TV episode review
UK airdate 7 February 2008 (BBC1)

When 21st Century detective Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) is shot, she wakes up in 1981. It isn’t long before she runs into the straight-talking DI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister)…

The much-trumpeted Life on Mars spin-off takes a little time to get into its stride, but by the end of this opening episode it's firmly established a distinct identity away from its parent show.

The set-up, with plummy copper Alex Drake transported back to the early 80s (is she mad, in a coma or back in time? etc etc), is slightly awkward. Drake seems strangely willing to accept the situation that she suddenly finds herself in, reasoning that if it’s all a figment of her imagination then she might as well play along. It doesn’t feel entirely convincing, but it does set everything up for subsequent episodes to run a little more smoothly.

It also takes a while to get used to Drake herself. The posh, slightly aloof character is a very different and arguably less sympathetic protagonist than Sam Tyler, but again we’ve started to warm to her a little more by the episode’s end.

Then, of course, there’s the return of Gene Hunt. He may no longer be the ‘Sheriff of Manchester’, but in most other ways he’s the same inimitable figure we’ve come to know and love, complete with a new collection of colourful quips (it isn’t long before he dubs Drake “Miss Bollinger knickers”). Intriguingly, we’re promised that we will see a new side to Hunt as the series progresses and that he will evolve into a much more three-dimensional figure than in Life on Mars.

Along with all the lighthearted banter that you’d expect, there are some superbly creepy scenes in this episode. In the place of Life on Mars’ Test Card Girl, Alex finds herself pursued by the clown from David Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes video. Even better is the cameo from an ultra-creepy Zippy and George from Rainbow (who, let’s face it, were pretty creepy to begin with).

It’s the final third of this episode that sees Ashes to Ashes really move away from the shadow of Life on Mars. The Miami Vice-style sequences of the gang bouncing along the Thames on a speedboat and blasting machine guns is over-the-top, ludicrous and great fun, and suggests that the series could go on to plunder other 80s cop shows for inspiration.

Rounded off by some great tunes from the era (by the likes of The Stranglers, The Clash and Tubeway Army), this opener may not make for entirely coherent viewing, but it promises great things to come. Matt McAllister

VERDICT: 7/10