2 posts tagged “shaz granger”

Some of the best lines from the whole series were in Ashes to Ashes’ finalé:

Gene: ‘Is it just me, or are you talking in another dimension?’
Gene: ‘I can grow a moustache but I draw a line at a perm.’
Viv: ‘Pickpocket, a drunk, a guy who thinks he’s Sheena Easton. Same old, same old.’
Gene: ‘I’ve seen your rump, and I’ve seen more padding strapped to Ian Botham’s legs.’

and these only work in the context of the show:

Gene: ‘Bye, little lady. Any problems, you just call the Gene Genie.’
Gene: ‘I’m everywhere, Bolly. I was needed and I was there.’
Shaz: ‘I’m good, thanks to you, a guardian angel.’

   Final line was ‘Luigi, get me a beer,’ which takes me back to the same point in Life on Mars (final line, ‘Pub’).
   Well done Ashley Pharoah!

There has been some more press about Ashes to Ashes and here’s how the première might be shaping up.

• DI Alex Drake is shot in the head before going to 1981. She needed that like a hole in the head. She has a daughter who remains in the present day.
• She has read Sam Tyler’s files so she has more awareness of what is going on than he did.
• The action takes place in London, not Manchester, providing for a bit of north–south conflict.
• In This Is Scotland: the sexist Gene Hunt and Alex Drake have a bit of romance (as many of us knew—Ian Wylie confirms it’s like Moonlighting, which was what the BBC said). The première episode sees Alex undercover as a prostitute to bust a drugs’ ring when she arrives in July 1981. Philip also does not say that Gene will be killed off, which is what the Murdoch Press has reported—just that he does not think that Gene should go beyond the 1980s, nor would he look good in a trilby.
• Montserrat Lombard plays WPC Shaz Granger, who has a crush on Chris (Marshall Lancaster).
• The makers know that the right-hand-drive Audi Quattro was not available in 1981.
• Steve Strange cameos.
• From The Daily Telegraph: the first day’s filming consists of Gene and Alex nicking a villain in 1981—but he’s also her nemesis in 2008. Sean Harris playes Arthur Layton. Presumably this is for the first episode.
• A speedboat rescue scene comes at the end of the episode. This is filmed at the Royal Docks but it’s to double for the area around Tower Bridge, which will be CGIed in later.
• A story arc (according to the Murdoch Press) is the Scarman Report, which was being compiled in 1981. Geoffrey Palmer (not the former New Zealand prime minister!) plays Lord Scarman.

I really need our UK correspondents to extend their reach into TV so they can get to these premières.