samkydd

I agree, but "cashing in" on previous success is what the film and TV industry is all about these days!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

dylan

I watched the excellent last episode of LIFE ON MARS after the disappointing first episode of ASHES TO ASHES. In the new series Hunt and his team have been reduced to comic stereotypes with little in common with the way the Met operated in the 80s. In the original series they were credible cops - I hope the series picks up.

D.

Moor Larkin

Hmmm. an i and an n missing there I reckon. Mr. Glenister was wossed last evening and what a lucid fellow he obviously is. I've seen him in a few things and it is only his Gene Hunt caricature that has fixed him in my mind. He seems to have a talent for not only playing characters but somehow physically transforms his body/face/voice so that he becomes almost unrecognisable from one role to the next. Perhaps his talent has been a commercial curse up to now!

He did make the point that Ashes to Ashes is no way meant to be a carry-on (scuse the pun) from Life on Mars. That came across to me in the first episode. Other than the grotesquely funny impersonating moments of Miami Vice, there was little or no attempt to ape an Eighties police force of any ilk, it seemed to me. The presence of a Audi Quattro emphasises that all these things are figments of Keely Hawes personal fantasy world. I don't think that car was ever used by any British coppers, real or imagined. The coppers were not even doing any of their famed chauvinistic things, unless stimulated directly by a short skirt. They merely stood by, ready to assist. There's meant to be something very different going on in this show I reckon. Whether the writers succeed in pulling it together is another question.

Steve Crook

credible copsin?
credibilen cops?

Oh, you mean they were "incredible cops"
Yes, I found them to be quite extraordinary as well

But then again, what cops in a TV series are a realistic portrayal of the boys (& girls) in blue?

Steve

silverwhistle

Yes: I think that's the key to this series, and what makes it different from Life on Mars: she knows the story and characters are all in her mind, and is trying to work out what it means.

"Trust me, I'm a doctor...!"

Freddy

I thought he was excellent as Mr. Carter in Cranford



Freddy

GRAEME

Z Cars; pre-2000 The Bill; The Cops (series 1); The Sweeney (most of the time); Juliet Bravo; Softly Softly; Demspy and Makepiece...

Steve Crook

Not according to any policemen I know, and I do know a few. Except maybe the early episodes of Z Cars. That had the requisite amount of sitting around doing nothing, waiting for something to happen. All the rest have too much action.

Steve

GRAEME

You said realistic. Not actual. Each of these shows has a degree of verisimilitude lacking in most shoot 'em ups and also feature reasonably believable stories. And that is according to close friends who are officers.

Of course action is condensed and the boring bits left out - that's why it is called drama.

By the way - I was joking about Dempsy and Makepiece.

batman

I thought that was the most realistic of the lot!

Bats.

David Brent

One of my all time fave tracks.
Stiff Records put out a lot of great singles in their time.

Recently heard in an episode of Saxondale.

Muso - "We're playing songs by the great British bands of the eighties"

Saxondale - "That must be a short gig".

Dave.

David Brent

A Tribe Of Toffs.

Dave.

Steve Crook

OK, a question for the ladies. Or the fellas that pay attention to women's fashion.

When did women start wearing tops with a big baggy neck, so big that it slipped down over one shoulder and exposed the bra strap?

I don't remember anyone wearing them around 1977.
But Keeley seems to be wearing them much of the time



Steve

batman

Ashes to Ashes is set in 1981. Mrs Bat tells me she wore them at that time.

Much better episode last night than the first one, I enjoyed some of the cultural references and the banter was less forced. The preview for next week's episodes looked good.

dogstar

I've tried very hard to like Ashes to Ashes but so far its defeating my best efforts. Apart from the fact that the basic premise just doesn't work for me , Keeley Hawes is irritating me beyond endurance ( a bit less so last night in episode two but only marginally ) Hunt is now a one-dimensional cut-out with none of the subtleties of his earlier incarnation and the general standard of acting seems a lot lower than Life on Mars, though that may be just because the latter was so good. LOM had an emotional core that seems sadly lacking ( so far ) in Ashes, but I will stick with it - if only to revel in the period detail and pretend I never wore eye make-up :-)