So Ashes is going down well.
Apart from a Life on Mars=Genius, Ashes to Ashes=Betrayal Of Every Aspect Of Humanity That Makes It Remotely Bearable hardcore fanship, the audience seems to sticking around for the ride. Which is good. They better strap in, 'cos it gets dark and bumpy from here on in. Ha.
This was going to be a post about co-writing, which I am currently doing, but that will have to wait until I've recovered from the latest of my impressively continuous series of colds.
Playgroups. Swamps of infection; a bunch of kids swimming about in a thick viral soup they can't wait to smear over their parents' mucous membranes the instant they get home.
Went to the BBC Worldwide Showcase Ashes to Ashes themed dinner*, which was quite an event. Being part of a group that was processed into the central tables in the middle of a vast ballroom crammed with drunk and over-excited television buyers was quite an experience, and one that the estimable Mr. Glenister and the quite remarkably lovely Ms. Hawes handled with considerably more glamour and grace than myself. Not really built for this part of the job, writers. I stuck close to Ashley, hoped some of his award-winning gravitas would rub off on me, and tried not to have more than an inhuman amount of alcohol*. Not that I needed to worry – the real star (apart from the aforementioned talents) was this, parked on a dais for all to see, admire, slaver over and gently caress. Wish I’d had me camera.
*I particularly liked the "Gene Says..." T-shirts the waiting staff were wearing. V. nice touch. I wanted one badly, but swapping shirts didn't seem like a good idea - there was no competitive element to the evening. Maybe okay at an awards ceremony - the TV Plus awards, perhaps, but only by winners in parallel categories.
**And failed. When will I learn...?
4 comments:
I'm just seeing the words:
strap in... dark...bumpy
Mmmmm
Did you get my email sir? and di you realise you're fast approaching the number of posts you did in a WHOLE YEAR last year? Will it be radio silence soon?
S'cuse me if this is a bit random, but I woke up thinking about AtA this morning and instead of posting the thoughts on my own blog, I'm gonna ponder them over here...
It seems that the thing everyone acknowledges is that Ashes exists because people love Gene Hunt. We needed more, so LoM is reinvented and set against a time rife with problems for Gene- a more modern London, the riots & the public against the police, his wife leaving ... And Alex is designed completely at odds with almost every aspect of Gene. He's almost hesitant in some instances. I mean, would our Gene from LoM have passed on the chance to bed Alex? He was all about that swinger party. Can't help but wonder why? What's changed?
So I really like to think of Ashes as Gene's show moreso than LoM. He's got more of an arc than previously. I don't find Alex's plot utterly boring, and I suppose if you hold a knife to my throat she is the protagonist. But I'm enjoying it and seeing a lot of development in Gene- things seem to be getting to him and it's interesting to watch.
And what really occurs to me is that I'll probably follow Gene everywhere. Into ANOTHER series in fact. Maybe where Gene's the one in a coma and it turns out he's been fighting his way out the whole time.
Whilst I see Alex as the protagonist (and I talk only for me - I'm sure the others approach writing their scripts in different ways), Gene is the lynchpin around which the stories and conflicts swing. If he changes too much, it endangers the world that he inhabits.
Nice to hear you'd follow him into another series, though...
I'm being more than a little speculative and biased- it's definitely Alex's show and I like Keeley and like the distinct pull of Molly... Makes it seem more urgent (than Sam's situation) that she work through it all and get back. I've just been really digging on the new stuff. Working diligently to bring more Yanks to the fold.
Any idea what happened to the "Manc Lion" sign? I think reading the episode 1 script brought it to my attention, but it seems to have vanished.
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