I'm happy, hope you're happy too...

And I’ve been slow in posting my thoughts on this one! The eagerly awaited sequel to “Life on Mars” hit our screens last Thursday and was for the most part well-received by most.

With a premise not a million miles away from its predecessor, modern day detective Alex Drake (that’s female as opposed to male Alex) is shot by a criminal and finds herself transported back to 1981. She’s also no longer dressed in her policewoman civvies but in the attire of a high class hooker, with a voluminous perm to match. And then she encounters Gene Hunt, the copper she’d heard all about when reading up on the case of Sam Tyler, the cop who mysteriously disappeared from London of the 2000s to reappear in the 1970a, or so legend has it. And therewith a new relationship is struck, as Alex goes into partnership with old skool (i.e. bigoted, backward and brutish) Hunt, whilst simultaneously trying to figure out how to get back to 2008…

I’ll get my gripes out of the way first. Whilst still enjoyable, Ashes to Ashes does rather fall down in the originality department in that it re-uses wholesale the very same ideas from “Life on Mars” – cop wakes up in another time period with no obvious way of getting home and consequently has a number of issues to deal with: How will they adjust to living in a totally different time? Are they still in 2008 and merely hallucinating? Or have they really been transported back in time? Are they in a coma and dreaming the whole thing? These were the questions confronting Sam Tyler in both series of “Life” and now Alex is being subjected to exactly the same brand of weirdness. I hope we get a decent sense of resolution this time round - “Life on Mars" left things very open-ended indeed and whilst room for interpretation can sometimes be a good thing, it also felt frustrating. I’d like to see the writers going for a different tack or something really clever.

The plotline also seemed rather formulaic and was a typical storyline about tracking down a gangster, not exactly earth-shattering stuff. I admit that I switched off a few times. Also I don't know if they could condense down each episode to 45-50 minutes as opposed to 60 - it felt a little on the long side somehow with some padding they could have afforded to lose.

However, ample compensation came in the characterisation and there was a lot of fun to be had here. Keeley Hawes was excellent as Alex and she and Philip Glenister as Gene sparked off each other entertainingly. And this time the relationship is different to that of Sam and Gene – most obviously because Gene now has to work alongside a female DCI who is his “equal” – which is going to make for some interesting dynamics not to mention interesting viewing (this was nicely counter pointed by the inclusion of an ineffectual lady officer with a pudding bowl haircut, who Alex has to rescue). Too many male characters does create an atmosphere of machismo and rather too much thuggishness at times – I confess I’m more of a Charlie’s Angels man than Sweeney or Professionals – so the inclusion of a leading female character is undoubtedly welcome.

Keeley H looked great and was pretty foxy - even with her 80s styling she managed to look contemporary at the same time. I hope she doesn't end up getting it on with Gene though, which does seems to be the route that these male/female partner cop shows predictably go down – look at Dempsey and Makepeace or David and Maddie in Moonlighting – coppers who started off loathing each other but a couple of seasons later were snogging each others’ faces off. The old thin line between love and hate, and all that. As fun as Gene’s character is, he's not much of a horndog (in my book anyhow...) Personally I’d prefer to see Keeley get it on with a nice Tony Hadley type. We’ll see.

The other major point of appeal for me was of course the 1980s setting and styling. It will be interesting to see how authentically the production team can reproduce the 80s in later episodes. They did it fairly well in the opening story such as the scene where Alex finds herself on the barge in 1981, surrounded by lots of yahs in suits singing drunkenly to Ultravox’s “Vienna”. Then stepping outside we see that the Millennium dome and Canary Wharf have totally vanished – a nice bit of trickery. And then there was the freakyyyyyyyyyyy 80s clown! Modelled with frightening accuracy on the look David Bowie sports in the “Ashes to Ashes” video. In “Life on Mars” we had the freakyyyyyyyyy testcard girl but the clown is even creepier. What's his significance?

