10 posts tagged “matthew graham”

TV Scoop has some hints about the next series of Ashes to Ashes, to début February 2009 on BBC One: ‘We’ve just handed in episode one. It’s set in 1982, so the Falklands have just happened. We’re taking it slightly darker this time …’ Read the rest of the quotation from co-creator Ashley Pharoah at TV Scoop. This does mean the VO at the beginning of the show has to change, as Keeley Hawes currently makes a reference to 1981.
   Whatever the case, it’s going far more smoothly than the US Life on Mars—which the Los Angeles Times reported on back in early June (and this blog followed on June 5). The British press only caught up with the news this past week but it did reveal one extra tidbit that we didn’t already know: Matthew Graham said in The Guardian, ‘At the time we thought [US pilot writer and executive producer David E. Kelley] took what we said on board, but I don’t think he did in the end. I think they should go further away from us; otherwise the danger is you look like an imitation.’

Ian Wylie at the Manchester Evening News, a big Ashes to Ashes fan, has info on the second series—and there may even be a third.
   Highlights from his blog:

ASHES To Ashes is set to get slightly darker in series two, on the road to unveiling greater mysteries. …

2) Matthew: “Then we started talking about what we call our three year plan, which is if, all things being equal, we can run Ashes To Ashes – if we have a series two – if we can run it beyond series two to series three, as is our hope, we can actually unveil a bigger mystery, a bigger plan. And ultimately reveal a lot more about the characters.”

3) Matthew: “The first series of Ashes To Ashes was more about laying the ground rules again, and just kind of having fun and getting people into the ’81 groove. And then we’ll start playing out the bigger mysteries.” …

14) Matthew: “We changed the mystery in Ashes To Ashes for series one, in that we made it about what the clown represented and what the clown was, and we played a twist with the clown. Because what we wanted to do was play with the idea of someone who thought they knew exactly what was going on, and establish all of that, because we thought that the audience knew exactly what was going on. So we thought, ‘Let’s have a character who is the audience, who has seen Life On Mars and knows what’s happening.’ And then, as I say, refer to the three year plan. The next phase of the three year plan is to undermine that, so that you realise you don’t know what’s going on, and nor does Alex. So it was a bit of a gamble, but we kind of thought we’d get away with that a little bit in the first series because we wanted it to be fun. And we wanted to establish a different tone. And if we’d put a big esoteric mystery into Ashes To Ashes – I mean, I think we’ve got a fairly big mystery. She’s pursued by death, who turns out to be her father. That’s pretty esoteric. But if we’d gone even further with that, I think it would have felt that we were just replaying Life On Mars.” …

28) The American version of Life On Mars. Ashley: “It’s being re-made by a guy called David E Kelley, who is a hero of both of ours – so we went out to Los Angeles to meet him. He was very charming. And, no, we’re having nothing to do with it. We’ve seen a script and it’s…interesting.” …

   So: I am excited about Ashes in 2009 and a little worried about the new Life on Mars in the US—though still hopeful that the two Irish lads who are the new Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt will give it a bit of gravitas.

Keeley Hawes gave an excellent performance in the final of Ashes to Ashes last night—best I’ve ever seen her in anything. And the story—wow (spoiler alert).
   I know some fans are dismissing it as “not as good as Life on Mars” but I say the series was redeemed in that one episode, penned by co-creator Ashley Pharoah.
   Because Ashes finally gave a good mindf*** that makes you now wonder if it’s all inside Alex’s head as ‘constructs’—or is it now her memory?
   That finalé, where it was Gene, not Evan, who takes young Alex’s hand, was a total surprise to me. Her Dad turning into the evil Pierrot clown—amazing. It is better than Sam finding out that his Dad could have killed Annie. It also becomes very apparent why the première’s director, Jonny Campbell, was called back to do this episode.
   Geoffrey Palmer’s guest role as the real-life Lord Scarman, the comic turn of Alex in the tank, the two sides of Gene, the two ages of Alex in the police station—all these were brilliant elements in an episode that finally sees all eight outings of Ashes to Ashes come together. Talk about nicely tied together in a story arc.
   I can now say, ‘I told you so,’ when I said that Alex’s predicament is different from Sam Tyler’s and that Gene, Ray and Chris exist in another timeline—which brings back the validity of Soozanne’s theory penned this time last year.
   We were promised more of the ‘Gene Hunt mythology’ from Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah—and we got it. Fantastic! Best episode ever.
   The scene is now well set for the second series, which, after this, should do incredibly well.

