Ashes To Ashes - Complete Collection (Series 1-3 Box Set)

"Ashes to Ashes" follows the unlikely hero of "Life on Mars," DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) to 1980s London and the Metropolitan Police . This time around he is joined by smart and sexy female DCI Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes), an officer with a background in psychology who has studied the case of Sam Tyler. Shot by the kidnapper of her daughter Molly in 2008, Drake awakes in 1981, and believes herself to be living out a vivid hallucination.

Whilst working with the team, Alex tries to piece together what happened to her parents (whose lives were connected to the political unrest of the time), and remains desperate to find her way back to her daughter. With crime rife on the streets of 1980's London (and a police team not very receptive to modern career women), Alex has a lot to prove before she can figure out how to get home.

With the mystery of her parents' death resolved, Alex's focus for the second series is her entrapment in the past. Now set in 1982, the political background for the series is the Falklands War. As the team deal with a police cover up, conspiracy and corruption, Alex's comatose body is found in present day 2008. As Gene becomes embroiled in the corruption at the Met, Alex's subconcious is distracted by a string of 'phone calls.

As we move into 1983 with series 3, Alex is ultimately determined  to find out the truth, and with the arrival of DCI Jim Keats to observe the team's performance, there are some unexpected revelations.

"Ashes to Ashes" paid tribute to a period in time, and Hunt's red Audi Quattro is just one example of the efforts by the production team to give a  real sense of the early 1980s. Alex and female officer Shaz (Montserrat Lombard) embrace the fashion trends of the time, and the story plays out to a soundtrack featuring The Clash, The Stranglers, Duran Duran, Ultravox, Madness, and of course David Bowie.

This box set features the complete three series.