20 posts tagged “annie cartwright”

I finally saw the first La chica de ayer (Spanish Life on Mars) after Antena 3 put the whole episode online. It plays out more closely to the UK original than the US remakes, with most of the scenes intact, albeit with some name changes (e.g. Maya is now Sonia; and the others, such as Quin Gallardo, the Spanish Gene Hunt, I have noted on this blog before). However, there are additional scenes and from what I can sense, the pilot is a bit longer than both the original and US remakes, at around 65 minutes excluding commercials.

   Our protagonist, Samuel Santos, has encounters with Sonia’s mother—remember that this remake is set in 1977, not 1973—and young Sonia herself in the pilot. He also confronts the murder suspect in his jail cell, in a scene which results in the suspect’s death after he takes Cristóbal hostage. (While Quin does not hit Samuel in their first scene, he does so here.) Additionally, Samuel goes back to where he first awoke in 1977—near a tunnel—and sees a light at the end of it. Running toward it (with an instrumental of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ as he does so—the song works just as well here as David Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’), he thinks it’s the way back to 2009, only to discover it’s a couple having a snog in a car with its lights on. He sees a poster which features a man jumping off a building, and decides it’s a clue to help him wake up back in 2009. In the end, of course, Ana comes to the top of the building to convince Sam to stay (a scene which is in the original UK version and the Kelley pilot, but is saved till episode 16 of the aired American remake).
   This final act is a bit more drawn out, but the acting is very good and transcends—only just—the cheaper sets used in the Spanish remake. One area where La chica de ayer lags behind both the UK and US versions is the score, which sounds overly melodramatic.
   The show works well set in Madrid and the high-rises and motorways chosen in the 2009 parts contrast the 1977 setting far better than the equivalent scene in the original and US remakes. There’s also more of the Samuel–Ana relationship at the expense of the Samuel–Quin one, and there’s no sign of Ana’s boyfriend, current or former, here.
   My Spanish comprehension is terrible at best even though I can read the language a little, so please bear this in mind in my judgement of the acting. The show has done well in the eyes of the Spanish critics and from what I can see, it has been faithful to the source and has set things up very well.

A 15-second TVC has now appeared for the Spanish series La chica de ayer (Spanish Life on Mars) on YouTube:

   Maybe US fans who lament the cancellation of their remake could get their fix via the Spanish one? After all, I have been getting my Life on Mars–Ashes to Ashes fix by watching the American version.
   Also online, though it surfaced in the middle of February, is another publicity shot from La chica de ayer, with star Ernesto Alterio and Manuela Velasco, who plays Ana.    La chica de ayer premières on Spain’s Antena 3 on March 9.

We all knew that the next series of Ashes to Ashes will be ‘darker’, something the creators have always said, but producer Beth Willis gets us even more excited in an interview with Digital Spy.
   Obviously I can’t post the whole thing here due to their copyright, but here are some highlights:

• Alex is beginning to accept that the people in 1982 are real—after she realizes that Gene saved her as a little girl;
• ‘We have a character from Life On Mars who will come up at some point during the series and that will inevitably reopen questions about Sam.’

   Any bets that the returning character is Annie? That when they talk about ‘DI Tyler,’ it turns out that it’s her? Willis says Sam Tyler creeps up a couple of times in the series, not as a guest appearance, but maybe as a mention.
   She also gives a few clues to the three-series story arc, but doesn’t give as much certainty on whether there will be a third series as creators Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah have done. Right now, it hasn’t been commissioned. If the viewership is high, then I see no reason for the BBC to kill a golden goose, providing the actors are willing.

Go on to Twitter.
   I thought the Americans would carry on with Life on Mars through till the début of Ashes to Ashes’ second series in March so I could get my fix, but they are stopping till late January. So, in the meantime, you can keep up with Tweets from GeneHunt, whom I discovered was following me on the Twitter service today.
   Of course, it’s probably because the squad suspects me of Mark Thatcher’s disappearance in the Sahara but they will find it’s all to do with Keeley’s former colleagues at MI5. Or when I caused Freddie Laker’s airline to collapse. (Yes, yours truly exists in different times and dimensions.)
   Go to Gene’s page and there is dialogue, believe it or not, with fellow Twitterers RayCarling, DCChrisSkelton and anniecartwright, along the lines of:

RayCarling: @GeneHunt I wouldn't trust that bookie Guv, he’s handled more bent notes than a poofs choir!
anniecartwright: @raycarling Oooh I’ll ’ave a babysham or a Snowball as you’re offering Ray.
GeneHunt: Drugs bust update: We’ve had a bigger tip-off than a bacon slicer counter-assistant working in a nudist colony.

and, in line with current events (the Children in Need special):

GeneHunt: Why should I let a miniature scrotum like you drive my car Hammond?

‘Gene’ (stop waggling your fingers every time you say my name) even responds to fans, in this case about American Life on Mars:

@www_ora_tion_ca Let’s just say … Keitel better not come to my parish or the poof’ll need more than a pair of sunglasses for protection.

