Auto Trader Blog

Ashes to Ashes – the sequel to the hit BBC series Life on Mars – features Phil Glenister as the straight-shooting “Manc lion” who moves to the mean streets of 1980s London.

And this time he’s got a new sidekick – DI Alex Drake who was in an accident and suddenly wakes up in 1981…

Vijay Pattni played car-spotting with episode one.

8.57: The tea’s brewed and the lights are down – I’m ready. The credits for Waterloo Road are rolling – did I just see Neil Morrissey?

9.01: Here we go – “Ashes to Ashes” flicks on the screen like a proper 1980s Venetian blind – but we’re panning through what looks like Canary Wharf. Where’s the Quattro?

9.04: A Lexus IS? In 1981? Oh wait – we’re still in the present.

9.05: DI Alex Drake – played by Spooks star Keeley Hawes – introduces herself.

9.09: At last! We’re back in the 1980s! Ultravox blares out of the telly as I turn it up loud - Oh Vienna! Was that a Gary Glitter poster in the background?

9.10: Keeley stumbles out of the boat – it had to be a boat – to the plod running on board. But she’s kidnapped – who can save her now?

9.11: Oh.My.God! The Quattro is back in all its 80s glory! You can just feel the four-wheel-drive keeping Hunt on the straight and narrow.

Hold on – he did a handbrake turn? In an Audi Quattro? How did he manage it with four-wheel-drive? Oh what the hell, Gene Hunt is driving an Audi Quattro! 2-litres of turbocharged goodness wrapped up in a gorgeous Teutonic bodyshell driven by one of the hardest cops on TV – I nearly spill my cuppa.

Hunt steps out of the beautiful red Audi like a Texan cowboy and utters an immortal line: “This is one bloke who you don’t wanna let his load off.”

9.13: Hunt’s assistant – Ray – is smashing the suspect’s head against the Audi Quattro. Watch the paintwork…

9.16: Drake can’t quite believe she’s in 1981 London. I can’t believe there’s an Audi Quattro on the TV. She leans over the bonnet trying to come to terms with her situation.

“This is a full sensory hallucination”, Drake muses. I know – the Audi’s a fantastic machine. Won its first ever rally and was the most iconic rally car ever…

9.42: More 80s goodness – a green Triumph 2000 waits in a London back-alley. But the gangsters have arrived and they steal Chris’s girlfriend.

And what else would 1980s London gangsters drive? A Merc of course!

9.45: As all hope is lost, and Drake needs to find meaning, there’s only one man the officers turn to.

And he turns to one machine.

DCI Hunt swings open his office door and proclaims: “Right – let’s fire up the Quattro!”

9.50: Hunt is a sharp-shooter in more ways than one – he takes out the Mercedes with one shot to the engine. Shame really – those Mercs are classics, and were built like tanks.

9.52: The game is up – the suspects have been knicked, and Hunt saves the day. The Audi Quattro is sitting in the background like a waiting lion.

9.55: Is there really a clown talking to Alex through the TV?

10.00: Wait! Next week’s trailer – there’s a De Lorean coming!

What did you make of Ashes to Ashes and the cars?