Doctor Who Vs. Ashes to Ashes, Series 1

"My name is Alex Drake. I've been shot and that bullet's

taken me back in time. Now I'm lost in 1981. All I can do

is fight, and search, and stay alive. Because somehow I

will find a way home."

The sequel series to Life On Mars was also produced by Monastic and 
Kudos for BBC Wales. Keeley Hawes now led the cast as another out-
of-time detective, DI Alex Drake - a colleague of recently deceased

DCI Sam Tyler. Philip Glenister, Marshall Lancaster and Dean Andrews

 all reprised their roles (as DCI Gene Hunt, DC Chris Skelton and DS

Ray Carling respectively), and were also joined by newcomer

Montserrat Lombard (as WPC Shaz Granger).

Ashes to Ashes (referencing another David Bowie song) was co-

created by Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah, and centres 

on a present-day Metropolitan Police inspector, Drake who is shot 

and regains consciousness in 1981. Like its predecessor, the period

 setting was lovingly recreated against a rich backdrop of social

 history, and more importantly here, the music of the early eighties.

A repeat run of the first six-part season (originally transmitted from

January 9 to February 27 2008) concluded on That's TV last night -

it featured a total of forty Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Hawes played Ms. Delphox in Time Heist 
• Graham was also writer of Fear Her, The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People
• series producer Beth Willis was an executive producer on Doctor Who Confidential, The Adventure Games and twenty-seven stories (from The Eleventh Hour to The Wedding of River Song)
• Julie Scott was also a BBC production executive on ninety instal- ments (from The Runaway Bride to Last Christmas), Time Crash, The Adventure Games, Dreamland, Music of the Spheres, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, An Adventure in Space and Time, The Five (ish) Doctors Reboot, and Doctor Who Proms
• Jonny Campbell was also director of The Vampires of Venice and Vincent and the Doctor
• Catherine Morshead was also director of Amy's Choice and The Lodger 
• Adam James (Markham) was DI Macmillan in Planet of the Dead
• Joseph Long (Luigi) was Rocco Colasanto in Turn Left, and the Pope in Extremis
• Geff Francis (Viv James) was George [Maitland] in The Bells of Saint John
• Roy [William] Skelton (voice of Rainbow puppets Zippy and George) voiced Daleks, Monoids, Cybermen and Krotons for the classic series, and was Norton in Colony in Space, James in (episode 5 of) The Green Death, Marshal Chedaki in The Android Invasion, and King Rokon in The Hand of Fear, then voiced James Carver for Big Finish's Test of Nerve (2002)
• Rupert Graves (Moore) was John Riddell in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
• Paul Thornley (Kay) voiced the Computer/Marko for Seven Keys to Doomsday (2008), Gomori/Steward for Paper Cuts, Michael Rond for Fitz's Story (both 2009), Robbie Flint/Cyril for Criss-Cross (2015), Relb/Sita for The Butler Did It, and Captain Goben for Pursuit of the Nightjar (both 2023)
• Sid Mitchell (Dane) was Pickens for The Haunting of Thomas Brewster (2008)
• Christopher Fairbank (Bonds) was Fenton in Flatline, and voiced Doc Baroque for The Scapegoat (2009), Pierre Aronnax for The Wreck of the Titan (2010), and Marc Brunel for Iron Bright (2018)
• Callum Dixon (Thief) was Jarva Slade in Kerblam!
• Amelda Brown (Elaine) voiced Margaret for The Gunpowder Plot
• Nik Howden (Youth) was Maurice in Vincent and the Doctor
• Claire [Louise] Rushbrook (Trixie) was Ida Scott in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit, then voiced Tula Chenka for Escape from Kaldor (2018) and The Robots (2019-23), and the Abbess/Marna for Out of Time 1 (2020)
• Leo Bill (Burns) was the Pilot in A Christmas Carol
• Tracy Wiles (Girl) voiced Moira Brody for Masters of Earth (2014), Lilith Lovett for The Year of the Bat, Jacqui McGee for UNIT: Extinction (both 2015), UNIT: Silenced (2016), Death on the Mile (2018), Narcissus, The Power of River Song (both 2019), UNIT: Between Two Worlds, Outback, Longshot (all 2021), Agents of the Vulpreen, Objective: Earth (both 2022), Commander Barnac for The Neverwhen (2016), Ground Control/Secretary for Their Finest Hour, Sharlan for The Invention of Death, Hadway/Salma/V75 for Escape from Kaldor (all 2018), Drones for The False Guardian and Time's Assassin, Coms/Announcer for State of Bliss, Comms for The Famished Lands, Servant for Fugitive in Time, Marzanna/Engel for Nightmare Country, Various for The Robots 1 (all 2019), The Robots 2 and Dark Side of the Moon (2022), Tryana for Return to Skaro (2020), FELINE/Maria/ Patricia for A Forever Home, Draven/Shira/Sentinel for The Shadow Squad (both 2021), Shorak for Storm of the Sea Devils, and Peggy Cressler for Bad Apple Brigade (both 2024)
• Lucy [Jane] Briers (Patty) voiced Jenny Chaplin for After the Daleks (2021)
• Jeanie Gold (Partygoer) was Neighbour in The Sontaran Stratagem, The Poison Sky and The End of Time (1)
• Russell [George] Tovey (Johnstone) was Midshipman Alonso Frame in Voyage of the Damned, The End of Time (2) and One Enchanted Evening (2017)
• Phil Davis (Cale) was Lucius Petrus Dextrus in The Fires of Pompeii, and voiced Titus for The Cannibalists (2009)
• Madhav Sharma (Chatterjee) was Patel in Frontier in Space (3)
• Troy Glasgow (Ska Boy) was Angelo in The Time of Angels
• Geoffrey [Dyson] Palmer (Scarman) was Edward Masters in The Silurians, the Administrator in The Mutants (1), and Captain Hardaker in Voyage of the Damned 
• Paul Anderson (Suspect) made his TV debut in The Christmas Invasion as Jason
• [Michael Thomas] Jeremy Clyde (Chief Super) voiced George Sinclair for Absent Friends (2016), Lord Braye for Planet of the Drashigs (2019), and Tony Clare for Stranded (2020-22)
• David Schaal (Look-a-like) voiced Sergeant Zogroth/Bus Driver for The Star Beast (2019)
• Sean Clayton was second assistant director on Dalek and Father's Day too
• Derek Lea was also a stuntman on Dalek, Bad Wolf, The Parting of the Ways, The Age of Steel and Partners in Crime
• Gary Hoptrough and Rob Hunt were both stuntmen on The Runaway Bride - they also worked on Let's Kill Hitler and The Day of the Doctor respectively
• Christine Greenwood was make-up designer on Remembrance of the Daleks too
• film editor Jamie Pearson also edited nine episodes (from The Eleventh Hour to The Angels Take Manhattan)
• Edmund Butt was the composer on An Adventure in Space and Time too
• Matt Wood (visual effects supervisor) and Simon Blackledge (VFX artist) both worked on A Town Called Mercy and The Power of Three - Wood also worked on The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
• Antonia Grant was also the location manager on The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords