Ashes To Ashes - Episode 8

“I’m happy, hope you’re happy too”. Er, not really – series 1 of Ashes to Ashes is at an end! Never fear though – it is back next year! This series has improved with every episode and anyone still comparing it with Life on Mars, should be slapped around by Gene Hunt!

It’s a different show, with a different set up. I doubt that the solution to Alex’s predicament (if there is one!) will be same as Sam Tyler’s in Life on Mars and I feel Ashes to Ashes has more mileage in it, as the program isn’t just concentrated on one character.

In this episode, we finally find out the truth about how Alex’s parents died. Meanwhile the station is under inspection from Lord Scarman (an actual real-life person, played by Geoffrey Palmer), who has powers to close the station down. So Gene is obviously on tenderhooks and is determined that nothing and no-one will let the station down.

With the day of her parents death looming, Alex fakes a phone call from an informant and her and Ray investigate the ‘bomb threat’. They stake out a gay pride march and Alex destroys a car, which she believes the Price’s will die in, with a pink tank! Or something that was done up like a tank anyway! As they make their getaway, poor Ray breaks his nose - thanks to Alex’s driving!

The cells, back at the station, aren’t populated enough, so Chris is thrown in for ‘indecently exposing himself on a bus’! He would be joined later by some of the gay pride marchers and after a ‘YMCA’ later - you can imagine what happened next!

Alex continues her campaign and after going to prison to see Layton, who shot her in 2008 and knows about the bombing, she gets nowhere. Later she planted drugs on the Price’s in order to prevent them from getting in the car the next day. Meanwhile Lord Scarman, who knows the Price’s and is furious that they’ve been nicked, asks to sample ‘life in the cells’ – alongside poor Chris!

Alex’s efforts prove to be pointless, after another emotional chat with her mother (not again!), the Price’s are released and they borrow Evan’s car for their trip. Alex receives a phone call from Layton, who has just been released and her and Gene desperately try to reach the Price’s. We then see the events from Alex’s flashbacks, young Alex loses her balloon and gets out of the car just as her Dad, or as we learn, The Clown of Death, is behind it all and the car blows up.

Apparently, he found out about his wife’s affair with Evan and went mad. He wanted his family ‘to be together forever’ and got explosives expert, Layton, out of jail to help him. It was Evan who Layton was blackmailing in 2008, as Alex didn’t know the truth behind her parents death. And it was Gene who took Alex’s hand and took her away after the car blew up – not Evan. Does this mean Gene is real? Who knows!

A marvellous end to the series, which improved episode by episode. Even though I love Life on Mars, I honestly think Ashes to Ashes is more consistent and the storyline will become more interesting next year, hopefully! While Life on Mars was a brand-new concept, the writers have had time to plan Ashes to Ashes and improve upon the world in which its set. The moments of horror in this series have been done brilliantly and the humour has counterbalanced that well. The moment in which Tim Price was revealed to be ‘The Clown’ was totally unexpected and quite scary!

9.5/10

Here’s looking forward to next year, where hopefully we will learn more about Alex and Shaz will be given a bigger role!