Customer Reviews

Ashes to Ashes - Series One - 4-DVD Set ( Ashes to Ashes - Series 1 ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Ashes" is the sequel to the "Life on Mars" series. It stars Philip Glenister and Keeley Hawes, not whoever the people are that Amazon lists at the top of the page. This is another time-traveling cop story, this time a modern female psychological profiler who goes back to the "Manc Lion" and gang - this time to the '80s. Great, hilarious writing, great plots, great '80s soundtrack, and Philip Glenister is a force of nature. This series was a huge hit in Britain (they're currently filming season 3, something the producers said they wouldn't do), but season 1 only played once on BBC America. I've had to watch it in segments on line, which I've done at least 3 times through per season. I saw this series before I ever saw "Life", and ended up buying the DVD for "Life" just to see the gang at work in the '70s. Based on my love for this show, I plan to buy the 2nd season of "Life" on DVD and I check several times a week to see if "Ashes" has been released on Region 1 DVD yet. I can't wait. It will be in my cart the minute it comes out. Do yourself a favor and check it out online.

If you're able to watch Region 2 DVDs, do what I did and buy this from Amazon UK. Believe it or not, it's cheaper by a third to get it straight from there rather than going through Amazon's U.S. site. They even have a currency converter.

I've enjoyed season 1 of Ashes to Ashes more than I expected I would. The series stands well on it's own while benefitting from the things that made Life on Mars a great show. WHEN, OH WHEN WILL WE GET THIS DVD REGION 1????

I was initially hesitant to watch this show, because BBCAmerica advertised it to death, as they so often do, which put me completely off. But one night, I caught the last few minutes while I was waiting for another show, and because I was (thankfully!) too lazy to reach for the flipper, was immediately hooked.

The basic premise is similar to the excellent series Life On Mars, i.e. a modern day detective is wounded, and wakes up in another decade. Everyone around them is normal for the time, it's them that's the fish out of water, as they struggle to cope with the less technical, less user friendly world around them, where friendships seem to run deeper, but police brutality and prejudices are not only accepted, but are the norm. Although you don't have to be familiar with Life to enjoy Ashes, once you've seen one, you'll definitely want to see the other, since much of the superb cast remains the same.

The writing is just excellent in this series, I really can't compliment the writers enough, it's really crisp and snappy stuff, but a passing familiarity with British culture will help you enjoy it all the more, and sometimes you'll find yourself laughing out loud at an unexpected quip during a really tense situation. Characters are so well developed that you find yourself becoming fond of and rooting for them, and the understated sexual tension between Alex and her superior officer really crackles. He takes sexual harrassment to a whole new level, and it suits him, strange to say. The acting is really good, too, from the bit parts to the regulars. Some of the villains seen briefly in passing are really well acted.

But the most fascinating thing about this show is how everything is stitched together There are no loose ends. The individual episodes stand on their own, but the blindsides in the final episodes of both series one and two had my husband and I shouting "Didn't see THAT coming!" If you enjoyed series one, you MUST see series two. It's darker, but even better written, and the pace just zips along til the final episode, and you may be screaming like me, "I can't wait months to see season 3. I have to know NOW!!!!"

Oh, well, at least I can take consolation in the fact that I plan to rewatch both series, with a pad and paper to take notes and see if I can figure this thing out. What other show can you actually say that about? Fire up the Quattro!

This is the brilliant follow-up to the excellent Life on Mars.

Alex Drake is a detective in London, who has been researching Sam Tylers case. She finds herself in a situation where she's shot and the bullet takes her back to 1981. Like Sam, she can hear everything going on around her in 2008 and incorporates this into her 1981 life as messages through the TV, amongst other things. She meets up with her parents, who were killed in 1981 when she was a child. Their death, for her, has always been mysterious and she thinks that this is why she has been sent back - to try to save them. I won't spoil things for those who haven't seen it, but the central plot that runs through the series is of Alex getting to know her parents and trying to prevent their deaths.

Gene, Chris and Ray all return and have all been transferred from Manchester to London. Again, the difference in attitude between Alex and Gene Hunt (again, played by the wonderful Philip Glenister) often causes friction between the two, even resulting in Alex puching his lights out at one point. Again, this is brilliantly protrayed by the actors.

Hearing the 1980s soundtrack and the seeing the fashions (yes, I remember wearing them) it really brings back memories. I see the fashion and think "OMG, I actually used to wear that" not to mention making me feel ancient when I realize just how much time has gone by since those songs were in the charts.

If you liked the British version of Life on Mars, then you'll love this. The only thing to remember is that it's region 2, so you'll need a multi-regional DVD player.

When LIFE ON MARS debuted in England to high ratings, it was inevitable that a sequel was planned. This sequel was ASHES TO ASHES, which continues with the same cast minus one major character (John Simm) and adding another (Keely Hawes). In LIFE ON MARS, Simm is a time travelling Manchester police detective who inexplicably exits his era (2003) and winds up in 1973. There and then he has to deal with what seems to him are the primitive means of criminal apprehension. In ASHES TO ASHES, we learn that Simm has died. His place is taken by yet another time travelling officer Alex Drake (Hawes). Drake finds herself in London with her "present" being 1983 and her peers having been transplanted to London. In the first episode, we learn that Drake has studied Simm in her future present and like him must now confront the same present "past" that befuddled Simm. Complicating matters is that Drake is a most attractive woman sharing office space with police neanderthals, the most prominent of whom is DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), who has learned nothing worthwhile from Simm about proper police procedure.

Each episode showcases Drake's interactions with Hunt as both attempt to solve a variety of crimes that Hunt is sure can be easily resolved if only Drake would let him beat a confession out of a loudly protesting suspect. As with Simm in LIFE ON MARS, Drake sees and hears things that no one else can. In her case, she is tormented by a sinister clown who mocks her incessantly. She further sees her daughter from her future present pop in and out of her reveries. And while all this is going on, Drake has to deal with the realization that all that she sees, hears, and feels may be no more than a drug-induced hallucination that precedes death from a villain's bullet from her future present. But she refuses to go along with the idea that just because her past may be "unreal," that she must treat it as if were of no account. Instead, she faces each dilemma as if it were real, hoping that these efforts may lead to her salvation of finding the key to return home.

ASHES TO ASHES, like LIFE ON MARS, is not merely a cop oriented time travel updating of Twain's CONNECTICUT YANKEE. The viewer is treated to a montage of sight and sound that probably means more to that viewer for whom this "past" is a fondly recalled memory. There are numerous allusions to songs, movies, and contemporary events that reverberate through the overlapping corridors of time. In one moving episode, Drake makes friends with a gay man who at the very end of the show mentions that he has a few unsightly skin rashes. Drake knows full well about the looming AIDS epidemic but cannot tell him what she knows. Though Keely Hawes is the ostensible dramatic center, she must share billing with Philip Glenister who intimidates everyone with his brutishness. In more than a few instances, Drake lets on that she finds him oddly attractive despite (or because of) that. The first season ends on a note of partial understanding as Drake struggles to learn why she was chosen to revisit the past. ASHES TO ASHES is a significant series that promises in the second season to further the mystery involved in determining just what--and when--home is.

Back from the future, in 1981, a beautiful female detective gives a hand to investigating the sex-related crimes.

Really sexier and much better than Life on Mars, this work is emphasised on moral issues a homophobic and brutal UK police force-and society in general- presumably leaved behind during last 17-19 years.