I just watched all of Life on Mars and LOVED it. Is Ashes to Ashes any good? Is as good as Life on mars or almost as good?
shareIn my humble opinion Ashes to Ashes is a superior series.
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I disagree that it's superior, I don't think it's as fun as Life on Mars & never really reaches the same level, well except for the brilliant last episode. It's definitely worth watching, it's brilliant show & More Gene Hunt is always welcome but the absence of Sam Tyler always bothered me, Alex Drake tries her best to replace him but never really gets there for me.
sharethe last couple of episodes last season of Ashes is required to understand what is happening but I couldn't get past the whiny woman, she got on my last nerve from episode 1. Ray, Chris and Shaz are worth watching as is Gene who has a huge role compared to "Life.."
shareIt doesn't have the impact of Life on Mars but still worth watching. I liked the ending better than Life. There's more great Gene Hunt moments and Hunt's team get better developed characters.
I didn't like the Keeley Hawes character as much as John Simm, but that would be a hard act for anyone to follow. Nothing particularly wrong with it, just not as good.
Treat it as a separate animal that was developed to cash in on LoM's success. If you watch A2A, try not to let it dilute LoM's powerfully brave conclusion. Maybe think of it as fanfic, not to be taken too seriously.
shareIt's not bad and hits a lot of the same beats as LoM. I think they overreacted to the popularity of Gene Hunt, though, dialing his character up as far as they did. In LoM he felt completely natural and organic, whereas in Ashes he can be really on the nose with his expressions and idiosyncrasies.
shareYes it is good, very good but... we've been spoiled with Life on Mars.
LOM was just so brilliant that it is pretty much impossible to live up to that quality especially when changing one of the winning ingredients; Sam and Annie.
Although I really enjoyed 'Ashes to Ashes', I missed Sam too much and kept hoping he would show up.
I really missed him in the series and kept assuming to at least see him once till the very end.
I'm about to go watch Ashes to Ashes again after having just watched Life on Mars again, so who knows how I feel about it this time.
It's got Gene in it, so it is good.
End of story.
Better believe that or Gene will come stamp on your toys.
Complaining about mistakes is almost as bad as complaining about complaining about mistakes.
A2A is worth watching but it is much heavier.
shareThanks for all these general replies. I loved Life on Mars so much that I've been wary for years of watching Ashes to Ashes for fear that it might take some of the shine off of LOM.
I'll give it a shot soon.
I had the random luck of watching Ashes series one before I had ever seen LOM. Ashes I was a cute show, so I tried LOM expecting it to be more of the same. IT WAS BETTER BY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE. Wow. If I had watched LOM when it first aired and then waited with bated breath for the spinoff to air, I would have been bitterly disappointed.
The first series of Ashes is a direct remake of LOM series one, substituting a woman for a man as the main character and the 80s for the 70s.
Series 2 of Ashes is the one I really liked. It was its own animal, having little to do with the themes from series one. It stands alone without series one or three.
Series 3 was an attempt by the writers to tie in unanswered questions left over from LOM. It didn't work well. Sam Tyler was mentioned over and over, as if the name-dropping would get old LOM fans to prick up their ears and think that his journey was going to be revisited. It wasn't. If they had wanted to make LOM series three, they should have done so. Trying to meld it in with the end of Ashes insulted BOTH shows.
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