'Ashes to Ashes' follows-on from its predecessor 'Life on Mars', this time with DI Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) transported back in to 1981, after a possibly fatal incident, where she finds she is part of DCI Gene Hunt's (Philip Glenister) team. Alex quickly works out that she is having the same experience as Sam Tyler from LoM (conveniently, she read his case file) and decides that the way back to the present day is to save her parents, Caroline Drake (Amelia Bullmore) and Tim Price (Andrew Clover) from dying in a car bomb.
I wonder why the creators, Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham, chose to set the series in 1981, a period when there hadn't been any remarkable police procedurals other than 'Hill Street Blues' (and at a stretch, 'The Professionals'), unlike LoM, which was set in the early 70s and could reference many more series. Series 1 also seems to live in a vacuum; the fact that the UK economy was in a deep recession is hardly mentioned, and significant local events in the early 80s, such as the Brixton race riots, aren't used much in the series.
The dynamics between the Alex and Gene in the first few episodes in the new series were a bit wobbly, as if the creators were writing a female Sam Tyler instead of a totally new character, and it isn't until episode 4 that Alex steps out of Sam's shadow. Also, from that episode onwards, other members of Gene's team start filling out the series: macho Ray's (Dean Andrews) masculinity is tested, mop-haired Chris (Marshall Lancaster) and newcomer WPC Sharon 'Shaz' Granger (Montserrat Lombard) start making eyes at each other, and even desk sergeant Viv (Geff Francis) plays a part in the investigations.
More of a conventional cop series compared to 'Life on Mars' but still inventive and sometimes surprising.
4 out of 5 stars.
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