…but the film is a saddening bore, for she’s lived it ten times or more

So over the last two weeks or so I’ve downloaded and worked my way through the two series’ of the award winning BBC series Life on Mars. Now I’d never got in to Life on Mars when it originally ran a few years back, mainly due to the fact that I very rarely watch any TV through an aerial TV opting to watch downloaded stuff and also due some to the fact that I very rarely enjoy UK police programmes. What can I say, I must fall for the glitz and glamour (and unrealistic-ness) of the US shows. Are you telling me that CSI’s don’t solve the cases?

And I LOVED it, almost nearly all the time. At the other times I got really annoyed and wound up by it. But mainly love. Yay! However I’ve started watching the “sequal” The bits that I really loved were:

* Seeing parts of the show and recognising them as they are all ‘just around the corner.’ Well as around the corner as 10 odd miles is, but you know what I mean. I don’t know whether I would have felt the same if I didn’t know the area, but it just felt like a welcoming atmosphere. But saying that, I’m not even sure if it was just seeing buildings I recognised because when Sam returns to 2006 you see the Beetham Tower and I just didn’t like any of the 2006 (beginning or end of series) parts. Maybe it was just the allure of the sepia toned terrace houses, or Annie?
* Gene Hunt. What can I say… he’s homophobic, racist, a heavy drinker and smoker, misogynistic and a general all round bastard. An armed bastard as he frequently points out. And yet there is something about him that just makes me love him. I don’t think it’s the same reasons as Bex likes him, though. I think deep down I’ve always loved characters that bend the rules a bit, but are actually really decent people. Or at least we hope they are.
* The relationship between Sam and Gene, whilst I never found it ‘ship‘ worthy I really thought it made the show. Whilst at times it annoyed me that Sam would say things that were obviously just intended to wind him up… aren’t the best relationships like that?
* Annie. She was just so cute and adorable. And well, who wouldn’t love her in a nurse’s outfit!
* Spotting ‘future’ stuff in the past. I loved seeing either intentional or not CCTV cameras, new lightposts, boxes for NTL and other such things that wouldn’t have existed in ‘73.
* Time travelling.. I’m a huge time travel fan. If done right.. And up until the end, it pretty much was.
* I’m a huge fan of police procedural shows.

However, I really hated:

* The ever-constant and ever-increasing towards the end “breakdown” moments where Sam was cracking up. I just found them particularly annoying. Seeing things in his tv, hearing things over the radio.. Grrr! Yes I know that was due to the storyline, but it was just one thing I really didn’t like.
* The fact that the road to Annie & Sam’s relationship was so rocky and he just kept saying the wrong thing or backing away at the wrong moment. Yes, I know that is how UST works. But I hate UST. Just bonk and lets get on with the show! Find the bad guys and smile at each other in happy ever after!

Anyways, I’ll keep watching Ashes to Ashes for a few more eps and see if it gets better. Otherwise I will thank Bex for introducing me to this awesome show and forget about it’s sequel!

I must sleep. Love you all!

B