User Reviews

The most explosive episode yet. A great end to the series as Alex tries to do a Sam Beckett and change history and find her way home Great storyline, music and styles. After an unimpressive start to the series this leaves you eager to watch series 2. Somehow I'll find my way home by Jon And Vangelis might have been a better tune to close the series.

Episode 7 has brilliant set up the finale, Part 8 is a superb episode, capping what I believe to have been an excellent series. The series naturally is not Life on Mars, but it was an update, a progression. It seems that D-day is fast approaching for Alex's parents. Will the red balloon finally be explained. Can she save them, will she get home? Is the gorgeous Evan all he makes out to be? Lots of questions we need answers to. It's always a treat to have Sean Harris in a piece of TV, he's an outstanding actor, Alex tries to get answers out of his character, is he responsible for her parents murder as well as shooting her? Alex driving a bright pink tank is possibly the most insane scene in the whole series. Lord Scarman is brilliantly played by Geoffrey Hutchings. This truly was a stunning finale, Keeley Hawes putting in her best performance, some questions were answered, others were to continue into the next series.

As a father of two, I found the whole dysfunctional family dynamic incredibly worthwhile viewing. The character portrayals, the deep familial portrayals and "modern" stresses were top notch. However, the lighthearted aspects were never neglected with frivolity generously put on display for chuckles aplenty.... Whether you're in for the laughs at the eighties' foibles or in for the feels, this episode delivered in spades. And, finally, as a particle physicist, I found that this series Asimov inspired "dead past" concept, entirely refreshing (i.e. what happened, happened and cannot be changed but can only be complemented.)

ten out of ten for a ripping season of British TV

This is the last episode of the first series and I have to say it is the best single episode I have seen of any long running drama. Ever. Period. From the humour of Gene Hunt's rants to the edge of your seat, shocking denouement, it had everything. Twists and turns galore. The script was tight and well written, and delivered perfectly by all members of the cast. Anybody who says it is inferior to Life on Mars is deluded. It is better in every way. Currently being reshown on the Drama Channel, do not miss it. I cannot wait for series two to start.

I enjoyed the first season of Life on Mars but worried whenever it came to the second season because I thought it a mistake. When it was better than the one before I was proved wrong and it was this reason that I carried on with Ashes to Ashes. You see the whole idea of this worried me because it seemed to exist just because Gene Hunt was popular and they wanted to continue the character, even if the character had not suggested being strong enough to actually carry a show. This show is not as spin-off though so much as it is a rerun because essentially the same characters and concept return in a different time period. The character back in time (or not!?) this time is DI Alex Drake, who has been shot in the modern age and found herself back in the early 1980's where she joins DCI Hunt and his team, who have moved to London with his team for more adventure and high profile cases. Totally sure she is trapped in her own mind because she was familiar with the Tyler case, Drake tries to work out what she needs to do to get back to her real life and daughter Molly.

What the first season produces is a solid but unremarkable piece of television that is better if you match the characters' approach of putting Sam Tyler totally out of their minds after the first early stages. This is because by comparison the show is very much secondary to Life on Mars and it was hard to forget this. Focusing on Ashes to Ashes on its own terms it is a bit better but still suffers narratively from the foundation of Life on Mars. You see, Alex knows her situation and it does rather take away from the drama and intrigue that came originally. OK so the clown character provides a creepy air but it does not compare. It doesn't help that I didn't care so much for Alex as I did for Sam; she was too aloof and knowing as a character and it sucked a lot out of her personal thread. Where she is better as a character is working off Hunt, who is very much the driving force of the show even if he has less time on screen (or maybe Drake just make her time fee longer).

In the first few episodes, with these bits not really working what was left was rather overblown and reliant on music and period jokes – even Hunt was rather inflated and silly, driving and speedboat and firing an uzi! As the first half of the season passed though it did get better as the cases were more interesting, the characters less overblown and silly and the "trapped in the past" aspect started to get a bit more interesting. The cast are solid enough in the main. Glenister is good of course and he works well with Hawes, even if the story forces the "sexual attraction" bit too much at times. As with Simm, Hawes is asked to carry a lot while Glenister has fun; unfortunately she is not as up to the task as Simm was and her individual scenes are a mix of good, annoying or bland – which is not great even if the majority fall into the first category. Andrews and Lancaster return with solid performances in side characters while Lombard and others are OK in supporting roles.

So, alongside Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes is undoubtedly secondary but on its own it is a solid enough drama but nothing to write home about. To put it another way, fans of Life on Mars will look down on this to a degree, while those never taken by the idea in the first place will continue to care less. Distracting but not a lot more than that.