I’d like to start off by saying that I’ve never been a great watcher of the box. Sure, I love to have a peruse of the seemingly limitless number of channels that are available now and again (Rabbit Chat-and-date excluded), but the television was always primarily a gaming accessory in my household. It is very rare that I happen to be paying attention to the television at the time a new drama is beginning, and it is an even rarer when a show grips me in such a way that Matthew Graham’s Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes have done.
You see, when a TV show grips me, it really grips me. I end up sucked into the plot, scouring Wikipedia and fan pages for every small detail. Little plot holes and insignificances keep me up and thinking into the early hours, and I get anxious and impatient waiting for each new episode to come around. I first caught Life On Mars around 3 episodes after the pilot was shown, and I was taken aback by the original style, premise and execution of the show. In the hands of most other writers it may have just turned out to be a run of the mill 70′s cop drama, a camp celebration of old episodes of The Bill, but Graham has invented something truly unique and magical.
I don't think he's a Spandau Ballet fan, is he?
The premise of Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes, incase you arent familiar (beware, spoilers will follow later on), revolves around police officers Sam Tyler (John Simm) and Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) getting seriously hurt and waking up in the 70′s and 80′s respectively. They then try and find out why they are in this predicament and how they can get back home. One area of these programmes that really shines through is the aestethic work that has gone into the set. The backdrops really do look and sound like you’ve been transported back 30 years. Classic cars, typical period dress and an authentic, appropriate soundtrack all help immerse the viewer into the story, and make what otherwise might be something highly contrived and far-fetched into something that you can really believe might just be possible.
Towards the end of the third season of Ashes To Ashes though, things started to get a little sinister. Just what happened to Sam Tyler? What is this universe about? And what is Gene Hunt hiding from us? I did not think it would be possible for a show to satisfactorily answer all of these questions (and more) in an hour-long episode, while simultaneously keeping the story engaging and exciting. I was wrong. In an unusual, surreal plot twist it turns out that Gene Hunt is a sort of Grim Reaper-esque chap, and the 70′s and 80′s is purgatory for dead police officers. Hunt makes the guys and girls that pass into his world atone for their misdoings in life, then lets them go “to the pub”, and into the glorious afterlife, where everyone lives happily ever after. Never before has a happy ending been such a welcome sight, as I found myself so connected with the characters my usual British pessimism completely deserted me!
I know it's Doctor Who, but the whole Time Lord thing seemed too ironic to pass up.
Only two things have disappointed me about this series coming to an end. Firstly, that there will be no more episodes made, and secondly, that LOST had to go and upstage Ashes To Ashes by ending in the same week, meaning there are less people wanting to share their opinions on what has truly been a magnificent series with me. I hold little hope for any TV show besting Ashes To Ashes in the near future, and I cannot see my opinion that it is the greatest show of all time changing either. DCI Hunt, you will be missed.
