's?

There was a darker edge to Life on Mars too. Ashes just seems a bit too light and frothy.