Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)
Ashes to Ashes is a British fantasy crime drama and police procedural drama television series, serving as the sequel to Life on Mars.[1]
Ashes to Ashes
Edmund Butt
United Kingdom
English
3
24 (list of episodes)
60 minutes
- Kudos Film and Television
- BBC Wales
- Monastic Productions
7 February 2008 –
21 May 2010
Production[edit]
First series episodes were directed by Jonny Campbell, Bille Eltringham and Catherine Morshead.
Filming for the second series began in 2008. The second series takes place six months after the first, set in 1982 during the Falklands War.[4] The episodes were shot on Super 16 film and mastered in 576p standard definition.[5]
A third, and final, series was commissioned, and filming of the eight 60-minute episodes began in late 2009[6][7] This final series was shot in Super 16 again but telecined and mastered for high definition.[8] In an interview with SFX, series co-creator and executive producer Matthew Graham stated that he was considering making a 3D episode.[9] Once again, the series moved on a year, this time to 1983.[10] Philip Glenister, speaking on the BBC One Breakfast TV programme on 8 June 2009, announced that the third series would be the last.[11] Producers revealed the climax of the show would reveal who the character of Gene Hunt really is.[12] The third series concluded on 21 May 2010.
The Audi Quattro was not available in right-hand drive in the United Kingdom in 1981, only in left-hand drive. The car shown in the TV series is the 1983 model, with slight changes to the headlights and other features.[13] Costume designer Rosie Hackett explained the challenge in not using any eighties fashion not yet available in the year the respective series is set in (1981, 1982 and 1983 respectively). One reason for moving the sequel to London, from Life on Mars' Manchester setting, was because the iconic eighties fashion would not have reached smaller cities at the time.[14]
Ashes to Ashes
Reception[edit]
Ratings[edit]
Based on overnight returns, The Guardian reported that audience figures for the 7 February 2008 broadcast of the first episode—in a 9 pm slot on the flagship channel, BBC One—were 7 million: about 29% of viewers. The figure was "in line with the final episode of Life on Mars in April last year, though well up on the earlier show's second series debut of 5.7 million two months earlier", but The Guardian noted "the heavy publicity blitz this week for Ashes to Ashes" as a factor in its success.[24]
Critical reception[edit]
Critical reception to the first episode of the series was mixed,[25] with positive reviews from The Daily Telegraph,[26] The Herald,[27] The Spectator,[28] and the New Statesman,[29] and negative reviews from The Times,[30] The Sunday Times,[31] Newsnight Review,[32] The Guardian,[33] and The Observer, which criticised the episode's direction, structure, and tone (although it did praise the costumes and art direction).[34] The national free sheet, Metro, gave the episode four stars as "a vote of faith" on what it described as "a dodgy start".[35]
The Guardian reported on 15 February 2008 that, with 6.1 million viewers and a 25% audience share, the ratings for the second episode, shown on 14 February, were down by almost one million on the first, comparing overnight returns. It still did well against the Lynda La Plante police procedural Trial & Retribution, which fell to a series low on ITV.[36] The fifth episode, broadcast 6 March 2008, attracted 6.6 million viewers according to overnight returns.[37] With this episode, The Daily Telegraph stated that "Ashes to Ashes stepped out of the shadow of Life on Mars."
Keeley Hawes' performance was singled out by critics such as The Sun's Ally Ross, The Daily Mirror's Jim Shelley and The Guardian's Sam Wollaston.[38] While Robert Maclaughlin, writing for Den of Geek, praised Hawes for "the ability to pull off a white leather coat, perm and very, very tight jeans",[39] other critics were negative; Ross blamed the character of Alex Drake for "ruining nearly every scene".[40] Wollaston went further, writing "Keeley Hawes, as DI Alex Drake, is awful. She may be totally shagworthy and have a cracking pair of puppies (those are one of Hunt's sidekick's words, not mine, before you start complaining), but, as a copper, even a psychologist copper, she's very unconvincing."[41] Philip Glenister defended his co-star, stating, "It's a hellishly difficult thing to come into and I've seen how hard she works and how brilliant she is. To all those detractors, they're just plain wrong."[42] Hawes sent all her critics flowers.[40]
Entertainment news website Digital Spy praised the show's return, with cult editor Ben Rawson-Jones describing the opening episode of the second series as "greatly promising".[43] It was watched by 7.01 million viewers.[44][45]
The second series was nominated for The TV Dagger at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards. Keeley Hawes and Philip Glenister received nominations in the Best Actress and Best Actor categories respectively.[46]
The finale of Ashes To Ashes, which finished in 2010,[47] has been described by Dean Andrews as "genius". He explained on GMTV: "Everything is tied up. You get all of the answers from Life on Mars and Ashes To Ashes."[48]
When interviewed by SFX Magazine in May 2010, Matthew Graham spoke of teasing the BBC with a third set of series called The Laughing Gnome (the title, an early song by David Bowie, suggests a prequel set in the 1960s), and claimed that they made "the whole title page and copyrighted it and everything". He said the BBC responded well to the joke, replying "Yeah, it's commissioned!".[49]
The series three finale was watched by 6.45 million viewers.[50]
Cultural impact[edit]
In 2010, the Labour Party used an edited image of Gene Hunt on the Quattro with David Cameron's face as part of its general election campaign, with the words "Don't let him take Britain back to the 1980s".[54] The slogan links the Conservative leader with memories of social unrest and youth unemployment. In response to this, the Conservatives posted a slightly modified version of the image with the words "Fire up the Quattro. It's time for Change. Vote for Change. Vote Conservative."[55] Subsequently, Kudos Productions—which owns the copyright to the Gene Hunt character—wrote to both parties requiring them to cease using the image.[56]
Philip Glenister was introduced to David Cameron, future UK Prime Minister, at the 2009 Police Bravery Awards.[57] Glenister explained that Gene Hunt was popular with real police officers because he spent his time catching criminals rather than doing paperwork. He later quipped 'Six months later, he's (Cameron) on Radio 5 Live saying exactly what I've just said. Bastard nicked my line!"[58]