One of the best shows to hope across the pond in the mid-2000s was the BBC sci-fi drama Life on Mars, starring John Simm as Sam Tyler, a cop transported from the modern day back to 1973 after being hit by a car. The show, named after a David Bowie song, followed Sam as he tried to figure out whether he was mad, in a coma, or if he had actually traveled back in time.

Tyler was forced to work through his existential crisis, having to square his year 2000-style police training with the unevolved tactics used by the lawless cops operating with brutal impunity in the early 70s. His chief nemesis was Detective Chief Inspector Gene Hunt, played with a deliciously dangerous sort of charm by Philip Glenister.

Life on Mars wrapped in 2007 after two eight-episode series, with the answer to the question of what really happened to Sam Tyler left up to the viewer to decide. That ambiguous ending is given more of a definite resolution in the Life on Mars sequel Ashes to Ashes, also on the BBC.

Ashes to Ashes, which premiered in 2009, hews closely to the methodology of Life on Mars, except this time the mortally wounded police officer is Detective Inspector Alex Drake, a woman, and she’s sent back to the early 1980s.

The personnel are much the same in this version, including officers Ray Carling (Dean Andrews) and Chris Skelton (Marshall Lancaster), still under the thumb of DCI Gene Hunt, as politically incorrect as ever. Alex, whose ticket to the past was a bullet to the cranium, knows all about Sam Tyler as she studied his case files; thus she understands that this world is a mere construct of her damaged brain tissue, and not real.

Or is it? Because this world feels awful real to her, as it includes her parents and other people she knows intimately. Like Sam Tyler, Alex fights against the caveman culture of her new peers, trying to use modern police techniques when her colleagues want to keep working with gut feelings and violence. And like Tyler, she gets clues sent to her by her traumatized brain, in her case a clown resembling the one in the Bowie video “Ashes to Ashes,” which pops up occasionally to draw her attention somewhere in particular.

The major draw in both programs is Glenister as Gene Hunt, one of the great anti-heroes exported from the UK. Glenister is at once sinister and attractive, crass and appealing, and he and Drake share an exciting chemistry. Acting on that would be a huge mistake for both of them, but the possibility is always there.

John Simm as Sam Tyler was extremely likeable, by comparison, Keeley Hawes as Alex Drake comes off as annoying, smug and dismissive, and her knowledge of Sam’s story causes her to constantly remind everyone she sees that they are all figments of her imagination. Hunt right away registers her snooty and irritating demeanor and is quick to crow when her supposedly more sophisticated policing style fails to nail the bad guys. He also treats her with as much respect as he would any man of her rank…it’s just that he’s not that respectful of anyone.

The writers could have made Drake more overtly sympathetic, but perhaps it’s better that in the name of equality, they decided against making her a perfect female heroine and instead baked some very noticeable flaws into her character. The push and pull between Alex and Gene is what drives the show.

Ashes to Ashes may not be as innovative as its predecessor, but it’s a worthy successor to a great show and deserves to be added to the queue of anyone who enjoyed Life on Mars. Ashes to Ashes is on Tubi right now but Life on Mars is not. You can find that on Amazon, and it is recommended that you watch it before diving into the sequel.