Cast Away!

Fans of time-travel cop drama “Life on Mars” should be counting their blessings! While “Doctor Who” fans have been lumbered with Catherine Tate for the whole of its fourth season in what feels like a lump-it-or-leave-it scenario, “Ashes to Ashes”, the sequel series to the two eight-episode seasons of “Life on Mars”, has fared rather better in the casting stakes. The lovely Keeley Hawes is to replace the dastardly John Simm alongside the abrupt Philip Glenister, reprising his role as no-nonsense DCI Gene Hunt from the original. Keeley is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Zoë Reynolds in MI5 drama “Spooks” which she left in 2004. She has, of course, starred in many other things, not least the notorious lesbian drama “Tipping the Velvet”. In “Ashes to Ashes”, Ms Hawes will play psychological profiler DI Alex Drake, an up-and-coming member of the police force in 2008, who finds herself trapped in 1981, eight years on from the previous series. Named after another David Bowie song, it will be broadcast on BBC1 in 2008. Roxy Music and The Human League will feature on the soundtrack which, to my ears, is preferable to the choice of tunes recently featured in “Doctor Who” but, more importantly, appropriate to the setting! “You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, When I met you”!! Maybe I should switch allegiance? Only kidding, but it should be worth a look…

In casting news pertaining to the third “Doctor Who” Christmas Special, and greeted with more optimism by me than the inclusion of La Tate next year, Clive Swift is to appear in “Voyage of the Damned”. He has appeared in the series once before, opposite Colin Baker’s Doctor back in 1985, as Chief Embalmer Jobel, a bit of a ladies’ man lusting after Peri - the cad, in one of my all-time favourite stories “Revelation of the Daleks”. He’s, no doubt, best-known as Richard Bucket, put-upon husband of Hyacinth, in the dreadful BBC1 sitcom “Keeping Up Appearances”, though I prefer to remember him as the equally downtrodden Bishop Proudie in “The Barchester Chronicles”. My imagination has been working overtime at the thought of Mr Swift having a read-through with Kylie! Equally intriguing is the casting of Geoffrey Palmer as the Captain of the Titanic. Another good actor but I wonder if, at 80, he isn’t a little too old to be playing Edward Smith. He, like Clive, has worked on the classic series, though in his case twice and both times opposite Jon Pertwee. 37 years ago, he appeared in “Doctor Who and the Silurians”, by far the best of the pair, and resurfaced two years later in “The Mutants”. His son Charles directed the first two episodes and the Paul Cornell two-parter of the most recent series so it’s likely Geoffrey has watched it since he last took part himself! Like Clive Swift, Mr Palmer senior is probably also best-known for his sitcom work, notably in “Butterflies”, the excellent “Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin”, and opposite Dame Judi Dench in the appropriately titled, considering this latest role, “As Time Goes By”!