The Ashes of Life on Mars March 1, 2008
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , trackbackAshes to Ashes, currently playing on Thursday nights on BBC1, has been disappointing after Life on Mars, but this week it started to come into its own.
In Life on Mars, John Simm’s DI Sam Tyler finds himself suddenly in Manchester in 1973 after a car accident. He doesn’t know if he’s in a coma, mad or travelling in time. He’s a wonderful actor and his character, a 21st century politically correct metrosexual is on another planet in a police station in 1973. The series was part old-fashioned cop show, part pyscho-thriller, and one of the best things on the telly in ages.
Ashes to Ashes follows a similar premise, with Keely Hawes’ DI Alex Drake finding herself in 1981, with the same set of back-in-time characters. She is a psychologist, constantly analysing her situation with no confusion about what has happened – she is in a coma, and its all in her mind. The character is intensely annoying, and Hawes’ hamming it up makes it worse. In this weeks episode, she finally starts to calm down. The relationship between her and Glenister is becoming less cliched ‘Neanderthal cop vs post-feminist professional’ and is starting to be the pillar of the series that the relationship between Tyler and Hunt was in Life on Mars.
There are two very good things about Ashes to Ashes. Philip Glenister’s DCI Gene Hunt is an illicit delight and, for those of us who remember the early eighties through a somewhat befuddled and nostalgic haze, the music and sets are wonderful. Audi Quattros, bizarre new-rom makeup on blokes, colourful but tailored clothes.
I’d forgotten Visage’s Fade to Grey until it popped up in the first episode. Playing desert island discs, there are a few more I was playing in about 1981.
Psychedelic Furs Pretty in Pink would work well for DI Drake, though pink and grey came along a little later I think. Weren’t galah’s terribly trendy in about 1983? Talking Head’s Once in a Lifetime has a terribly David Bryne – indulgent video but is worth listening to. I don’t think I heard Laurie Anderson’s Big Science until rather later, but it was released in 1981. For an NZ flavour, how about Split Enz’ History Never Repeats, because in Ashes to Ashes, it does. And finally, for a more sombre beat Joy Division’s Heart and Soul. The luxury will have to be the beautiful bronze/gold court shoes I had for my 6th form ball. And as for the book, 1981 was the year of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children.
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