“Mars” Departs, “Ashes” Arrives

By ElaineB

ABC announced Monday that it is canceling Life on Mars – bad news for fans of the quirky American version of the British series. But if there is one thing the network folks have learned from the disastrous season a few years back – in which heavily plotted shows like Surface and Invasion simply Vanished from the air – it’s that even short-run series must have a resolution. So if you have been immersed in this throwback-to-the-past police drama, you’ll at least be able to find out what happened to Sam before the series takes its final bow in May.

Meanwhile, BBC America is about to begin airing Ashes to Ashes, the British sequel to Mars, in which a female officer (Keeley Hawes, pictured above) is shot and finds herself back in 1981, working with Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) and the same gang of cops Sam had to deal with a few years earlier. That she knew Sam in our era makes her more able to cope with misogynists and sexists she encounters in the early ’80s. Having seen the original Mars, the U.S. remake and Ashes, I think Ashes is the best of the three. It premieres March 7.

Credit: © Kudos/BBC All rights reserved.