AshesToAshes.TV is a fan-blog dedicated to all things, Ashes To Ashes. The site covers the original BBC series Ashes To Ashes, spin-off of the cult series Life On Mars. It also covers general news about casting, merchandise, fanclubs, websites and other related news.
(Radio Times [2nd - 8th February 2008] - 4 Different A2A Covers)
Well Martians its here and it certainly did not disappoint, well myself in any case. The Radio Times seems to share my opinion by offering 4 different covers, for this weeks edition. For the majority of Life On Mars fans, the episode answered some pressing questions, and at the same time posed some more. We find out that Genes wife left him, and that Sam Tyler died (or so the team presume, seeing as his body was never recovered). These two answers prompt the questions, "Will we ever get to see Gene's now ex-wife on screen?" as well as "Will Sam Tyler ever make an appearance in Ashes To Ashes?".
If John Simm was to be asked this question now, he would more than likely answer no. The show seems to have been diliberately written this way, to make you ask these questions. Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah deserve congratulations here, for an extremely well written introduction to the series. Again the duo have started screwing with our heads, but did we really expect anything less. Of course we didn't, and neither did the show's fan base over at The Railway Arms (which by all means should be re-named Luigis', or least the A2A section).
For those of you expecting an episode synopsis here, I hate to disappoint you but you'll get that in the next post. Tonight Philip Glenister offers lucky UK fans, his own insights into Gene Hunt and Ashes To Ashes on "Friday Night With Jonathan Ross" at 10.35PM. Best set the PVR/DVR or primitive 80's VHS Recorder, or take the other option and be disappointed.
Greetings again Martians, today is the day when our hero Gene Hunt returns to the our screens after a year long abscence. This time in a different era, and with a different partner Alex Drake. Keeley Hawes (Alex Drake) was recently interviewed by GMTV in the UK, about her role in A2A and upcoming film appearances. Keeley mentions that Alex, unlike Sam in LOM is very aware that she is living in a dream. This should give her a major advantage, when dealing with Gene and 1981 in general.
She also discusses the disadvantages of being cast as Daniel Craigs sister, in one of her latest film outings "Flashbacks of a Fool". Poor Keeley, oh well I'm sure she'll survive. In addition to glimpses of A2A, we also get to see Keeley in a promo for the movie "The Bank Job". Keeley also talks about her husband appearing in Ashes To Ashes, with a mullet. As we count down the minutes until Ashes To Ashes starts, enjoy the interview.
Greetings Martians, the excitement is building as we countdown the remaining days to episode one of Ashes To Ashes. Its taken a long time to get here, since the initial announcement of the show, but the wait is nearly over (well for citizens of the UK, anyway). Over the past 3 weeks, we have all been inundated with with video, pictures and articles.
Now something else to add to the list, downloadable mp3 interviews. "Whats new about that?", a lot of you are probably asking yourselves right now. Well it is and it isn't new, how can it be both? Quite simply, last year a number of audio interviews were posted. The difference though is that they were not mp3's, they were wma's (microsofts propriatry audio format). I'm making a point of this for one simple reason, these files can be locked to a certain country. In this case the UK. Whilst people in foreign countries can still download these protected files, they playback at a painfully slow speed making them virtually un-listenable (if that's a word). Mp3 format though does not support this region protection, thankfully allowing people from all over the world to listen to them. Links to these files are posted below.
Next up, what looks like the launch of an official Facebook page for the show. This may not be the case though, as there are many Facebook sites dedicated to A2A already but lets keep our fingers crossed. A fellow "youtuber" and member of "The Railway Arms", Herr Kamel seems to have scored a bit of a bonus with this new page. With a music video of his own creation being featured on the site, good on you Herr Kamel. If you become a "fan" of A2A through this site, you will automaticlly recieve updates in your own feed. A worth while feature for keeping on top of things.
Besides what I have mentioned above, more video has been circulating this past week though not in the form of a trailer. The Manchester Evening News (thanks to everyones good buddy Ian Wylie) as well as Philip Glenister's Official Site, have both posted identical clips featuring Alex, Gene and WPC Sharon Granger. In this rather short clip, we get to Alex investigating Genes new computer which is more than likely an 8086 or 286. By todays standards a mobile phone from 5 years ago would have a faster operating speed. This in time will more than likely prove to be one of Alex's pet hates, and rightly so. May be Chris (the resident computer genius or Div) will have to teach Alex some patience there.
Ian also fills us in on what happened to Sam Tyler and Genes wife after LOM, it appears the writers haven't overlooked anything. This will be great for fans, as many have pondered these questions since the end of LOM. Well that about wraps up this post for today, if you haven't done so already it may be time to program your PVRs, VCRs or DVD Recorders. After all no one wants to miss the premiere on Thursday February 7th at 9.00pm. 'Til next time Martians peace, and may A2A be everything and more than we all hoped for.
