Dust to Dust

Last night saw the start of the Life on Mars spin-off Ashes to Ashes.

I really enjoyed Life on Mars, especially the first series. The reasons I liked it were;

a) It starred John Simm
i) who I find very attractive
ii) is a very good actor too
b) It was set in the 1970s which meant
i) pretty good music
ii) pretty good clothes
c) It was a crime show

Of these reasons, only c remains. And there wasn’t really any of that last night.

It still features the character Gene Hunt, who it seems pretty much essential to describe as “the irrepressible”. Hunt stole the show in Life on Mars for many people, with his retrograde attitudes and sharp one-liners, and whilst I enjoyed this, I doubted it would be enough to sustain a whole show.

However, this was not my problem with Ashes to Ashes. If anything, there wasn’t actually enough of Gene Hunt in last night’s episode. Instead it was dominated by his new partner, a female psychologist played by Keeley Hawes, who has also come back from present day. Where John Simm was a master of understated bewilderment, she is over-the-top, neurotic and just downright annoying. She’s a terrible actress and an unsympathetic character. I don’t care if she has been shot in the head and can’t get back to her daughter. What decent parents call a child with a huge mole on their face, Molly? Surely that is just giving bullies easy material.

My other problem is that I’m not a fan of the 1980s. I was a child in this decade so can remember it all too well. We had some good toys, but that was about it. The fashions were awful and the mainstream music dire. I’m only grateful that I wasn’t in my late teens during this time.

But last night was just the first episode which needed to set the scene, so perhaps it will get better next week and they might get down to some real police work.