   There does not appear to be an Alex Drake or Sam Tyler related to the show, but they are probably in a coma, Purgatory, mad, back in time, or something else.
   I also don’t know if this is authorized by the BBC, though GeneHunt gives his URL as www.bbc.co.uk/drama/ashestoashes/. Then again, DCI Gene Hunt does not need authorization from some scumbag in a Savile Row suit with something crammed up his jacksy.
   I suddenly have a hankering for some Garibaldis.

Spoiler TV has some more publicity shots from the US Life on Mars, and here we can see some of the effort that has gone in to making the American version reasonably faithful to the British one. I have only chosen five for commentary; Spoiler TV has far more.

   Haven’t seen Denise Huxtable for a while. Lisa Bonet has a recurring, guest-starring role as Maya Daniels, Sam Tyler’s present-day girlfriend. In this respect you can see the potential for the storylines relating to African–Americans and mixed relationships, in the same way as the original covered the topic in relation to Ugandan Asians (Archie Panjabi was the original Maya Roy).    Sam (Jason O’Mara) doesn’t ask for a ‘PC terminal’ but the ad did show he had similar, albeit Americanized, dialogue as he arrives at the 125th Precinct of the NYPD. The set is far more 1973 than the original remake’s attempt.    Michael Imperioli’s portrayal of Ray Carling is more in line with Dean Andrews’: cheeky and an opponent to Sam’s arrival in the precinct.    Melissa Silver has a guest-starring role in the pilot as Suzie Tripper, and like her British counterpart (Jane Riley as Dora Keens), has to spend time in the lost-and-found to help Gene and Sam with their enquiries.    And despite Gretchen Mol’s character Annie Norris having a different surname to Liz White’s, the briefing scene where Sam gets into the psyche of the killer appears to be far more faithful to the original than David E. Kelley’s attempt, which seemed more like Jason O’Mara trying to seduce Rachelle Lefèvre (the second Annie Cartwright) in front of the department.
   So, no real surprises in the storyline of the première episode in October, but it will be very interesting to see how the episode hangs together with the action transferred from Manchester to New York (by way of Los Angeles).

This is beginning to look more like Life on Mars as we know it. This is the newest cast photo from ABC, and it’s interesting to note the brown tones, the complete cast (Sam, Gene, Annie, Ray and Chris) and even the 1973 hairstyles.

   Looks like the new producers of US Life on Mars took a lot of the criticism to heart. I am looking forward to the new series as a fix before the second series of Ashes to Ashes begins.
   Michael Imperioli even gets a Ray Carling perm and Jonathan Murphy looks the part of Chris.
   Compare the above to the cast photograph of the much-criticized first remake from David E. Kelley and those bright 2007 colours:    And now the original English cast (I could not find a comparable on-set photograph): or, even better yet, this second-series downloaded image: Of course, in 1973 a typesetter would have known not to have set on with a cap.

 
Late last year, co-creator Matthew Graham wrote Life on Mars one more time: in a Christmas special short story for the Daily Mail tabloid in the UK. I mentioned this earlier in 2008, but now that Ashes to Ashes has finished its first series, this part fascinates me about Sam’s post-series life. Annie speaks to Sam and recollects a dream she had:

[Sam] turned to go, aware that outside a Ford Cortina was blocking in the ambulances and an impatient pair of leather string-backs were tapping the steering wheel. But Annie snatched his elbow and grinned awkwardly.
   “When I was shot I … I blacked out I think. I had this incredible dream. It was so vivid. I was in a hospital room. It wasn’t like this one. It was spanking new and white and there were gadgets and stuff by the bed that I’d not seen before. Space age—all flashing lights and beeping. And … and you were lying there, Sam, connected to these machines.”

   I know Matthew has said that Sam was in a coma and it’s that simple, but given that Alex Drake’s Ashes to Ashes situation is different, does the above give us any clues? Remember, it’s not fan fiction: this is from the co-creator of Life on Mars!

Production has begun (again) on the US Life on Mars, according to an ABC press release. We also get the surnames for two of the characters: Annie Cartwright becomes Annie Norris in the US version (I imagine Cartwright would be too Bonanza for American television) and Maya gains a surname, Daniels. The Manchester ‘A’ Division CID becomes the NYPD’s 125th Precinct.
   The way New York was in 1973, near bankruptcy, with a gloomy feeling, might just work better than the Los Angeles of 1972 that David E. Kelley envisaged.
   Most Lifers I know here, upon hearing that Harvey Keitel is the new Gene Hunt, finally feel some anticipation for the American remake.
   No news, meanwhile, on the Spanish remake, as far as I could locate without being fluent in Spanish.

After Gretchen Mol was announced as the American version of Annie Cartwright in the remake of the remake of Life on Mars, it seems Lisa Bonet will be the American Maya—Sam Tyler’s 2008 girlfriend.
   Mol replaced Canadian actress Rachelle Lefèvre and Bonet, best known for her role of Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show, replaces Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen in the rejected pilot.
   This is a trip back in time—Bonet is an interesting reminder of the 1980s.