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Helen M Jerome reviews
Contender Home Entertainment
Ashes To Ashes Series 1: 
Life On Mars Series 1 & 2:
- Cert:
- Cat.no: KLT62056
- Running time: 480 minutes
- Year: 2008
- Pressing: 2008
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English Hard of Hearing
- Widescreen: 1.78:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: 4 * DVD 9
- Price: £39.99
- Extras: Audio Commentaries, Life After Mars Featurette, Deleted Scenes, Set Tour, Car Explosion Featurettes
- Vote and comment on this DVD:
Directors:
- Johnny Campbell, Bille Eltringham, Cathering Morshead
Series Producer:
- Beth Willis
Writers:
- Ashley Pharoah, Matthew Graham, Mick Ford, Mark Greig, Julie Rutterford
Executive Producers:
- Jane Featherstone, Matthew Graham
Cast:
- DCI Gene Hunt: Philip Glenister
DI Alex Drake: Keeley Hawes
DS Ray Carling: Dean Andrews
DC Chris Skelton: Marshall Lancaster
WPC Shaz Granger: Montserrat Lombard
OK. Start with the genius idea that was Life On Mars time travel, old-fashioned police work, and jeopardy against the clock.
Take the premise out of the seventies and forward into the early eighties. And voila, you have Ashes To Ashes.
The main changes are bringing in a couple of key new characters: Keeley Hawes as DI Alex Drake, and Montserrat Lombard as Essex copper Shaz, to add a hefty dollop of unresolved sexual tension; moving the locations from Manchester to London, and the car from Ford Cortina to Audi Quattro; altering the fashions from loud and flared to brash and showy; and changing the music from Bowie and glam rock to New Romantic and Two Tone.
The Gene Genie, Philip Glenisters fantastic creation DCI Gene Hunt remains the main copper. The constant smoking, drinking, sexism and homophobia are unchanged. Everything else is turned all the way up to eleven.
A few viewers might be initially alienated by the first episode, which has to explain the premise, link it to John Simms characters fate in Life On Mars, and introduce the new plotlines, locations and characters. But once you make the leap into Episode Two and beyond, its fire up the Quattro full throttle, fight crime, and feature some impressive guest appearances from the likes of Rupert Graves and Matthew MacFadyen (aka Mr Keeley Hawes), not to mention cameos from Steve Strange and Shaw Taylor as their eighties selves.
This is one of the most enjoyable series of the new millennium, inducing wide grins of recognition in viewers of a certain age, plus instant Proustian memories through the fantastic soundtrack, while entertaining everyone else with its humour, suspense and politically-incorrect, tongue-in-cheek dialogue.
What about the extras? Well, they all contain spoilers, so you really shouldnt watch any of them until youve watched the entire series. The commentaries on the first two episodes, featuring inside information from director Johnny Campbell, series producer Beth Willis and star Keeley Hawes are chirpy, giggly, occasionally interesting, but not massively insightful. Though we do get some neat titbits of trivia, like Alex spending most of her time getting her hair re-permed and coloured, the difficulties of wearing worn-out eighties clothing, and finding locations.
The belt and braces making of documentary called Life After Mars features short interviews with producers, writers, directors and actors with Keeley Hawes and Monserrat Lombard to the fore plus the marvellous Philip Glenister, and his trusty Northern sidekicks Chris and Ray (Marshall Lancaster and Dean Andrews).
Theres also a set tour, with the production designers insight into creating colour palettes for characters, and her explanation of how they hit specific memory buttons to help people recal the decade, using everything from choice of sofa to décor in Luigis restaurant to the police stockroom with lots of eBay-sourced period props!
Thrown in for good measure are some extra deleted scenes, so we get more of Alexs creepy nemesis, Layton, plus Shaz in hospital, and Lord Scarman singing along with Village People hits. And theres an extra devoted to the finales explosion, explained by special effects and stunts chaps, actors and the odd stunt double.
PICTURE
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EXTRAS
OVERALL 
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.