Gene Hunt is a dinosaur. Everyone knows that. But by the time the Ashes to Ashes UK TV series rolled around in 2008, he wasn't just a relic of the Manchester police force; he was a Quattro-driving icon moving into a neon-soaked London. Most people remember the show for the 1980s nostalgia—the white suits, the Duran Duran tracks, and the constant smell of cigarettes in the CID office. Yet, looking back from 2026, there’s a much deeper layer to this show that many missed during its original run. It wasn't just a sequel. It was a spiritual post-mortem that redefined British television.
When Alex Drake (played by Keeley Hawes) took a bullet in the first episode, the stakes felt different than Sam Tyler’s coma. Sam was lost. Alex, a psychological profiler, was analytical. She knew what was happening, or at least she thought she did. She had read Sam Tyler's files. She knew about the "imaginary" world of the 1970s. But the 1980s version of Gene Hunt's world was sharper, meaner, and far more complicated than the beige hallways of Life on Mars.
The Mystery of the Shifting Decades
A lot of fans initially struggled with the transition from the gritty 70s to the glam 80s. It felt like a betrayal of the brand. But creators Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah were playing a much longer game. They weren't just trying to sell you a soundtrack. They were building a purgatory.
Think about the character of DI Alex Drake. She’s a modern woman dropped into a world of rampant sexism and "fire up the Quattro" machismo. But unlike Sam, who fought the system, Alex tried to navigate it while obsessing over the "rules" of her own subconscious. She spent two seasons convinced her parents’ death was the key to her "waking up." She was wrong. Dead wrong.
📖 Related: Mariah Carey Daydream Songs: Why This Era Still Hits Different 30 Years Later
The Ashes to Ashes UK TV series succeeded because it leaned into the surreal. Remember the Clown? That terrifying, Pierrot-faced figure from the David Bowie video? It haunted Alex. It represented the looming presence of death in a way that the "Girl on the Test Card" never quite managed in the previous series. The show transitioned from a police procedural into a full-blown metaphysical drama, and that’s why it still holds up today.
Why Gene Hunt Became More Than a Meme
Philip Glenister's performance as Gene Hunt is legendary. By the time he moved to London, the character was dangerously close to becoming a caricature of himself. He could have just been a man who shouted "Shut it!" and hit people. Instead, the writers peeled back the layers of his soul.
We saw a man who was terrified of change. The 80s brought in the "brave new world" of political correctness (sort of) and bureaucratic oversight. Gene hated it. But more importantly, we began to see that Gene wasn't just a copper. He was a shepherd. He was the one who looked after the "lost souls" of the police force.
The chemistry between Glenister and Hawes was electric because it wasn't a standard romance. It was a clash of philosophies. Alex represented the future—logic, empathy, and forensic science. Gene represented the gut—instinct, violence, and a distorted sense of justice. When they finally kissed, it didn't feel like a "happily ever after." It felt like a collision of two dying eras.
The Supporting Cast: More Than Sidekicks
Ray Carling and Chris Skelton. In Life on Mars, they were mostly there for comic relief or to be Gene's muscle. In the Ashes to Ashes UK TV series, they got souls.
💡 You might also like: Snow White 2025 Dwarves: What Actually Happened to the Seven Companions
- Ray Carling: (Dean Andrews) went from a bitter, overlooked sergeant to a man grappling with his own failures and a deep-seated need for approval.
- Chris Skelton: (Marshall Lancaster) became the heart of the show. His relationship with Shaz Granger (Montserrat Lombard) gave the series an emotional grounding that made the final reveal so much more painful.
- Shaz Granger: She wasn't just a "plonk." She was the one who saw the cracks in the reality first.
Honestly, the moment Shaz realizes she’s "different" in the final season is one of the most heartbreaking bits of British telly ever made. It’s the moment the nostalgia dies and the reality of their situation starts to bleed through the wallpaper.
