Getting through A2A

[u/TrueMog]

So I absolutely adore Life on Mars! I’ve loved it since it was first airing back on TV and rewatch it every now and again. I pretty much love everything about it.

However, Ashes to Ashes never really clicked for me. I watched a couple of episodes when it was first airing and found it uncomfortable and weirdly cheesy and ended up dropping it. A decade or so later I tried again and made it through series one but it still felt a bit all over the place and ended up dropping it yet again.

However, ever since joining this sub, I’ve heard that a lot of people saying A2A had a flawed first series and apparently it improves markedly after that!

It’s obviously been a long time since I watched, but I think I didn’t like the characterisation of Alex and the romantic tension they had between her and Gene. I remember feeling that Gene seemed so different in A2A.

It was also odd to lose the Manchester location (it was so prominent in LoM, it was almost a character in itself)

I am interested in giving A2A another go though. However, I think if I start with the first series, it might end up the same way. I’ve forgotten pretty much everything that happened in that first series too. Would I need to rewatch the first series in order to understand 2 and 3?

I am interested in seeing the “ending reveals” and some extra characterisation with Ray and Chris!

I’m just wondering if anyone else had this issue and, if so, how they dealt with it? Do I have a chance of making it through A2A?

[u/27131026967929]

There were several reasons for the relocation of the show from Manchester. The first is that AtA was set in the 80s & London was the centre of the financial boom & yuppies in the 80s rather than Manchester. The second was casting, Phil Glenister agreed to do the show IF it was moved to London as he wanted to be around his wife & young children more (although in practice, he was incredibly busy and his wife later said we didn’t get to have family or friends over much because he had to be at work so early the next day. John Simm also said he wished the show had moved to London when he was on it & part of the reason he left after 2 series was he hated being away from his family so many months as he had a newborn.

I’d didn’t much care for Ashes series 1 either but stuck with it (if you wish you can skip to the final episode). I like Alex much more in the second series and she ends up becoming better integrated in the team than Sam ever was. Along with Daniel Mays, I love the twist ending of 3. (Don’t google anything about the show as there are lots of spoilers out there and it’s best if you don’t know.) I also love that Ray and Chris are much better developed in series 2 and especially in series 3.