With the usual Cheeser reservations then, a good opening instalment. To tell the truth I don’t know how many more episodes of “Ashes to Ashes” I’ll be able to catch. Episode two is on tonight is but as we all know it’s also Valentine’s Day and I don’t think the hubbie would be very impressed if I plonked myself down in front of the box and ignored him…divorce might be imminent otherwise! So I am of course relying on the rest of you to keep me informed. Viva la 80s!

Funk to funky

Well, Life on Mars was pretty weird and wonderful, so I hope this is even better!!

What can I say, except:

I'm TOTALLY loving the 1980s styling (naturally), including Keeley Hawes' outfit and perm.

And the David Bowie clown looks intriguing.



If you want the lowdown, go here.

BBC One, 9.00 pm, tonight.

Is there life on Maaaaars?

Last night I watched "Life on Mars" for the first time. In fact it's just returned for a brand new series. And it's been raved about by all manner of people.

On the whole I enjoyed it. The premise involves a modern policeman from 2006, Sam Tyler (played by John Simm) who after being hit by a car, finds himself in 1973. There, he is working for Manchester and Salford Police CID under DCI Gene Hunt (played by Philip Glenister). One of the main (and most fascinating) themes of the programme is the conflict in attitudes between Tyler and his 1970s colleagues. Coming from the politically correct 21st Century, Tyler's methods of policing and general moral code are significantly different to those of DCI Hunt and co, who work in a police force where sexism, racism, police brutality and internal corruption are all commonplace! Lest this sounds unpleasant viewing, it isn't necessarily. Yes, some of the attitudes and behaviour exhibited by these coppers are uncomfortable to watch, but, I think the programme is capturing how things really were in the 1970s - and in fact TV cop shows from that period, like "The Sweeney" or "The Professionals", were just the same! We're not supposed to approve. The joy of "Life on Mars" comes from seeing the clash between modern Tyler and old school Hunt and our knowledge, as an audience, that things will eventually change - and hoorah for that. In the meantime poor old Tyler has to put up with such archaic attitudes. It doesn't all go unchallenged though. Tellingly there is only one female police officer, Annie Cartwright, in Hunt's department who is often regarded as the token bit of fluff, however at the end of yesterday's episode, after some particularly good work, she gets promoted! Accompanied by lots of patronising comments from the fellas, one of whom slaps her on the arse. To which, in response, she slaps him back on his arse. Go Annie!

We also get lots of frequent off-hand jokes about a future the audience already knows, but the historical characters do not, which nicely adds to the overall sense of irony in the show.

Tyler's situation is also an interesting one. Has he really travelled back in time? Is he in a coma in 2006 and imagining his experiences? Or is he really from 1973 and mentally unstable? We've had lots of clues to suggest that any of these could be true. Intriguing stuff that keeps us watching. Let's hope we find out the real answer before the end (this series is scheduled to be the last so there'd better be some decent explanations!)

Last night's episode had Marc Warren guesting as a villain (something he specialises in) and he was quite good, if a little underused. I also thought he was great in "Love and Monsters" in the last series of Dr Who (in which he played a loveable geek called Elton, with a personal interest in the Dr and ELO. "Interesting" combination).

Finally, I don't know how many of you have heard the recent rumours, but John Simm has been hotly tipped to be appearing in the up and coming third series of Dr Who. It's been said that he'll play the part of the Dr's arch-nemesis, The Master, a fellow Time Lord and renegade who popped up on many an occasion in the original version of the show. Mmm!! I wonder how much of that is true! If it is, I honestly hope Mr Simm can rise to the challenge. Eric Robert's OTT/camp portrayal of the Master in the 1996 Dr Who Movie was pretty damn dreadful. And Anthony Ainley, who first appeared as the evil Time Lord in the Tom Baker years, started off quite well, but quickly descended into pantomime villainy. Only Roger Delgado, the first and original Master during the Jon Pertwee years, really cut the mustard. His performance was classy, restrained and never less than menacing. Let's hope the new Master character (if he does materialise!) is treated with deference and respect. The resurrection of the Daleks and Cybermen was handled pretty well in the new series, so I hope it's a case of third time lucky!