Greetings Martians, Burn Victims, etc . . . its been just under a month since I spoke to you last, about this up-coming series. There has been huge gaps and broken promises of posts, downloadables and other things from both this site and its parent site LifeOnMars.tv, over the last month. All I can say is sorry, these things will be sorted out soon. Apologies aside, I actually have something to say about Ashes To Ashes, its nearly here.
Yes finally after months of speculation over when the show was actually going to start, the BBC offers us a partial answer. Hooray! The BBC have finally listed the show as starting in Week 6 of there schedule. For those not in the know, what this means is the week commencing February 2. It does however not elaborate on this any further, as it is appearing as an "Unplaced Show".
Over the past few months only drips and drabs of information, besides the initial series announcement have manged to come our way. We have been tormented and teased by "I know something that you don't know journalism", which really doesn't tell you anything other than the person reporting it is a so and so. You know I didn't that Mr Wylie, love your work! I have actually been guilty of this myself. Why you ask? Quite simply the release of pictures, videos and information has been conditional on us not releasing certain sources or revealing specific information. In a way this has been good, as it has made the information we have shown you relatively spoiler free.
Other than this news, a couple of tidbits have come to light. For instance, the fact that Keeley's husband will be appearing the series. Hmmm, perhaps this was for trust reasons so he could keep tabs on the Mrs. Who knows. One thing is for certain, and that is that we will all find out soon enough. Getting back to the release date, Amazon has already posted the release date for the series 1 boxset. Yes you heard me correctly, we now know when we can buy it before we know when we can actually see it. Strange to say the least. The release date is tentatively marked for the 12th of May 2008, and the set has a price tag of £29.99 if you pre-order. The normal price will be £39.99, so a substantial saving there if you pre-order. I know I will.
With only just over a week to go until "Week 6", trailers for the series should start to appear relatively soon. As usual I will attempt to post trailers if they appear on youtube, but as we all know the BBC are quite diligent in there quest to remove unauthorised material from the web. So when these appear, they may not work on here for very long. I could have another bitch about this, but I've done it before so I'll give it a rest this time.
Over the past couple of months, since its beginning Dean Andrews Official blog has provided us with lots of juicy bits to tantalise our senses. Well the Deano comes through again, recently posting pictures of the Christmas Dinner and a couple of others including candid pics of Dean and the rest of the cast and the BAFTAS. You can find those pics here. As per usual Ms Hawes looks delicious, hey I'm male give me break.
I certainly didn't expect this, but while I have been writing this post a trailer has already appeared on youtube. Here it is, enjoy!
(Ashes To Ashes - Trailer 1)
Just before I go, you may also wish to check out this entertaining and highly fictitious interview with Ashley Pharoah, Matthew Graham and Gene Hunt. Yes Gene Hunt and not Philip Glenister, this was posted on the 7th of January at the MediaGuardian.co.uk website. Its well worth a read and will keep you entertained as well offering, well its fictitious what else can I say. The interview was conducted in the Luigi's restaurant that I have previously shown you pictures of. By the looks of it Luigi's, maybe the equivalent to The Railway Arms in LOM (ie: the local hang out).
'Til next time Martians (which will be sooner, rather than later this time), peace and may the next imaginary person you run into be Gene Hunt. Just like Keeley.
Greetings Martians, over the last month we have had quite a few developments on the A2A front. Everyone's favourite journalist hero Ian Wylie making a set visit, and interviewing the gang (no not the Famous Five, sorry Enid) as well as Matthew Graham. More casting confirmations and various new pictures circulating on the web. On top of all of this, an apparent A2A special for Children In Need. The Children In Need Special, is only speculation at this stage but why not hey? They do it for Doctor Who, why not A2A. Lets keep our fingers crossed on that one, apparently a trailer has been airing on BBC3 for CIN featuring Gene giving someone a driving lesson. Chris and Ray are also featured in the trailer in the back seat.
Children In Need and Ashes To Ashes? What now children need Gene to stomp on their toys? Well if they're fans they might, any way back to the pictures. Below you find a couple of happy and not so happy pictures, snapped at a location shoot. One of them sees Gene back in form, about to belt the crap out of a suspect. Perhaps Alex will set him straight on this behaviour, Sam's attempts appear to have failed.
(Gene Hunt - the lawman, beating up the wrong guy . . .)
Oh, can I get away with saying that? This is Ashes To Ashes and not Life On Mars after all. Next up we have Keeley looking extremely cute with Dean and a weird expression which can only be described as goofball. Next to this, Keeley tries to out-do Dean with an interesting head scarf. This was apparently to protect the precious perm from the rain. I know how it is Keeley, I had one in the 80's too.
(Keeley - looking cute & weird, Dean - no description necessary)
Finally, we have 2 pictures of Phil and Keeley. The first looks like Phil is bluetoothing Keeley something interesting, perhaps the picture of Dean from above. Whatever the case, Keeley looks amused by it. The second of these candid pictures features Phil looking less than impressed, by the photograph. You can kind guess what he's thinking, "bleeding photographers, can't I get get 5 seconds to myself!". Or something similar, its pretty obvious he's not happy about it.
(Bluetooth Fun & Piss Off Paparazzi)
Now back to Ian Wylie. Ian has recently posted an article on his blog from the set visit he made, where he interviews Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah. The article mentions the producers are already talking multiple series for show. This is a good sign, they also mention Sam Tyler fate. So for some up to date goss on whats going on, head on over to The Life Of Wylie. Ian will set you all straight, he also offers an audio statement from Mr Graham himself. I tried to listen to it myself, but it sounded like a kidnappers statement of demands. Maybe this is just what I get for being in Australia, but the clip sounds stretched from my end and rather garbled. Hopefully, you can hear it with more success than myself. If not, perhaps mention it to Ian in the comments. I am sure it is easily fixed. 'Til next time Martians peace, and may the news be a little more forth coming.
Hello everyone, if you read my last post you probably thought to yourself "he over did the Delorean bit". Maybe I did, maybe I'll give you all some more or maybe I won't. The post attracted quite a bit of attention for this site, resulting in the owner of the Delorean featured in the upcoming episode contacting me. Thanks Mike. Mike is a member of the Delorean Owners Club of the UK, which you can find a link to it over on the links tab. The DMC-12 featured in the episode, unlike the famous Cortina in Life On Mars actually uses its real plates. So if you are out and about, and happen to spy the car say hi to Mike for us.
Mike cleared up a few things for us about the car and other cars used in Ashes To Ashes. I can't say too much without getting him in trouble, but what I can tell you is the Delorean is not Genes. Gene will be driving an Audi, as promised previously by the writers. I also had reported to you earlier that Rupert Graves would be appearing in an episode, well this would have to be one of his first pictures from the show.
The picture also features the lovely Keely Hawes not in a fur coat this time time. Watch out Keeley, Pamela Anderson and Pink have their P.E.T.A. posse just around the corner, don't put that jacket back on. I'm sure there is plenty of security on the set though. The picture almost makes Keely and Rupert, look like Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker or is it Han Solo, Rupert? Especially with that hair, and the interior or the car being reminiscent of a spacecraft of sorts. I bet you can't wait to get out of character Keeley.
I can't harp on about the Star Wars simularities any more, or I may find myself working for a womens magazine or UK tabloid "The Sun". Some of the Doctor Who fans, who visit the site regularly will know what I am talking about there. Its amazing how misinformation, congecture and out right rumour end up being news items. But I didn't say that, did I? Once again I would like to formally thank Mike, he tells me there are more pictures on the way.
In addition to Mikes contribution, Fran from Phillip Glenister Index and Dean Andrews Official site. Has also sent in some more pictures for us all to enjoy, from a recent set visit. Thank you as well Fran, and I envy both you and Mike myself being several thousand kilometres from all the action in Australia. The two of you are getting to see history being written or re-written as the case maybe. The picture below is one of Frans', and has the guys posing with their guns. This could quite easily be turned into a recruitment poster for the police, well one from that time period not now. It just wouldn't be PC would it?
'Til next time Martians peace, and I'll have to think of something new to call you all soon. Burn victims? If any of you out there happen to spy some filming for the show happening, your pictures are always welcome. Video is good too, we haven't had any of that yet but its most certainly welcome at the address in the links tab. Peace.
Salutations all. Sorry for the title, it doesn't rhyme. It would have been a lot better if the writers had chosen Jane Drake for the name of its heroine, but they didn't. Again I am talking riddles. The title pays homage to the 1980 film "Fame", if you couldn't work it out. With good reason too, below we can see Keeley Hawes in one of her first candid behind-the-scenes pictures from the set of Ashes To Ashes.
Keeley clearly looks like she has just been to lunch with Richard Simmons, or maybe she's been to audition for Olivia Newton-John's Physical music video. Because she would be a year too early, to be watching Jane Fonda's Workout Tape on glorious VHS. Maybe even Betamax if she's one of the elite, but where is her Sony Walkman? Speaking of personal music devices, the previous post may very well have contained one too. Did you notice? If you didn't I'm not going to chastise you, I'll just show you instead.
Philip Glenister a 'Jesus Christ Superstar' moment?
