Not bad for a posh bird

Keeley Hawes gave an excellent performance in the final of Ashes to Ashes last night—best I’ve ever seen her in anything. And the story—wow (spoiler alert).
   I know some fans are dismissing it as “not as good as Life on Mars” but I say the series was redeemed in that one episode, penned by co-creator Ashley Pharoah.
   Because Ashes finally gave a good mindf*** that makes you now wonder if it’s all inside Alex’s head as ‘constructs’—or is it now her memory?
   That finalé, where it was Gene, not Evan, who takes young Alex’s hand, was a total surprise to me. Her Dad turning into the evil Pierrot clown—amazing. It is better than Sam finding out that his Dad could have killed Annie. It also becomes very apparent why the première’s director, Jonny Campbell, was called back to do this episode.
   Geoffrey Palmer’s guest role as the real-life Lord Scarman, the comic turn of Alex in the tank, the two sides of Gene, the two ages of Alex in the police station—all these were brilliant elements in an episode that finally sees all eight outings of Ashes to Ashes come together. Talk about nicely tied together in a story arc.
   I can now say, ‘I told you so,’ when I said that Alex’s predicament is different from Sam Tyler’s and that Gene, Ray and Chris exist in another timeline—which brings back the validity of Soozanne’s theory penned this time last year.
   We were promised more of the ‘Gene Hunt mythology’ from Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah—and we got it. Fantastic! Best episode ever.
   The scene is now well set for the second series, which, after this, should do incredibly well.