Gene's Gravity

Tonight's Ashes to Ashes was a great insight into Ray Carling's mind... Hot on the trails of a serial arsonist the team... what? You want speculation, not review? Okay!

Life On Mars saw Sam Tyler sent to Gene Hunt from the present day after an accident. Ashes To Ashes saw Alex Drake suffer the same fate, after being shot. So a few questions arise... Why Gene? Why are these officers getting sent to Gene Hunt? Whether they are in a coma or back in time, Sam Tyler and Alex Drake are both in a very tricky situation. A situation that my friend on Twitter, @SWH_2010, seems to think is not at all new Gene at all! I'll come to that in a second...

Twice now, on Ashes, we've seen strange "Life On Mars" music played while supporting characters - Shaz last week, Ray this week - zone out and get a little ethereal spotlight shined on them (hearing LOM Barman Nelson's voice too). But as my OTHER twitter friend, @Kazters, seems to think the TIMING of this little moment is what's important here. Both times the officers in question have been dissuaded, earlier in the episode, of following Gene Hunt's way by New Kid On The Block DCI Jim Keats. Both times they have eventually been won over to Gene's way of thinking by the man himself. THIS is when the music plays. THIS is when they have their moment. Now, the connection to Sam Tyler (and, through him, to the song Life On Mars) is as yet unforeseeable. But I think that'll clear up soon.

Now, @SWH_2010 seems to think that this is all to do with why the team are with Gene in the first place! What's this mysterious, gravitational pull he seems to have over these cops? @SWH_2010 seems to think that Shaz, Ray, Chris and presumably the other members of the team, have found themselves in the same situation as Sam and Alex. Suffering some kind of incident that sends them from their respective presents and straight to DCI Gene Hunt. BUT WHY??? I love this idea, LOVE it! And it feeds into my idea that Sam had to be "off'd" in order to keep the balance. The balance of what? I don't know... Maybe he "found out" something that the rest of the world couldn't know... I suppose only time will tell...

And I'm sticking with this until the very end!

Ashes To Ashes: The Plot Thickens

Well! Forget the wonderful case the team were tasked with this week - it was awesome and Shaz (played touchingly well by Montserrat Lombard) broke my heart - but leave it! Because I'm far more interested in the developing, slow-burning plot bubbling away under the surface. I speak, of course, of two other investigations under way; Alex Drake's revelatory dig into the events surrounding Sam Tyler's "death" and Jim Keats' mission to bring Fenchurch East CID to it's knees, exposing Sheriff Gene Hunt as the murdering son-of-a-bitch that he is! Maybe!

So, Alex has ordered the Sam's personal effects from Manchester. I think I got a little too excited when that jacket showed up! Imagine what I'm going to be like when Sam himself turns up in episode 8 (maybe)! But what is she hoping to find out? Clearly there is something not quite right with the case file about Sam's death. Both Gene and Chris seemed very reluctant to even remember the day, let alone recount what happened!

If you ask me, she thinks Gene killed Sam - or is at least covering up what really happened. Obvious, yeah... And the whole "Gene killing Sam" thing is being pushed a bit much for it to be the case... In my opinion Sam Tyler is alive. Somewhere. He'll be back, it's all going to come full circle. But I'm afraid that there my theory falls down. I have nothing to go on. And there are so many "clues" being thrown at us that it has to be bigger than that. There's the identity of the ghostly figure with the bloodied face, clearly the "police officer found dead in the field" in present day. And what's with the flash-zooms onto the Weather Vane? And the haunting snipped of Life On Mars playing when the camera singles Shaz out for a spooky moment when she agrees to stay on the force. And Why did Gene take down Sam's obit because he felt like he let him down, just like the murdered girl?

You know what? I have no idea! But what I do know is this: Jim Keats is possible the best character ever introduced in Ashes To Ashes. He's this series' Frank Morgan (remember Sam's surgeon? Named after the actor who played the Wizard Of Oz). And there is clearly much more to come from him. Eyes peeled kids. And your theories are more than welcome this week, because I have NO bloody clue where this is going!

Ashes To Ashes: The Musical

Okay! Not really! But by the looks of this clip, taken from tonight's episode (BBC One 9pm), our Gene Hunt is behaving a little out of character! Show insiders have already urged fans not to judge this clip out of context. Personally, I think it's awesome! But others don't. Have a look!



Anyway, tonight's episode! It seems to feature the usual "crime of the week" runabout investigation (murders related to a dating agency, this week) mashed with some series-spanning revelatory shocks. Sam Tyler's obituary is torn down by Gene, Alex confronts him about what really happened to Sam during that bank job car chase. A cleverly transcribed copy of Sam Tyler's "case file" (as seen in the end of last week's episode, being slipped secretively into Alex's desk) seems to reveal a series of inconsistencies in Gene's account of things that day. But, who knows? Luckily we don't have long to wait. BBC One, 9pm. And pop back here for the review of the episode soon after.

Ashes To Ashes: My (Probably Wrong) Theory

So, I've just watched episode one of the new series of Ashes To Ashes, it was awesome. But it lent a lot of weight to my steadily growing theory about What It's All About. I've been building my idea brick by brick ever since Sam Tyler jumped off a roof in the last minutes of parent show Life On Mars.

This is what I think, personally. As I say, it's probably bollocks. But lets see what I got... Firstly, Sam Tyler. He had an accident, got sent to 1973 and then LEFT there, waking up in hospital in the present day. He decided the 70s was more real and returned there by jumping off a roof, waking up once more in 1973. He seemingly lived out the majority of the 70s as a copper, dying in 1980 when he lost control of his car during a chase and ended up driving it into the canal. His body was never found. My theory is this: Sam Tyler never woke up! As we saw during the opening minutes of this new episode of Ashes, the "real" world can be convincingly imagined while in a coma, just like the "fake" world. Sam never returned to 1973, because he never left! In order to LEAVE this "fake" world, you would have to die - and then you leave for heaven or hell... Remember that - I'm coming back to this in a moment. So when Sam drove into the canal he didn't die. He bumped his head, lost his memories, his mind, or whatever... Then he was killed by Gene... I'm coming back to this too.

Next. Alex Drake. Shot in the head by Leyton. A man on the phone to someone we're meant to think was Molly's Godfather, Evan. It wasn't. It was Gene. Leyton has "a piece of [Gene's] past, and [he was] gonna tell her EVERYTHING!" About Sam, about the future and the past, about this world that all these supposedly comatose coppers seem to wander off to. Alex is in the same boat as Sam was. Only Sam found out. He discovered what it was that Leyton was about to tell Alex! That's why he's no longer here. Whether he's dead or missing or an amnesiac, it's Gene's fault. Covering his dirty little tracks. He's not as good-guy hero as we think he is. So, Alex knows Sam's case, she can break this open.

Now then, Gene Hunt. Gene Gene Gene! My my what a naughty little bugger he is! WHATEVER this big secret is (I haven't decided on my thought on this yet. So stay tuned for more on that) then it is not nice! I don't even think Gene Hunt is REALLY Gene Hunt. But again, I haven't developed enough of a theory on that yet. Or maybe he is, but he's ALSO from somewhere else. He's not at all what we think he is, that's for sure.

And then there's this body in a field that's briefly mentioned in this first episode. THAT'S Sam! Clearly! Killed by Gene, whether it was malicious or required. Where this place they all go to is, I don't know. Maybe it really is back in time. And sadly, frustratingly, that's all I have. A mishmash of ideas, blended into a fritter of possibility. Maybe it is all nonsense. I'm probably completely wrong. If I am, I take all this shit back. The more I read it the more I think I'm wrong anyway. Hey ho. Wasted post.

In one sentence: "Gene Hunt is bad. Gene Hunt killed Sam Tyler. Gene Hunt is hiding something and 'the powers that be' are doing all they can to make sure that determined, intelligent cops with more of a clue than Gene's lot, get to shadow the man. Getting a good cop (Alex or Sam) as close to a bad one (Gene) as possible makes it more likely that this "Plan" will be unearthed. Thought? Comment below.

Television Is Getting Good Again!

Television is back! In a big way! Easter brings some of the most exciting returns to screens in a while. Not only are we going to be treated to a brand new series of my favourite show on TV (visit The Leadworth Green for more on THAT) but we also get a new series, the final series, of time twisting pseudo 80s cop drama comedy 'Ashes To Ashes'.

Gene, Alex and the team are back and are promising to give us answers to those big questions that have been puzzling us since Gene first strolled into Sam Tyler's life grumbling about "'oops!", seems like so long ago, doesn't it?! 'Ashes To Ashes' starts on Friday 2nd April at 9pm on BBC One. And I cannot bloody wait! But wait we must, because... well, we aren't time travellers. Are we? Are we?! And if that doesn't tickle your fancy then how about this...

Curly haired, duffel-coated Doctor-Who-should-be sleuth Jonathan Creek returns on Easter Sunday, again on BBC One at 8pm in 'The Judas Tree' - a one off special co-starring Sheridan Smith as Joey Ross and none other than the Eighth Doc- um, I mean, "I" from 'Withnail & I' himself, Paul McGann as crime writer Hugo Dore.

And as always, we're sure to be left guessing (wrongly) all the way through until Mr Smartypants decides he wants to let us all know "how it was done". I'll be watching. Because I always have. So there. And it's got Sheridan Smith in it. And she's awesome. So if you have never seen this show before, firstly - how the hell not? And secondly, WATCH THIS ONE. The bad thing is that if you don't have Sky+ or a video recorder then by watching this you're going to miss the majority of the last part of Professor Brian Cox's fantastically enthusiastic and informative documentary series "Wonders Of The Solar System", this week all about aliens. Well, about the possibility of them. Again, if you haven't seen this series then shame on you, buy the DVD!

And the near future is spattered with lovely TV goodies other than those I've mentioned. You can catch the second part of the first season of Flashforward (Five) or the sci fi brilliance of Caprica (Sky1). Or one of a hundred other great TV gems on their way to us this Summer.

And also, let me know what YOU'VE been watching by commenting below. I welcome any and all comments you care to send. I've been waiting ages for someone to really slag a show off... So... you know...