Yes indeed our Phil seems to be carrying a mobile phone or an mp3 player, either way they both can play music. Neither of them were available in 1981, so lets hope this picture is candid on the way to filming and not during filming. Otherwise this could be compared to Jesus Christ Superstar, with the digital watches. Don't you just love a comedian? Oh and finally some additional casting confirmation, with Rupert Graves official website listing him as appearing in Ashes To Ashes. At this stage though, Rupert's character is unknown. 'Til next time Martians peace and I wonder what fashions we'll see next?
Greetings once again Martians. Today I bring you some goodies, a retraction as well as some site news. First the goodies, no not the 70's comedy show with Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie. If it were to be featured on any of my blogs it would be on LifeOnMars.tv and not here. The goodies I am referring to are the exceptional on-set pics, recently displayed on The Sun's website. The pictures not only offer us the first glimpse of our heroes in their 80's attire, but also advise us of one the first guest or supporting cast members.
In the pictures we can see quite clearly, an additional female police officer. This actress is none other than Montserrat Lombard. For those unfamiliar with Montserrat's work, she has appeared in "The Chatterley Affair", "The Midsommer Murders" and most recently in "Hyperdrive" as Lavya. If you are interested in knowing what other roles she has been in, head on over to IMDB via this link to get the full credits on this new addition to A2A.
The retraction I am talking about, is the start date mentioned in the previous post. That news came via Philip Glenisters Official Website, which may have been the tentative date filming was due to commence. This quite obviously changed as the pictures below were taken and posted on the 28th of July. Hmmm, why didn't I pick that up then? Oh well the important part still remains accurate, and that is that filming is well and truly under way.
Now for the site news, I am going to announce this early because if I don't I'll probably forget about it later. That is AshesToAshes.tv has now been online for 100 days, yay!!! (He say's like Kermit the Frog, waving his arms around). At the time of posting this, the counter is only 18 hours off 100 days so I'm telling you now. That's it for todays posting, I hope you all enjoy the pictures below. 'Til next time Martians peace, and is Montserrat the next Annie? Perhaps shes's the girlfriend Chris the Div is seeing, we can only speculate.
First glimpse of A2A, and it looks like Chris will be speaking like Michael Jackson in this one! (Dean Andrews, where is Ray's promised perm?)
G'day Martians, today I feel like Santa Claus with some very important news regarding the casting of none other than . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alex Drake! Yes Martians finally the BBC have announced who has attained the much sought after role. The winning actress is Keeley Hawes.
Strangely enough in my previous post, I mentioned that Wikipedia had recently amended their Ashes To Ashes page with Keeleys name. I posted this news on the 15th of June, Wikipedia obviously has some great sources with inside knowledge. Its either that or they are damn good at guessing. Either way who cares, the cat is out of the bag now.
(Keeley Hawes cast as Alex Drake in Ashes To Ashes)
The official BBC announcement went as follows . .
"Spooks star Keeley Hawes has been cast as Philip Glenister's new sidekick in Life on Mars sequel Ashes to Ashes. The Tipping the Velvet actress will play DI Alex Drake, a psychological profiler from the present day who finds herself transported back to 1981.
Due to air in the New Year, the show will see Glenister reprise his role as politically incorrect DCI Gene Hunt. Hawes described her role as "a fantastic character who will be a force to be reckoned with". She said Drake and Hunt "locking horns in the eighties will certainly be a sight to behold, never mind the shoulder pads".
The second series of Life on Mars ended earlier this year with John Simm's character Sam Tyler deciding to remain in the 1970s. Ashes to Ashes, written and created by Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharaoh, will follow Glenister's character into the 1980s.
"Keeley will be fantastic as Alex 'Posh Knickers' Drake," said the shows executive producer Jane Featherstone. "She is sexy, ballsy and very intelligent, just like Alex. She's bound to turn Gene's egocentric life upside down."
Best known for playing MI5 agent Zoe Reynolds in Spooks, Hawes was recently seen in the BBC's modern reworking of Shakespeare's Macbeth and has voiced computer game character Lara Croft. She is married to former Spooks star Matthew Macfadyen, with whom she has two children."
Well it took long enough, thats's all I can say. You also may have noticed to celebrate all of this, I have redesigned the sites logo. I hope you like it, its possibly the first picture to include all 4 main cast members. Don't you just love Photoshop.
If you are a personal fan of the lovely Keeley, you may find this site of use Keeley Hawes.com, its possibly the best news source around for all things Keeley. 'Til next time Martians peace, and may Alex give Gene what he deserves.
Is there is something you feel I have missed? Or if you would like something added to the site, please email me atlifeonmarstv@hotmail.comAll submissions will be accredited, but I am currently not interested in taking on additional contributors at this stage. So please don't ask.
(Radio Times [2nd - 8th February 2008] - 4 Different A2A Covers)
