Of course Ashes to Ashes (ATA) has never really lived up to it's predecessor Life On Mars (LOM) and many would argue that in fact that there was no need for a spin off in the first place, tarnishing the perfect memories we had of DCI Gene Hunt, DCI/DI Sam Tyler et-al but after 2 years and 3 series we finally got the big answers. Who is Gene Hunt? And what was this place? Were Sam and Alex mad, in a coma or had they travelled back in time?
Many had probably guessed after 2 series of LOM and a further 3 of ATA that the place they inhabited was somewhere between heaven and hell or some variation on it at least. The biggest shock (to me at least) came from the fate of the support cast, I'd already correctly guessed that Alex was dead before the end of series 1. Even better was the fact that the Guv himself had died as a young rookie cop and had decided to dedicate his (after) life to helping other dead coppers reach the pub (the implied heaven).
Did anyone else notice the massive references to the Wizard of Oz in the final scenes? Alex as Dorothy in her ruby red shoes, Shaz, Chris and Ray as the Lion, Scarecrow and Tin Man respectively. Then of course you've got Gene Hunt as the Wizard and Jim Keats as the Wicked Witch. Life on Mars played massively on references to the Wizard of Oz (Sam being transported to another world, Frank Morgan etc) so it's good to see the writers/producers etc pay one final nod to their influences.
One other source of possible influence that I picked up on is The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis. I had heard that the LOM/ATA writers were influenced by Lewis's Narnia series so wouldn't be surprised if this isn't a total coincidence or just me reading too much into this. For those not familiar with The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis (the guy who wrote the Narnia books) it's basically a series of letters between a trainee devil (Wormwood) to his mentor (Screwtape) updating him on his progress to tempt a man into sinning and therefore straying him away from the path to heaven. Sounds just like the role Keats plays trying to split up the team and transfer them to his division (via a descending lift!), telling his 'boss'(?) via his phone that he's got 3 new recruits/souls!
Luckily we've got good old Nigel Perkins, sorry Gene Hunt stepping in at the last min via Chris's walkie talkie to save the tortured souls of Fenchurch East CID and after one last successful bust (resulting in the symbolic death of the Quattro!) he delivers them safely to the pub, 'our boozer' The Railway Arms from LOM complete with St Peter himself Nelson the Jamaican/Bury accented barman.
To end it all LOM/ATA comes full circle as another confused modern copper comes bursting into Fenchurch shouting the odds demanding his iPhone and his desk back ala Sam Tyler leaving our hero to put down his Mercedes brochure down and mutter the immortal words, "A word in your shell like pal".
Long live the Gene Genie!