The Finale That Nobody Saw Coming
Let's talk about that ending. If you haven't seen it, stop reading. Go watch it.
The revelation that Gene Hunt’s world was a limbo for police officers who had died violent deaths was a masterstroke. It reframed every single episode. All those "bad guys" they caught? All those cases? They were tests.
The "Railway Arms" wasn't just a pub. It was heaven, or at least the gateway to it. And the mysterious Jim Keats? He wasn't just an Internal Affairs officer. He was the devil, or some version of a soul-collector, trying to lure the team into his "department" (hell). Danny Mays played Keats with such a terrifying, skin-crawling intensity that he managed to make Gene Hunt look like a saint.
When we finally see the video of a young Gene Hunt—a "skinny lad" on his first day as a beat copper getting murdered—it changes everything. He wasn't the "Guv." He was just a boy who wanted to be a hero. He created this world so he could keep being that hero forever, and so he could help others like him.
📖 Related: Why 2010: The Year We Make Contact is the Most Underrated Sequel in Sci-Fi History
Technical Mastery and the 80s Aesthetic
The production design of the Ashes to Ashes UK TV series was a massive step up. The London of the 80s was depicted as a city under construction—cranes everywhere, the Docklands being built, the old world being torn down for the new.
The music wasn't just background noise. Whether it was The Passions or The Stranglers, the tracks were chosen to mirror Alex’s psychological state. The use of "Vienna" by Ultravox during the climax of Season 2 is still a masterclass in editing. It captured that cold, synth-heavy isolation that defined the era.
Impact on British Television
Before this show, "genre" TV in the UK was often relegated to low-budget sci-fi or niche cult hits. Ashes to Ashes proved you could have a high-concept, metaphysical mystery that still pulled in millions of viewers on a Friday night. It paved the way for shows like Utopia or Black Mirror by showing that British audiences were happy to have their heads messed with as long as the characters were grounded.
It also challenged the trope of the "Strong Female Lead." Alex Drake wasn't just strong; she was flawed, often wrong, and frequently traumatized. Keeley Hawes played her with a vulnerability that made her eventual acceptance of her fate incredibly moving. She wasn't a "female version of Sam Tyler." She was his successor, and in many ways, she was the one who finally solved the puzzle he couldn't.
Common Misconceptions About the Show
People often think you have to watch Life on Mars to understand it. You don't. While it helps, the Ashes to Ashes UK TV series stands on its own as a story about a woman trying to get back to her daughter.
Another misconception is that the show is "pro-police brutality." It really isn't. If anything, the final season is a massive critique of that culture. It shows that the "good old days" were actually a place of stagnant trauma. Gene's world is beautiful, but it's also a trap. To move on, the characters have to let go of the "Gene Hunt" way of doing things.
How to Experience the Series Today
If you’re revisiting the show or watching for the first time, don't just binge-watch it for the plot. Watch the background.
- Look for the stars. In the final season, the stars in the sky aren't right. It’s a subtle hint that they aren't on Earth anymore.
- Listen to the ghosts. The whispers Alex hears aren't just random noise; they are the sounds of her actual life in the hospital.
- Watch Jim Keats’ office. It’s significantly more modern and sterile than the rest of the station. It’s out of time because he is an intruder in Gene’s world.
The legacy of the Ashes to Ashes UK TV series isn't just the Quattro or the one-liners. It’s the way it dealt with death, identity, and the need for redemption. It took a simple "cop out of time" premise and turned it into a mythic struggle for the soul.
Next Steps for Fans:
- Track down the soundtracks: The curation of 80s post-punk and New Wave is genuinely top-tier and provides a perfect "mood map" of the series.
- Watch the "making of" documentaries: They reveal how much the cast knew about the final twist (spoiler: not much) and how that influenced their performances in the early seasons.
- Analyze the final episode's dialogue: Almost every line in the final 20 minutes is a callback to a previous season, tying the entire "Geneverse" together in a way that few shows ever manage.