Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #889 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-09-07
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Number of discs: 8
• Running time: 950 minutes

Synopsis
ASHES TO ASHES follows on from the hugely successful BBC series LIFE ON MARS, and sees the return of the self styled 'Sheriff of Manchester' DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister). Whereas LIFE ON MARS was a throwback to the crime-fighting style of the 1970's, ASHES TO ASHES takes you back to 'the decade that taste forgot', the 1980's.

In the first series DCI Hunt has left relative the comfort of the Greater Manchester Police to take on the 'southern nancys' of London, where he once again acquires a time-travelling sidekick, this time in the sexy and smart DI Alex Drake. Her psychology background and indepth knowledge of the Sam Tyler case lead her to dismiss her predicament as a vivid hallucination. Nevertheless, with crime rife on the streets of 1980's London, and a police team not very receptive to modern career women, Alex has a lot to prove before she can figure out how to get home.

The second series of the time-bending ASHES TO ASHES continues where the first series left off. With the mystery surrounding the death of her parents now solved, Alex desperately seeks to find out how she has become trapped in the past, but must first unravel a conspiracy within her department that involves police corruption, a wealthy entrepreneur and a shadowy Superintendent involved with the Free Masons.

Customer Reviews

Fire up the dvd
Philip Glenister summed up the problem that this series initially had when he said that the makers of the earlier Life on Mars had spent six years perfecting the series before they started filming. With Ashes to Ashes they had six weeks.

In LoM the makers were in control. So the series hit the ground running from the first moment and offered a seamless mixture of great characters and intriguing plots all told with style and wit. That's not the case here. A2A gives the impression that the writers are making up the rules as they go along. Early episodes try things out as they root around for a distinctive new style.

Some things work, most don't, but gradually order appears and by the end of season 1 they've got things together. But at the start it's a mess. We see the 1980s through the eyes of new character Alex. So the characters Sam created while in a coma have been changed to suit Alex's feminine viewpoint. Gene is no longer the sheriff. He's now a rough-diamond heartthrob who has been battered down by time and police regulations to be less than he was. He can no longer beat confessions out of whomever he fancies for the crime. This is logical, (except for him turning into a wine drinker) but a lesser Gene is tough to watch.

The other characters have also been re-imagined. Ray and Chris have more to do, but are now a fun double act. There's no edge to them, but whether that's a bad thing is up to the viewer. The biggest problem is the lead. Sam Tyler was an everyman, someone it was easy to sympathise with, but Alex is posh, arrogant, unsympathetic and unlike Sam she cares nothing for the world she finds herself in. Her antipathy was a brave choice, but if Alex doesn't care about her imaginary world, why should we?

When the format settles down season 1 works, but inevitably it had mixed reactions. The writers listened to the criticism and so season 2 is as dark as anything LoM produced. Two main story arcs develop. One arc concerns the bigger mystery of how Alex can return home. This is moved along by the addition of a new mystery character who haunts Alex and sends her roses. The other arc delves into police corruption and uncovers a sordid underbelly to the force in which anyone could be involved. Both arcs work with well-paced resolutions of the mysteries that keep you guessing up until the big reveals.

The stories are grittier than season 1's and they are filmed in a grittier style. In LoM everything was nicotine-stained. Season 1 turned away from that with a world that was bright and colourful. Now everything is claustrophobic again. The sets are the same, but not all the lights are on; characters aren't filmed in full brightness. Cameras are put in odd places such as filming from the floor and close-ups are uncomfortably close. The outside sequences move from the bright warehouses to a sordid litter-strewn part of town.

The characters are no longer played for comic effect. Ray takes a bribe in episode 1 turning his character back to way he was in LoM. Chris is still an idiot, but he has interesting character developments later. Hunt is back to the less-heroic man we weren't sure about. Most thankfully Alex has a soberer hairstyle, and she's no longer made-up like a cosmetic model in a tv advert and is instead allowed to look her age.

Despite all the grit, the series provides as many laughs as before, except this time they have an edge to them. By the time the season reaches its jaw-dropping ending, you'll be pleased that there will be a season 3.