14 posts tagged “dean andrews”

Next week’s Ashes to Ashes in the UK:

   Nothing much stands out in this clip. I was hoping to see Morph (who makes an appearance). I still like the fact that Spanish Ray in La chica de ayer is called Raimundo.

I posted this last week but didn’t do a blog entry: a promo for the second series of Ashes to Ashes, which begins on the 21st at 9 p.m. on BBC One. It’s rather well made (it’s not from clips of the show, but especially filmed), and I didn’t recognize Chris (Marshall Lancaster) with his new hairdo!

From this month’s Children in Need fund-raiser on the BBC. The other video has been removed by the BBC from YouTube so enjoy this while it’s still there. Not as funny as the Dr Who ones in the past.
   I think this is the first time we have seen Ashes to Ashes’ 1982 hairstyles on telly. Chris looks more 1980s now but also a little strange.

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).

Marshall Lancaster’s best line in last night’s Ashes to Ashes on Prime was cut. I can understand the need to cut for advertisements in New Zealand and we will always argue on what is appropriate and what is not, though if you are my age or older you may wonder why the last line was missing. I apologize in advance to anyone who finds this offensive: it is poking fun at the behaviour of a more homophobic time. [Postscript for New Zealand readers: the comments contain a spoiler. Do not read on if you do not want to know.]

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.

Irish actor Colm Meaney appeared on Breakfast back in April to talk about his new film, Three and Out, as well as his portrayal of Capt Gene Hunt of the LAPD in the Life on Mars remake before he was replaced. Lifers, forward to 4'25". The discussion is very brief and reveals nearly no behind-the-scenes information.

   And Dean Andrews and Marshall Lancaster never seem to get as much coverage as Philip Glenister, John Simm or Keeley Hawes, so here they are on the same show (a later entry) discussing Ashes to Ashes. Dean is much less tough here—if you have ever seen any interviews with him, you’ll know he’s not Ray Carling! (The clips from Ashes to Ashes are removed.)

Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) will join the cast of US Life on Mars, according to Entertainment Weekly. The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news, says Imperioli is the American Ray Carling. This does bode well: it means at least one of Ray and Chris will make it back into the script; the original US pilot had removed both characters.

Quite a lot of the f word in this following segment of bloopers from the 2006 series of Life on Mars, but some of these are very funny. The first, and the last three, are among my favourites. Liz White’s bloopers are rather adorable.

The last two episodes of Ashes to Ashes have got better—either that or we are getting into the new universe of Alex Drake, where she is neither mad, in a coma nor back in time (at least not exactly). Keeley Hawes’s performance as Drake is getting stronger and as she is the protagonist, the show needs this. The whole annoying smart-arsed posh-tart Bolly Knickers approach has been toned down.
   Being a show that has to be shown in order, this development was probably unavoidable. In the old days, with self-contained episodes without story arcs, a TV series could start off with a stronger episode as the “pilot” and a weaker one later on. The Professionals was a good example: the first filmed was not the first aired.
   It is true that Ashes is no Life on Mars: it’s still not of the same quality, and the scripts are shallower. One blogger wrote that it has turned into yet another period cop show. That is not that unfair: Alex Drake doesn’t hear life support machines from 2008 and with the many scenes that do not involve her, it is clear that she is not in the same predicament as Sam Tyler in Life on Mars. Social issues are not dealt with the same contrast as in the earlier show, because the writers don’t feel the 1980s are as different from our present time as the 1970s.
   The characters, too, are shallower, with the exception of Drake, who is getting additional layers, and to an extent, DS Ray Carling (played by Dean Andrews). Philip Glenister seems more a copper put there to react to Alex’s psychobabble—I think I said Gene Hunt Lite a few weeks ago. There are no more memorable Geneisms, at least not of the level of Life on Mars—are we meant to believe he has mellowed since the passing of Sam Tyler? (I only remember two lines in two weeks: ‘You know, you might talk with a plum in your gob, luv, but I would rather go with one of them than waste my money on some bitter, twisted, messed-up, clenched-arsed, toffee-nosed bitch like you.’ And it’s hardly of the ‘armed bastards’ standard. Slightly better is ‘Who’s your mother? Marianne Faithfull?’ when confronting a drug courier who claims he’s transporting garden gnomes for his mother.) Gene’s whiny after being punched by Alex. Marshall Lancaster’s DC Chris Skelton is now there for comic relief. Both characters are shadows of their former selves.
   The story arc surrounding Alex’s parents works well and I am finally getting excited about the final episode for this year, which probably does finish with a bang (viz. the supposed murder of her parents).
   There are still slip-ups on cars: the fourth episode has a mid-1980s Austin Maestro van. Why do these shows get the wrong year Austins in? And I’m pretty sure the Transit in the third episode is newer than 1981—possibly 1984 or 1985?
   Mid-season episodes not written by their creators can become more formulaic and routine—Life on Mars was affected by this, too, in its first year, covered by the novelty of the re-creation of the 1980s. Ashes to Ashes has done well with a couple of episodes which I think are better than co-creator Ashley Pharoah’s second one.
   So, does anyone have any theories about Alex and where she is? Has she really leapt into someone’s body in 1981, in time for returning to 2008 by the end of the 16th episode and being able to find evidence of Sam Tyler’s 1973–80 past, leaving us on a cliffhanger?