ashes to ashes end of.......

[fat cherry]

if you missed it - dont read on. oops, too late.

so then, gene hunt as angel of redemption (or something)? Is that it? and are they all dead? thats the thinking of my sprogs. any more enlighternment? and was that hunt in the grave in the field.

pub... pub..... pub

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

so then, gene hunt as angel of redemption (or something)?

Yup. And DCI Jim "Jimbo" Keats was the devil, or at least a demon representing his royal evilness Beelzebub himself.

are they all dead?

Yup.

hunt in the grave in the field.

Yup. The small book handed to Hunt by Drake at the shallow grave was his Manchester Police identity card. Appears Hunt was shot in the face (the 6620-badged copper with the half-blooded face that kept appearing to Drake through this series) as a young copper after rushing a house thinking he was John Wayne or something. He was able to live out his fantasy in the 70s/80s limboland between heaven (entrance via the Railway Arms) and hell (the lift down offered by Jimbo to Chris, Ray and Shaz), while acting as St Peter and preparing dead coppers for the afterlife, although it appears that he didn't bother telling them that they had died to keep them as part of his fantasy.

Is that it?

Yes supposed to be, but Hunt remained in the 80s with Jimbo shouting at him that he'd see him again. So...

[fat cherry]

yes I can see a remake with Molly going to find her dead mother and a slightly older jude law as the gene genie.

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

Well as long as they don't cast anymore whispering actresses, however good looking they are. My biggest gripe with Ashes to Ashes was Keeley Hawes. It was like the script was written as:

Gene Hunt (looking annoyed): So what's the problem this time Bolly?
Alex Drake: Whisper, whisper, whisper, whisper.
Gene Hunt: What are you on about now?
Alex Drake: 2010, whisper, shot, whisper, Molly, whisper, whisper.
Gene Hunt (turns around to the seated Ray, ignoring the incomprehensible Drake). C'mon Ray, fire up the Quattro, we have got some nonces to go and kick the shit out of.

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

Apparantely Keely Hawes had ten years of elocution lessons being the daughter of a cockney cab driver, according to Wikipedo. Did wonders there, didn't they?

[fat cherry]

are you sure you're not a script writer? think i prefer her whisper to monserrat lombards cockney gob full of marbles whine. which actress would you have preferred? molly sugden? though that bint who was on spooks wouldn't go amis - the one with the enormous eyes. jo she was called. she could do the vulnrable thing very well and go into kick some bloke in the goolies or slap him with a fire extinguisher in less than a nanosecond. keeley was fine though.

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

Molly Sugden would have been fine. But they would have needed to dug up her grave first. Could have had Chris speaking her words, moving her jaw up and down on her decomposing skeleton like a ventriloquist's dummy.

I don't know. An alternative to Keeley Hawes? John Simm again perhaps, but this time in drag. He wore a dress in Doctor Who and it worked well.

[zabird]

Interesting ... so just as funky an ending as Life on Mars, eh?

I abandoned Ashes to Ashes after just a couple eps because it looked like too much of the story was being chopped out to make way for commercials on BBC America. Worth watching on DVD?

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

Worth watching on DVD?

Yup.

I preferred Ashes to Ashes to Life On Mars, but mostly as I was a wee child in the 1970s so I couldn't relate to it as a nostalgia trip, especially one set in Manchester. Ashes to Ashes was more my thing, and of course, it features two Bunnymen tracks in a couple of episodes - Back of Love and The Cutter - to go with the other mix of 80s sounds and sights in it.

[zabird]

Yup.

I preferred Ashes to Ashes to Life On Mars, but mostly as I was a wee child in the 1970s so I couldn't relate to it as a nostalgia trip, especially one set in Manchester. Ashes to Ashes was more my thing, and of course, it features two Bunnymen tracks in a couple of episodes - Back of Love and The Cutter - to go with the other mix of 80s sounds and sights in it.

Drats! Not available on DVD yet in the U.S. Added it to my "saved" pile at Netflix for when it does get released here.

