UK Timeline : [Merged] Ashes to Ashes

[sir_drinks_alot]

Ashes To Ashes the life on mars spin off show this ones set in 1981 the leed Sam will be played my keeley hawes.and and also see the return much loved Characters Gene ray and Chris (no annie tho ) same sort of set up as Before.

[cimt]

Later this year it comes on isn't it? I don't think it will be good without John Simm coz him thinking he's going mental was part of the goodness of it all. Is this meant to be set a couple of years after or something happened to them to make them think they're in the future?

Originally Posted by cimt

Later this year it comes on isn't it? I don't think it will be good without John Simm coz him thinking he's going mental was part of the goodness of it all. Is this meant to be set a couple of years after or something happened to them to make them think they're in the future?

It's 1981, which is 7 years after Life on Mars. But I wouldn't read too much into the setting or Gene Hunt's presence in the story - an awful lot of that went on after the final episode of Life on Mars was aired, but an interview with one of the creators in the Manchester Evening News within a week put paid to most of the theories of what it all meant.

It was quite straightforward in the end - he was in a coma, he was having some kind of delusion or dream in his coma, he woke up, didn't like life any more, and committed suicide by jumping off Police HQ's roof. His 'return' to 1973 at the very end took place in the final minutes of his life in the real world. We never get to see just how long Sam gets to live in the 1970s during those final seconds.

However we do know that while briefly back at work in 2006, he filed a complete report of his 1970s dream for the benefit of a police psychologist - who will now be played by Keely Hawes in Ashes to Ashes. Expect for her to get a nasty bump on the head and then find herself in her own delusional world whose characters and situations are fuelled not just by her own upbringing (as Sam's was) but also by having just read Sam's incredible story of Gene Hunt and co.

It's going to be fun, but don't expect it to be any deeper or strangely metaphysical than that.

EDIT

...Unless, of course, the creators' description of what it meant having been in the MEN and not actually within the programme itself, they change their minds and decide to portray it as some kind of alternate reality ...

But I doubt it.

The point is that the ending is open to whatever interpretation the viewer cares to put to it.Those are always the best endings in my opinion.

That was the reason why I loved the end of The Prisoner...I didn't need anyone to explain it to me because I could put my own interpretation as to what had happened.

Originally Posted by Incognitas

The point is that the ending is open to whatever interpretation the viewer cares to put to it.Those are always the best endings in my opinion.

That was the reason why I loved the end of The Prisoner...I didn't need anyone to explain it to me because I could put my own interpretation as to what had happened.

It's open if you choose to believe it is. But the fact is, Matthew Graham, the lead writer and co-creator, has gone on the record to say what the final scene is meant to show:

“The truth is, when I wrote it, what I was trying to say is that’s he’s died, and that for however long that last second of life is going to be, it will stretch out for an age, as an eternity for him. And so when he drives off in that car, he’s really driving off into the afterlife.�

From: http://blogs.manchestereveningnews.c...e_answers.html

So why didn't he just say/show that, rather than leave it open to interpretation?

And the article also says -
"So is this the last we’ll see of Sam Tyler, happy in 1973 cop heaven?
Matthew’s not sure. “You shouldn’t write him off completely.
"You never know with Life On Mars.”

Originally Posted by foreverwar

So why didn't he just say/show that, rather than leave it open to interpretation?

It's your interpretation that he left it open to interpretation. When they created the series they didn't believe they were creating a mystery. Another quote from MEN:

To be honest with you, I was always slightly surprised that people thought there was a genuine mystery. To me, it was very obvious – he got hit by a car, the doctors and nurses were speaking to him over the radio and through the television and he was in a coma.

I think the explosion of speculation and interpretation is a function of the success of the programme and the cult success it achieved. Once that happens, the fans always like to think they have taken ownership of the story. Go join Outpost Gallifrey and sample some of the batty threads the Dr Who fans have going on over there if you want an extreme example of this phenomenon.

The Manchester Evening News blog, which contains the extended version of their interview with Michael Graham, is well worth a read if you haven't seen it:http://blogs.manchestereveningnews.c...e_answers.html

Originally Posted by foreverwar

And the article also says -
"So is this the last we’ll see of Sam Tyler, happy in 1973 cop heaven?
Matthew’s not sure. “You shouldn’t write him off completely.
"You never know with Life On Mars.”

Indeed. And that's the beauty of it. Despite what the writers intended, they subsequently discovered that their conveyance of it within the story was sufficiently ambiguous for people to put other interpretations on it. Seeing as their intentions were not adequately pinned down in the story, they could very well do something with Ashes to Ashes that takes Sam's story in a direction that they didn't themselves originally plan.

Personally I don't think they will, and that final quote is probably just the author playing up to the mystique and the hype Life on Mars generated, but we'll have to wait and see.

Originally Posted by foreverwar

So why didn't he just say/show that, rather than leave it open to interpretation?

And the article also says -
"So is this the last we’ll see of Sam Tyler, happy in 1973 cop heaven?
Matthew’s not sure. “You shouldn’t write him off completely.
"You never know with Life On Mars.�

Mind the cynical among us might interpret that to mean "I'm holding out for more money".

[Silent Wings]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/ashestoashes/

Something decent to watch at last.

[Cobbydaler]

Yes, let's hope DCI Hunt is just as non-PC as he was in Life on Mars....

[sir_drinks_alot]

We already have a thread about this show

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/23...-to-ashes.html

[Cobbydaler]

Oh yes, last post back in July 2007...

Sorry, should have remembered.

As you couldn't be bothered, here's a link...

Mods please merge to satisfy s_d_a

[MovedGoalPosts]

Ms Hawes is extremely yummy in the trailers currently being shown.

This will be a must for the V+ recordings.

[sir_drinks_alot]

Originally Posted by Cobbydaler

Oh yes, last post back in July 2007...

Sorry, should have remembered.

As you couldn't be bothered, here's a link...

Mods please merge to satisfy s_d_a

If you look you will find i did link it

Ya just wonder if this will be half as good as life on mars

[Cobbydaler]

Originally Posted by sir_drinks_alot

If you look you will find i did link it

Ya just wonder if this will be half as good as life on mars

Sorry, wasn't there when I read your post. Must have caught it half way through you submitting it...