CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

studioAT When John Simms opted to leave 'Life on Mars' after two series the BBC were left in a pickle. They had a show with ratings on the rise and in Gene Hunt a character who the public seemed to be falling in love with.The answer was simple - lets do the exact same thing, only in the eighties but with a woman cop going back in time instead. Lets go really mad and have Hunt and his crew move down to London too, for no apparent reason.All this leads to a similar, if indeed clever, spin-off that follows the ground already well trodden by the show it was spun-off from. If anything Hunt is more cartoonish than ever, and the show is bigger and bolder because of this.Throw in some good music, and a decent performance from Keeley Hawes, and you've got a show that ran for three series. For me though it lacked the originality of 'Life on Mars' - probably because the premise wasn't original second time around.

Elliotb-butler18 I never started watching this until last year and i absolutely loved it so i bought the box set for £20 from ASDA. I am 15 but i love the 1980s very much. I love the music, the fashion and the era itself. I also then watch Life on Mars and i equally loved it. DCI Gene Hunt is one of the most iconic TV detectives of all time. I don't think i have ever seen anyone like him and Phillip Glenister plays him absolutely fantastically. The final scenes i found moving as Chris, Ray, Shaz and Alex all say goodbye to Gene Hunt before they all pass off into heaven. The plot at the end i also thought was completely brilliant as the idea that there are 2 different worlds in which when police officers die or are severely injured end up in this other world in which Gene Hunt is there to pass the people into heaven. This is a brilliant show with a brilliant storyline and ending all in all 100% class.

Victoria Fletcher So i wonder that if as a girl I was predisposed to like Ashes to Ashes more than Life on Mars. I will grant that the original, is just that, the original, and so in a way it's the better. More original, more groundbreaking. But personally I love Ashes to Ashes more. Keeley Hawes took an episode or two to really gel with what was going on, but I think it really works now, and I feel for the character. She's trying to get back to her little girl, you know she can't just stay in the past... and to also try and save her parents. It's interesting, I want to know what's going to happen. And then there's Philip Glenister, who is always a good actor, but whose role as DCI Gene Hunt is a role he'll FOREVER be known as... and good reason. He's a man's man, funny, gritty, and in this series, occasionally vulnerable. Some don't like the way he is in this show, but I think it works. And the chemistry between Hunt and Drake really works, and it's interesting. I adore them. Finally maybe I like this because I love 80s music, and if you like that, this is a great series for you. It has a great soundtrack. Add that with the awesome quattro Hunt drives, and some fantastic cheesy, over the top moments (the boat showdown in episode 2 anyone?) and it's a show I find absolutely the best pure entertainment I've seen in years. Now all I need is for LoM to get released to DVD over here, and for this sequel to hit our shores so I can then get THAT on DVD and I'll be happy.

Graham Greene It is probably wrong to compare Ashes to Ashes to the previous Life on Mars, despite the fact that both programmes come from the same creative team and exist in the same thematic universe. Still, Life on Mars was such a benchmark and such a surprisingly rewarding piece of work that such comparisons are really hard to resist. With Life on Mars we had an intelligent piece of television that offered a great story, subtle character interaction and a genuine imagination; blending elements of science-fiction with psychological character analysis, as well as juxtaposing ideas of archaic, twentieth century police procedures with the more high-tech but sterile policing of today. Ashes to Ashes is somewhat similar in the respect that the idea of self-analysis and an attempt to correct the future by way of the past is central to the development of the main character, but somehow it lacks the dynamics or sense of overall purpose that really made Life on Mars such a valid and exciting piece of work.At its most extreme, you could argue that the series here is nothing more than a shameless cash-in; with the producers and writers copying the format of Life on Mars completely and giving us more of Gene Hunt and his particular blend of politically-incorrect, heart-on-sleeve policing against an environment of warm nostalgia. However, even here, the use of the early 1980's as the principal time-frame already shows the character of Hunt to be something of a woeful anachronism; as out of time as the stranded heroine Alex Drake against a backdrop of feminism, class war, immigration, privatisation and a gradual acceptance of homosexuality. Also, the potentially interesting political climate, with the shadow of the Falkland's, tyranny of the Tories, confrontation between races, terrorist attacks and the royal wedding are all reduced to minor details intended to flesh out the creation of a world that is continually undermined by shoddy writing, haphazard direction an attempt to condense the more iconic aspects of 80's culture into a sort of microcosm that feels at odds with a decade supposedly in its infancy. Or is it? The thematic concerns this time around are less about the clashing of cultures and backgrounds in a way that makes for satisfying drama, and more about the creation of a self-aware universe that not only comments on itself but on the notion of the "sequel". As with the audience, Alex Drake understands completely the world that she has entered into and is trying to control it to her advantage. She knows about the characters because she's experienced them through the writings of Sam Tyler in the same way that we the audience experienced them by actually watching Life on Mars. This does rob the programme of some tension, particularly in the first couple of episodes before the characters finally settle into their new roles and the broader aspects of the story become apparent, but it does open the story up to more intriguing ideas and interpretations regarding the role that Alex has in creating the world from her own memories and distorted idea of what the 80's really were.Unlike Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes was less immediate and for me, and this was the programme's greatest flaw. Once it gets going its fantastic; the examination into Alex's parents and the factors that could possibly have led to their demise is rich with drama and emotion and really pays off in the final episode. However, for me, there were far too many lose ends leading up to this, and far too much of the writers having DCI Hunt do outlandish things in an attempt to appease the audience who buy into the whole "iconic" thing and want Gene Hunt catchphrases on their-mobiles. The emphasis on the drama should have remained with Drake consistently, because it is here where the story comes together; with more interplay between her and her parents and less of the Hunt sailing a speedboat under the arches of Tower Bridge and firming machine guns, like he's some colourful cartoon caricature. Or maybe that's the point? Given the fact that the first three episodes were so weak that I almost gave up on this completely - there didn't seem to be any direction in regards to the plot in the same way that Life on Mars so skilfully blended the past, present and visions of Sam Tyler into a jaw-dropping drama - the only way I could interpret Ashes to Ashes was as a post-modern pastiche akin to Takashi Miike's Dead or Alive trilogy. And it makes sense; with the world of Ashes being a complete "construct"; a self-aware artifice create by the character for the character as she lays dying with a bullet in her head, attempting to make sense, not only of the historic chain of events that led to this tragedy, but also the world created by Sam Tyler that was never fully explained. Sure, there are flaws in this theory, but there are also flaws in the show; with far too much pandering to the whims of Hunt-aficionados and less of the tight, tense, labyrinthine blending of self-examination and the self-preservation of a dying brain.It will be interesting to see where the writers take this in the second series. Hopefully we will have more of Alex and more of an insight into the creation of this world in the respect of tying up the loose ends of the second series of Life on Mars. At any rate, if you're looking for more iconic Gene Hunt action then Ashes to Ashes won't disappoint. It's louder, bolder and less subtle than Life on Mars ever was, and here he's pretty much the main character. If you want to involve yourself in the story of Alex Drake and her highly emotional plight then you might have to overcome some serious flaws in the first three or four episodes, but believe me, it's probably worth it.