Any Guesses?

When Keeley Hawes announced at the start of Ashes to Ashes on Friday night with the words “My name is Alex Drake. And quite frankly, your guess is as good as mine”, I couldn’t have agreed with her more. This show, although less so its predecessor, Life On Mars, has always been about what’s happening on the fringes of the story rather than the story itself. In all the furore about Doctor Who at the weekend, I failed to blog about this installment but it does throw up an interesting comparrison. Doctor Who (since 2005) has, on the majority of occasions, been about telling an amazing adventure story set within a little bit of continuity, or “arcs” as we fans like to call them, thrown in to tease the observant. LoM and AtA

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Tags: Alex Drake, Ashes-To-Ashes, Gene-Hunt, Keeley Hawes, Life-On-Mars, Philip-Glenister, Sam-Tyler, Series 3

“A quick word about police brutality… lots of it” – Gene Hunt (1982)

The 80’s vibe that Ashes to Ashes strives to realise continues to be very compelling and convincing, with only the occasional creative camera angles and snappy editing suggesting that this is a thoroughly modern programme. While I am sure that some nitpickers can point out continuity errors, the fact that the series is (supposedly) set in the mind of Alex Drake in the moments between her life and death in

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Tags: A2A, Alex Drake, Ashes-To-Ashes, Gene-Hunt, Keeley Hawes, Phillip Glenister

Looking Back at the 80’s

Life on Mars was one of the most popular British dramas produced in recent years.  It’s main thrust was a delightful conceit: a police officer goes back in time, which results in clash of cultures… cue ample opportunity for dramatic and/or comedic escapades.  If it has been made in the 70’s (and the time travel had been back to the early 50’s) this would have been the extent of the story and nothing much more would have been made of it.  However, viewers in the noughties are somewhat

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Tags: Alex Drake, Ashes-To-Ashes, Audi Quattro, Deja Vu, Gene-Hunt, Keeley Hawes, Life-On-Mars, Nostalgia, Philip-Glenister, Sam-Tyler, The Happy Day

Christmas Review #4 of 12

I have kept the faith with BBC1’s new interpretation of Robin Hood despite protestations from many sources who can’t bear to watch it.  It is one of the few screen “institutions” that regularly get re-invented (or “re-imagined” as we’re supposed to say now) to the degree that it has reached a cultural significance along with the likes of James Bond, Coronation Street, and, dare I say, Doctor Who.  So, there are a number of aspects to this show that can annoy people but they can be categorised

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Tags: Friar Tuck, Guy, Jonas-Armstrong, King Richard, Lucy Griffiths, Nottingham, Robin-Hood, Sheriff

Christmas Review #2 of 12

Okay, so, Cranford was done and dusted well in advance of “Christmas” but this forms a part of my dozen, festive reviews by virtue of the fact that it seemed to set the tone for the subsequent Dickensian offerings from BBC and ITV.  Alternatively, it’s my blog and I make the rules.  Cranford was, on the surface, one of those cosy Sunday night offerings that are served up from time to time as a “feel good” period drama.  This one ran over five consecutive Sundays in November and December but, far from the cosiness that may have been expected, Cranford

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Tags: BBC1, Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell, Francesca Annis, Judi Dench, Julia MacKenzie, Kimberley Nixon, Michael Gambon, Philip-Glenister, Sunday Night

Sam’s Final Fling

It has the potential to be one of those finales that is talked about for years to come (at least around the hallowed halls of Fazzinchi Towers), like Blake’s 7 or Blackadder or Babylon 5 or The Office (or, for all the wrong reasons, Quantum Leap). Life on Mars will be remembered as a genre-breaking series that looked back at the seventies with a gritty realism and a realisation that it almost was like another planet. In Gene Hunt we had a fantastic character who, despite being a

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Tags: 1973, Finale, Gene-Hunt, John-Simm, Life-On-Mars, Period Drama, Philip-Glenister, Sam-Tyler