Any theories from our British friends on Ashes to Ashes? Last year, I was speculating like crazy on Sam Tyler’s predicament, telling people that if you freeze-framed a scene in series two, episode five where Sam touches Ray and sees different characters that DCI Frank Morgan was among them, and how there must be some spiritual reason beyond ‘He’s in a coma.’
   I have watched Ashes but not with the fervour and speculation of the earlier Life on Mars. I do believe Alex Drake’s situation is different, for starters, and that the opening speech that she is living one second in her life in 2008 is not far off the mark.
   But the idea that she has assimilated Sam’s fantasies doesn’t totally ring true to me.
   Last year, some people believed that Gene Hunt et al were spiritual figures or that the Geneverse is Purgatory, while a more complex theory put forward by one netizen, Soozanne, still “fits” (about two lives, one called Sam Tyler and another called Sam Williams and how their accidents forced the time travel).
   I would not be surprised if there is more than creators Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah are letting on—especially when they said the new series explores a bit more of the Gene Hunt ‘mythology’.
   Mythology? Reading too much into one word, or is this a clue?
   And if Pharoah has written the series finalé for Thursday with a potential second series in mind, will we actually get closure?
   I don’t think we will, though Alex confronts her parents’ death just as Sam confronted the disappearance of his father at the same point in Life on Mars. Sorry, everyone: I don’t think Alex Drake is going home. The calendar she has in her room, which we have been counting down, won’t mark the total number of days she has to stay in 1981.
   She’s likely to stay stuck in 1981 but finds that no matter what she does, she can’t create a time paradox—either because she is back in 1981 or her logical mind won’t allow it.
   That’s my prediction rather than a theory—largely on the premise that there probably will be a second series as the viewer numbers are healthy and not far off what Life on Mars was doing.

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?

The Murdoch Press—The Times, anyway—is putting forth a contrary viewpoint to all the hype around Ashes to Ashes, by journalist Caitlan Moran.
   And I think she has a point.
   In summary, Moran feels that Ashes to Ashes has reached some level of self-parody. The star is now undeniably Gene Hunt, which, as I put forth in the comments, must be akin to the Fonz getting top billing in Happy Days after Richie left.
   Richie is Sam Tyler in this context.
   Moran, who has seen the première, or pilot, writes:

It’s not Phil Glenister’s fault – he continues to play Hunt with malicious, controlled glee. The problem is with the show itself. It has lost its innocence. It’s gone from being a little bit in love with Hunt – as any rational programme would be – to borderline stalking him. Every Hunt entrance is a “Hero Shot” – slow pans, moody lighting, orchestral upswell. Every scene is waiting for Hunt to enter, or animate, or conclude it. The show will give him anything he wants – machineguns, a speedboat, a ludicrous plot resolution.

   My remaining concern is whether we are as fond of the 1970s as we are of the 1980s. The cop show—what Americans call police procedurals now, in an effort to differentiate from English English*—probably reached a zenith in the 1970s in the UK, with shows such as The Sweeney (the sort-of inspiration for Life on Mars) and The Professionals (which was designed to compete with The Sweeney). In this context, The Sweeney is the Gospel of Matthew, and the last season of Special Branch with George Sewell was the Book of Malachi.
   But I am not sure if we are as fond of the next decade because we missed these dark, gritty shows. Dempsey and Makepeace and Cat’s Eyes are loved only by fans of the genre. Putting Gene Hunt into this world means the show must centre around him and the evolution of his character in a new decade, full of bright colours and later, pastel shades. Ashes to Ashes cannot be a homage to anything actually from the 1980s even if Moonlighting had been cited in an early press release—to all intents and purposes it can only be a homage to Life on Mars.
   Nevertheless, I am looking forward to the new show, because it presents an opportunity for fans to ask a new set of questions. Or at least I hope we can.
   As Life on Mars neared the end of its run in 2007, there were numerous speculations on what actually happened to Sam Tyler. Some argued that 1973 was Purgatory. Another theory was that Sam Tyler leapt into the body of a 1973 cop called Sam Williams while in a coma. He would wake up, someone else said, and find that Annie Cartwright was actually his nurse and they would fall in love and get married. And a lot more pointed out the Wizard of Oz references. 
   Scriptwriter Matthew Graham put that all to rest when he said, yes, Sam’s in a coma and he killed himself to get to his idea of Heaven, which features Gene Hunt, Ray and Chris, and, most importantly, Annie Cartwright. No other explanation is canon.
   Are we to accept that it’s so elegantly simple?
   Maybe yes, since this is just a TV show, but Graham and co-creator Ashley Pharoah say they want to explore the ‘mythology’ of Gene Hunt.
   The press kits are essentially saying that DI Alex Drake has imagined 1981 and the gang because she read Sam Tyler’s case file and developed an obsession over it.
   It just seems too simple, if it is written as cleverly as the original. I can’t imagine watching Ashes to Ashes and not having the same questions about: what is this time period? Who is Gene Hunt? And I would hope that Graham, Pharoah, Chris Chibnall and whomever else is writing would explore the “why” element of all of this than leave us without pondering what has happened to Alex Drake.
   If this is all—if Hunt is a psychological manifestation of a tumour or the bullet in Alex’s head—then we approach Ashes to Ashes backwards. Last time, seven million of us watched the finalé because we wanted answers. This time we approach the show knowing the answer first. And there goes one major element of why we watched the original.

