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Ashes to Ashes

Philip Glenister as DCI Gene Hunt in Ashes to Ashes
  • Posted at 2:54pm
  • 20 March 2008
  • by AlisonGraham-RT
  • 2 comments

There's a crucial scene in the final episode of Ashes to Ashes (Thursday 27 March, 9:00pm, BBC1) that I guarantee will have Gene-ettes - devotees of the mighty DCI Gene Hunt - lactating and picking out curtains for the imaginary nursery that will soon be filled with many similarly imaginary tiny tow-haired Hunts. I will say nothing more, except that it is surely aimed squarely at a woman's atavistic urge to nurture children and - yes, it has to be said - to find protection from a big, strong, capable man.

And therein lies the appeal of DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister). Yes, I fully appreciate that it's wrong, wrong, wrong. He's boorish, frequently charmless and often excruciatingly unpleasant. And yet…there's something about Hunt that makes a girl feel safe, which is why he, and Glenister, have struck a twanging, vibrant chord with an awful lot of female viewers. He is the thinking woman's great big hulking guilty pleasure. We like 'em tough, but we like 'em flawed, too.

In the penultimate episode (Thursday 20 March, 9:00pm, BBC1) there's a brilliant scene where Hunt displays a touching vulnerability that he then immediately punctures in typical Gene fashion. As Kate Bush's The Man with the Child in His Eyes plays on the radio, he blunderingly asks DI Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) for a date: "Somewhere posh, trout and almonds, my shout." It's terribly sweet, but before you can say "aaaaahh" there's a brilliant turnaround that will have you laughing out loud.

There has been much talk of the "sexual tension" between Hunt and Drake, but I don't buy it. Yes, Glenister is a master of the smouldering look, but when he's focused the full-on tinderbox firelighting gaze, it's always looked to me as if Drake would rather be waiting for a bus in the rain than respond with a quickie in the lost property cupboard.

Ashes to Ashes has been an odd series - at best patchy, at worst a bit of a mess, and nowhere near as good as Life on Mars. But genuine, hallmarked TV icons come along so rarely that some of us don't mind, not really. We can put up with its myriad faults as long as Gene Hunt is there in his black leather driving gloves, ready to sweep us off our feet.

And talking of TV icons for ladies of a certain age…Hugh Laurie returns to Five (Thursdays, 9:00pm) for the fourth series of House (for two weeks, clashing directly with Ashes to Ashes). Sad to say, it's a big disappointment. His underlings have all gone (a good thing) but no-one seems to know what to do about it (a bad thing). Still, House looks appealing in a very fetching T-shirt, playing his electric guitar, so all is not lost.

**

Alison Graham is TV editor of Radio Times.

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  • Posted on 29 December 2008
  • at 12:39pm
  • by WilliamGallagher-RT

Filming began on a second series in October. There's no official word yet on when we'll see it air here in the UK or in Canada, but we do know that the story has moved on: the new run is set in 1982 "where legwarmers are cool and fluorescent is the colour of choice". Plus, Alex is going to start hearing news from 2008.

William Gallagher, Radio Times

  • Posted on 24 December 2008
  • at 6:44am
  • by Janis

We've only just seen series one of Ashes to Ashes on BBC Canada and I thoroughly disagree with Alison Graham. I found it gripping, fascinating, and NEVER disappointed. I loved Life on Mars, but Ashes to Ashes outdid even that. Keeley Hawes's character was brilliant. The music from the series superb. I hope there's another on the way.

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