As we prepare for the long-awaited premiere of Ashes to Ashes tomorrow night, TV Today caught up with its two principal stars, Philip Glenister (returning as DCI Gene Hunt) and Keeley Hawes, who plays newcomer Alex Drake. (Don’t forget our interview yesterday with supporting actors Marshall Lancaster and Montserrat Lombard as well.)
As with yesterday’s interview, the discussion includes some spoilers…
The first thing we notice about Gene this series are his new snakeskin cowboy boots. How did they come about?
Philip Glenister: When we were going for the look for Gene in this, Rosie our costume designer and I wanted to move away from the camel coat… I remember when I was a drama student and had no money whatsoever, I used to go back to Harrow to Barclays Bank and ask for another £200 to get me through term.
Keeley Hawes: I thought you were going to say 100 grand, I thought you were a bit posh! I thought, hang on!
Philip: That’s now. Back then, as a drama student in 1987 £100 was huge. Obviously being a student you never got to see the bank manager, you got to see a minion. I just remember this guy who used to wear these suits, and he had cowboy boots. And he was big into his Westerns, and he said, ‘if you ever appear in a Western, I’ll give you the money – but you have to appear in a Western’. So I kind of feel I’ve fulfilled his wish by playing Gene. Certainly in Life on Mars, he was the sheriff.
There’s a lot of Western imagery in the first episode of Ashes to Ashes to reinforce that.
Absolutely.
Is that reflected throughout the rest of the series?
No, I don’t think so. Overall, it’s got an incredibly different feel about it. It’s got its own identity. It’s incredibly tongue in cheek in many respects, which I think is great. I really think it’s fabulous.
Keeley: Life on Mars was very different. The second you see Alex is in 1981, you realise it’s going to be very different. Purely from being in the Seventies, you know, it was very subdued and tonally very different, visually very different. Suddenly you’re bang! with the red and the leather of the Eighties. So immediately, whether you like it or not, you’re somewhere else. It’s very clever.
I think a little bit has been edited out somewhere along the line, because Alex arrives and is under cover as a hooker, so I spend the whole time [dressed as a prostitute] — I don’t think it’s that clear that that’s what I’m doing. It just looks like that’s what I’m wearing because that’s how they dressed in the Eighties!
Philip: And who put all those clothes in your wardrobe and forgot the skirts?
Keeley: As you do!
Did you enjoy the experience of shooting Ashes to Ashes?
I got mascara down my face because I cried laughing. It’s ridiculous. It sounds like I’m bullshitting, but it’s true, I laughed so much.
On screen, the humour’s contrasted with a very creepy vibe from the clown…
Oh, that was horrible!
It seems that there’s a deliberate attempt to treat the disconnect between the present day and the past in a very different way to Life on Mars.
Yeah, there’s a very different connection from Sam’s use of the telephone. All that had to change, really, or…
Philip: Also, Sam’s association with the future was through the TV, which was pretty unique with Life on Mars, with the Test Card girl. And we’ve kind of taken it a little bit further. The image of the clown is much darker and I think the whole thing about clowns is that they’re quite creepy.
Keeley: It’s a very clever idea. And they were so of the era. There was a big Pierrot clown phase. I remember my sister had them lined up, and I used to think ‘Woah!’ (shudders) All those little china heads…
There does seem to be an obvious chemistry between Alex and Gene…
And wasn’t that scooping [of Alex into Gene Hunt’s arms] brilliant, though? It was so quick and clean…
Philip: It’s amazing what a bit of editing can do! It must remind you of your wedding day.
What is it about Gene Hunt that makes women go weak at the knees?
The writing!
Keeley: I think, now that we’ve been through the whole ‘new man’ thing in the Nineties, I think ultimately Gene’s a real man… God, I’m going to get things thrown at me in the street!
Philip: Do, do, please!
Keeley: But he’s a real man like your Dad, in the best possible way. He’s sort of everything you want a man to be. You want a man to scoop you up. You know, all this bullshit about ladies being equal is all well and good, but ultimately it’s sort of a fantasy that she’s having, that Gene is someone to look to, someone who can look after her.
Philip: But also isn’t he a challenge?
Keeley: A challenge for Alex, definitely.
Philip: Just as Sam tried to change him…
Keeley: Stop bringing him into it. There’s an obvious chemistry between you and Sam…
Do you think Ashes to Ashes will appeal to a wider audience than Life on Mars?
Philip: I do hope so!
Keeley: It’ll be because of my boobs in episode 5!
Philip: I just feel very protective towards the whole franchise in many respects, and to the character.
On that subject, did you have any reservations about bringing Gene back?
Philip: Yes. We had a long conversation during [the filming of Life on Mars]… John [Simm] said, understandably I think, “I can’t really do any more with Sam,” so he went off to do other things. And then they said to me, “Well, we’ve got this idea. Can we just finish filming and then talk about it?”
So I didn’t really get involved until Life on Mars had finished. And then we talked about Ashes to Ashes. We had a lunch and Jane Featherstone said, “Keeley Hawes as Alex Drake”. And I said “If you can get Keeley Hawes…” (Keeley shrieks with laughter) It’s true!