* The Brits I hung out with for drinkies last night had never heard of the term police procedural.

How could I miss these?

• Life on Mars co-creators Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah have a talk in a pub with Gene Hunt and Luigi from Ashes to Ashes, in The Guardian. Or, ‘Bunch of snivelling pinkos and sandal-wearing poofs. We had an outdoor lav when I was a kid and my Dad wouldn’t even let us wipe our arses on it.’
• A complete Life on Mars short story specially written for Christmas by Matthew Graham. A very interesting part sees Annie tell Sam that she felt she was in the ward with him in 2007—again this seems to lend weight to Soozanne’s theory and that it was not as neatly sewn up as Matthew Graham had us think!

N.B.: Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes spoilers below.

Ian Wylie of the Manchester Evening News, one of the best Life on Mars–Ashes to Ashes bloggers, revealed more about the fate of Sam Tyler in a post last week, after seeing the first screening of the new series.
   In case the fans who have not finished Life on Mars can see this from peripheral vision, I have cut the first two paragraphs pretty brutally.

The last episode of Life On Mars featured Sam ….
   His leap also took him …
   In the first episode of Ashes To Ashes, Ray explains to Alex how Sam had spent a further seven years with the team.
   He tells her that Sam then died during a jewellery robbery the year before—1980.
   Sam’s car ended up in the river, but his body was never found.
   Which, of course, gives some hope to those fans who believe Sam may return one day.

   This is making me wonder a bit more about the finalé in 2007, even if Matthew Graham told us all that it was a straightforward case of Sam dying and returning to 1973, his idea of Heaven.
   One fan, Soozanne, posted a theory which still fits given the premise of Ashes to Ashes.

A very amazing ending to Life on Mars. I liked it, as it confirmed some of my theories, but the decision Sam makes on top of the building was unexpected. Let’s just say that I wouldn’t have done so in his position, certainly not for someone whom I could not prove existed. You also do not abandon a parent: if they didn’t have the scene where Sam visits his Mum, I might have accepted it more. (I am intentionally vague for those who have not seen the episode yet. The DVD of series two is released Monday in the UK.)
   Despite these niggles, I enjoyed what Matthew Graham cooked up for us. It shows that the Brits still can do quality drama and that a network, if it wishes to create “event TV”, merely has to provide excellent writing, acting and direction.
   That means shows like Big Brother, Survivor and Fear Factor do nothing for a network’s loyalty and simply opens one up to competition from hobbyists on YouTube. Quality is where the battle is going to be if the networks wish to retain any relevance to society.
   Sadly, the short-term profit motive may put paid to that, all while the Emir of Qatar keeps pumping money in to al-Jazeera and reminds the west of what can be done. Sooner or later, someone with that much money might do his own network.
   That sounded pretty implausible 20 years ago before Rupert Murdoch launched Fox as the US’s fourth network.
   Now, how it all ties together with the spin-off, Ashes to Ashes, remains to be seen.
   Fans may be interested in today’s Life of Wylie blog entry, where co-creator and writer Matthew Graham talks about some of the behind-the-scenes thinking to the finalé. Don’t think too deeply about it all for now: it will do your head in.

From this week’s Life on Mars in the UK, a line beautifully delivered by John Simm:

Listen to me. I can just about handle you, driving like a pissed-up crackhead and treating women like beanbags, but I'm going to say this once and once only, Gene: stay out of Camberwick Green!