Episode Three

Although an improvement on last week's episode thanks to a nicely woven plot reminiscent of Cracker, Ashes To Ashes still suffers from having such an unappealing and dislikeable central character in the form of Alex Drake.

The contrasting attitudes of Drake and Gene Hunt towards the treatment of prostitutes were certainly interesting during the first half of the episode. Drake's sympathetic disposition flew in the face of Hunt's brash outlook, but soon any sense of the audience being on her side evaporated. Hitting the bottle, copping off with a random and then lying to Hunt about being a former prostitute herself did not go down well alongside her increasingly smug and arrogant traits.

If Alex Drake is after equality, how would she feel if Gene Hunt punched her back in the face following her petulant and violent outburst? One has the sense that we're supposed to be feeling for the plight of a mother wishing to return to her beloved daughter, but instead we savour in the acerbic ribbing she receives from the likes of Hunt and Ray Carling.

On the subject of Carling, it was great to witness him being accorded more screen time in this episode. His recent appearances have been too peripheral, so it came as a nice surprise to see a caring element in his character being teased out by his interaction with raped prostitute Nina. In the past, one would have expected him to spit on a woman of her vocation, rather than perform a sock puppet impersonation of Spit The Dog to cheer her up.