Keeley, your character knows the story of Sam Tyler inside out. Did you personally know Life on Mars in the same way?
Keeley: I went out with Jane Featherstone…
Philip: …and she said “If you can get John Simm back!”…
Keeley: No! But I said I’d love to do it, and then I hurried off to HMV and bought the box set.
Philip: You mean they didn’t give it to you? The stingy bastards! Send them the receipts!
Interview with Marshall Lancaster and Montserrat Lombard
In the run up to Thursday’s first episode of Ashes to Ashes, we’ve got a couple of treats for you. Tomorrow, stars Philip Glenister and Keeley Hawes (DCI Gene Hunt and Alex Drake) talk to TV Today about snakeskin boots, bank managers, clowns and Sam Tyler.
Today, we talk to Marshall Lancaster, reprising his Life on Mars role as DC Chris Skelton, and Montserrat Lombard (Love Soup) who plays the new character of WPC Sharon ‘Shaz’ Grainger (sic).
Warning: This interview contains some spoilers for episode 1
How has Chris Skelton grown up since Life on Mars, Marshall?
Marshall Lancaster: I wanted him to be a bit more grown up. I mean, it’s been eight years since Sam, and I wanted him to be a bit more… he’s always been a bit of a div, and always one step behind everybody else. But I did think that he’d have arrested a few armed blaggers by now [1981], so he’s sort of got a bit of the gist of it. And you could see that with the gun spinning trick. Perhaps he would have dropped it in 1973.
Has he grown the balls to stand up to Gene Hunt?
Marshall: Well, I’ve got the white jeans on, judge for yourself!
Montserrat, Has your character taken Chris’s place of the naive member of the team?
Montserrat Lombard: Um, I dunno really. She seems naive at the beginning, but she does change quite a lot throughout the series. She’s not as quiet as you think she is. That’s what’s so great about Shaz, she really develops and is full of surprises.
Was it daunting to join the cast and crew, bearing mind a lot of them know each other from Life on Mars?
Montserrat: I thought it might be. But Keeley was new, obviously, and very quickly the boys were really nice, so we bonded really, really quickly. So it very much had the feel of a new show.
Were you familiar with Life on Mars?
Montserrat: Yes, I was. I thought it was great.
Did you bond well with the rest of the cast?
Montserrat: Yeah, with all of them. I’m a bit of a tomboy, so I quite liked being with lots of boys! Keeley’s quite similar, isn’t she?
Marshall: We were all playing darts in Gene’s office. It didn’t take long before we’d all bonded and were swearing at each other
A lot of people are going to be concentrating on the sexual tension between Gene and Alex, but you two have kind of a boy and girlfriend thing going on. What was it like to be the series lovebirds?
Montserrat: It was a nightmare!
Marshall: It was alright. We haven’t had to do anything, you know, too drastic. It’s been alright to play that innocent sort of love thing, so we play that sort of side of it, really. It’s quite good because it mirrors Alex and Gene’s [relationship] — theirs is a real sexual tension and they’ve not got it on, whereas we have, but it’s quite sweet and all holding hands and stuff.
How long do we have to wait for the first full-on snog?
Marshall: It was written in, wasn’t it?
Montserrat: We complained.
Marshall: We said no. I must have been an idiot, but… I was thinking that it’s good that you don’t always see it, you know. If it’s full-on snogging it’s not quite as good as a ‘Go on, go on’ sort of thing.
Montserrat: It was more romantic not doing it, wasn’t it?
In Life on Mars, Sam was Chris’s mentor and he was always picking up modern policing techniques. Do we see much of that in how Chris approaches police work in 1981?
Marshall: Not as much as I would have liked, really. There was a lot of things in the 70s: he learnt the tape recorder thing that Sam started to teach him for interview techniques and this that and the other. I think he’s into his technical stuff, as you’ll see a bit in the first episode, but I don’t think he comes up with the goods as much this time. He’s more out there, and just on the beat with Gene and Ray, really. Shaz takes over that role, really.
Montserrat: Learning about technical stuff?! Were you in this show?
Marshall: No, she doesn’t. Nobody does!
Does Shaz see Alex as a mentor in the same way that Chris saw Sam as a mentor?
Marshall: That’s what I meant!
Montserrat: Not at the beginning, because she’s a bit wary of the fact that there’s a woman coming into that position, and she knows how the boys feel about that and she’s very much one of the boys. But I think slowly she starts to see what a woman can be like in the Eighties. Not just in the workplace, in all sorts of areas of life, really.
Marshall: Shaz is Alex’s own creation, really. All the other characters have come from Sam Tyler’s experiences, whereas Shaz is original, so…
So you’re of the ‘it’s all in the mind’ camp? There’s still some disagreement as to what happened in Life on Mars.
Marshall: I suppose. It’s still very vague, to be honest with you. You’ve got to imagine it yourself, in some ways. Everyone’s got their own theories. Mine is probably that. It’s not to say that’s the right one… I’ll have to get shot to find out!
By Scott Matthewman for the Stage.
(Source: The Stage)