Aside from news programmes, I rarely stay in specifically to watch something on television (as Hugo has written, boxed DVD sets are a very civilised invention). But last night was an exception: as a Life on Mars fanatic, I wanted to see its much-hyped sequel, Ashes to Ashes. No more John Simm as DI Sam Tyler stranded in the Seventies. In this series, we have Keeley Hawes as DI Alex Drake, shot in our own time and sent hurtling back to the (imaginary?) Eighties. All of which, frankly, is a pretext to get back on our screens the one and only DCI Gene Hunt.
The makers of Life on Mars could not have known how awesome Philip Glenister’s performance as Hunt would be, and how iconic the politically incorrect copper would become. But – sensibly – they have made no attempt to disguise the fact that he is the real star of this follow up series, and the reason why we will be tuning in.
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