[fat cherry]

Interesting ... so just as funky an ending as Life on Mars, eh?

UK or US version? I heard the US version was different. In the UK Tyler killed himself and went back. End of. OO.... lets do another series but Simm doesn't want the gig - cue the lovely Keeley and the 80s. In this tyler had since died and one of the threads of ATA was keeley investiugating what happened (had he been killed by Hunt) - which was resolved in this last episode.

I'm more of a 70s kid (hey yeay!!!!) so I could relate to that nostalgia thing but the major difference was LOM was a much more serious affair, in ATA they seemed to play it much more for laughs all the through, though, and this was a good thing, this last series started out that way but got more weird as it went on. Another thing was they got much looser (i was going to do a spelling joke there) with the music - first series of LOM at least I'm sure it stuck to 1973 so you got lots of stuff you knew but wouldn't normally get to hear muc, such as 10538 Overture, this last series of ATA was all over the place, they even had a bit of oasis (dont look back in anger).

but I'd recommend getting it, even though we've spoilt the ending for you. sorry.

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

The Oasis track though was for when Shaz in the betamax video showing how she died in the mid-1990s, so I understand why that crept in. I couldn't recall for LOM, but there did seem to be alot of the BBC's own "atmospheric" music in the programme, which didn't sound particularly Eighties-ish, with a sprinkling of 80s tunes per episode. Not that many songs really. One thing though, did they actually include Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" in any of the series? Even in series one with the Bowie Pierrot costumed character chasing Drake? Ew, I'm coming over all geeky like here.

[zabird]

UK or US version? I heard the US version was different. In the UK Tyler killed himself and went back. End of. OO.... lets do another series but Simm doesn't want the gig - cue the lovely Keeley and the 80s. In this tyler had since died and one of the threads of ATA was keeley investiugating what happened (had he been killed by Hunt) - which was resolved in this last episode.

I'm more of a 70s kid (hey yeay!!!!) so I could relate to that nostalgia thing but the major difference was LOM was a much more serious affair, in ATA they seemed to play it much more for laughs all the through, though, and this was a good thing, this last series started out that way but got more weird as it went on. Another thing was they got much looser (i was going to do a spelling joke there) with the music - first series of LOM at least I'm sure it stuck to 1973 so you got lots of stuff you knew but wouldn't normally get to hear muc, such as 10538 Overture, this last series of ATA was all over the place, they even had a bit of oasis (dont look back in anger).

but I'd recommend getting it, even though we've spoilt the ending for you. sorry.

don't worry about that spoiler, Chez. I'll still watch it, whenever they decide to release it in the U.S. I think the 2nd season might be on BBC America right now.

As to Life on Mars, they had two different versions? BBC America trimmed each ep down to get in commercials, but I didn't know there were two versions. I'm going to have to re-watch it on DVD now, I see. I unfortunately do remember the '70s -- was 14 in 1973 -- but living in a New Orleans exurb, not Manchester

[fat cherry]

what I meant was the 'american' version, with harvey wossname in it. I take it BBC America is a BBC channel you can subscribe to over there that shows the UK versions of stuff? If so, no there is only the one version.

I htink all the series are good enough to stand up to repeated viewing, yo'll just notice more of the little hints given along the way.

[zabird]

what I meant was the 'american' version, with harvey wossname in it. I take it BBC America is a BBC channel you can subscribe to over there that shows the UK versions of stuff? If so, no there is only the one version.

I htink all the series are good enough to stand up to repeated viewing, yo'll just notice more of the little hints given along the way.

Aha! I see what you mean. Yeah, ABC tried to do an american version of Life on Mars, but it sank. Thankfully. I couldn't bring myself to watch even one ep. How could you top the original? Not with that stinkeroo!

As to BBC America .... it's a cable channel ... usually on a premium tier. Showing some BBC shows, like Ashes to Ashes, but also "winners" like Britain's Youngest Grannies and Britain's Worst Teeth. All chopped up to get in advertising. But I can't complain too much ... they did show The In-Betweeners earlier this year.