DI Alex Drake is taken hostage and shot, and wakes up in a brothel... in 1981. Rescued in a police raid, she quickly recognises DCI Gene Hunt and his team from detailed reports made by DCI Sam Tyler about his own trip to 1973.
Gene is determined to address London's growing drugs problem, and has targeted city playboy Edward Markham as the brains behind the operation. Alex suspects Arthur Layton, the man who kidnapped her in 2008. Could Layton be the key to her return to her own time?
Season 1 Episode 1 of Ashes to Ashes resulted in a 0.00 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
DCI Gene Hunt is back but he's no longer the self-styled "Sheriff of Manchester".
Flanked by his faithful sidekicks, DS Ray Carling and DC Chris Skelton, and drawn to the action and intrigue of the London Met, Gene turns his attentions to taking on the "southern nancy" criminal scum. However, Gene does not expect to be thrown together with sexy, intelligent, DI Alex Drake.
Single mother to daughter Molly, Alex has rapidly risen through the ranks of the Met and, in the modern world of 2008, skilfully uses psychological profiling to capture suspects. When Alex and her daughter are kidnapped she makes a daring attempt at escape, resulting in a horrific accident.
Alex suddenly finds herself in 1981 interacting with familiar characters, not just from her own life-time, but also from the detailed reports logged by none other than Sam Tyler, which Alex has previously spent months pouring over.
Alex is ripped from her current world of sexual equality and respect in 2008 and finds herself opposite an arrogant fellow DCI in a Two Tone, New Romantic Eighties London with a soundtrack of Adam Ant, Roxy Music and The Human League ringing in her ears.
Alex finds some of Gene's team has dispersed yet others, loyal as ever, are still in tow. Now a technological whizz-kid in the squad's surveillance team, DC Chris Skelton has clearly moved with the times, along with a tight-permed DS Ray Carling who's keen to experience London's nightlife.