DCI Gene Hunt has a car accident and wakes up in 1973 similar to his right hand man DCI Sam Tyler's one - Life on Mars UK and Ashes to Ashes but from DCI Gene Hunt's POV.
DCI Gene Hunt travelled back in time to 1973 from the present day? Just ten years from his birth! The events mirror his best friend DCI Sam Tyler's car accident from 2006. How will the mullet wearing, trendy and fun loving Detective Chief Inspector fare in a world of Sweeney type policing as he didn't graduate the police academy in Greater Manchester Police until 1982 from starting in 1979. He only has police knowledge from the future and is a fish out of water around corrupt, violent and unconstructed police officers of the Seventies?
DCI Gene Hunt was on his gold Apple I-Phone with DCI Sam Tyler on the other end "Boss, could you come here, there's a crazed ex Greater Manchester Police officer holding our Cybercrime colleagues hostage. He was a Detective Chief Inspector in the 1970s-1980s, when we were just kids; remember his bronze or gold Ford Cortina MkIII?" replied Sam over the Bluetooth device driving a marked Mitsubishi Evolution. "He hates on all the modern methods of policing, thinks we've become computer admin addicts and we should be out on the streets beating up suspects, 'nonces' in his words..."
"Yep, that was the one - on my way to the scene in 30 minutes!" spoke the Detective Chief Inspector slurping a Starbucks slushy drink in his blue Ford Mondeo Titanium X business edition over his hands free Bluetooth device listening to the Black Eyed Peas - That Tonight's Gonna be a Good Night after the radio DJ announces it over the Ford Sony Compact Disc MP3-4 radio. "Here's a song from The Black Eyed Peas, I Gotta a Feeling album!". "Always trust the Gene Genie, Sammy dude, ensure he can't wreck our IT suites; they cost thousands of pounds and t' equipment ain't cheap as Diana Dors and a bottle of chip oil." as Gene drove to the scene of former DCI Ray Carling aged 83 ranting and raving about police stations being the Death Star from the Star Wars movies.
You great… soft… sissy… girlie… nancy… French… bender… Man United supporting POOFS! I'll come over your houses and stamp on all your toys!" the greying former old school police officer yelled attempting to lash out at Gene's right hand man in front of stunned colleagues trying to defend their computer bases.
"I have all the newspaper reports from 1973; you were a hero when you stopped an ex World War II soldier from holding the Manchester Gazette hostage and what about that time when you pulled in Collin Clay for using a bunch of house keys as a homemade knuckle duster? But policing has to evolve otherwise it wouldn't be transparent." reasoned DCI Sam Tyler who spoke calmly and slowly; Hunt's undying loyalty to his CID meant his fellow DCI had to hold the fort against an elderly male alone with the rest of their colleagues including DC Chris Skelton, PCSO Annie Cartwright, Sharon Grainger, DI Alex Drake and DS Dean Carling who is the son of that ex DCI who is reported on the media stations for holding their beloved Criminal Investigations Department hostage with a 1970s police issued Walter firearm.
# I gotta feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night. That tonight's gonna be a good night. That tonight's gonna be a good, good night. Tonight's the night. Let's live it up. I got my money. Let's spend it up. #
What follows is Gene's 21st century account of 1970s life, where he feels like a fish out of water. He must come to terms with an unfamiliar environment and an archaic CID unit. There, using his modern know-how, he becomes integral to the unit. But he must adapt to their old-fashioned technologies and etiquettes. Carling is a man who likes to throw his weight around and thinks of himself as the sheriff in a western. Ray acts first and thinks later, and this results in several punch-ups between Ray and him, who believes in by-the-book policing.
It's a world where witnesses are regularly intimidated, it takes two weeks to process forensics, and his colleagues will nail their suspect whether they have the evidence or not.
The beauty of this Life on Mars UK and Ashes to Ashes crossover is that each week it concentrates on catching criminals through two completely opposing styles of policing. We put a modern DCI bang in the world of the old school copper and so explore two totally foreign worlds. Gene's repelled by this prehistoric world, and the drama lies in how he tries to accommodate himself to life on a completely different planet.
But Gene, a 21st century police officer, has to deal with a strange world full of cigarette-smoking, gum-chewing, sometimes corrupt, unreconstructed police officers of the early 1970s, as well as brutal punch-now-think-later policing methods and crude forensic techniques, and there are times when he is deeply stressed by this, as well as by recurring hints that it is what it seems, although DCI Ray Carling rarely grants him any title or seeming respect.
If that wasn't enough, teachers yesterday on BBC News London called for ex DCI Carling to be locked in the slammer. Despite the BBC's defence that the ex copper was a tongue-in-cheek exposé of the shortcomings of the 1970s, Carling's volley of insults at anyone within range of his kipper tie will fuel homophobic bullying in schools, claimed Chris Keates, secretary general of NASUWT. "Ex DCI Carling is 83 years of age, he has dementia of which would make the ex Detective Chief Inspector unfit to stand trial and plead guilty for the London Metropolitan Police CID siege." The newsreaders read "Members of the public are advised not to approach Mr. Carling, underneath the Thames Valley bridge as a woman had a bullet shot into her head; now unconscious in Central London NHS under a medically induced coma by doctors, paramedics and nurses."
"Guv, please I know you miss the old days of policing; but this isn't the way to do it nowadays." pleaded DCI Gene Hunt "And the truth is I wouldn't want to live as an adult in 1973; where suspects are banged up just because they're Irish, where police beat up prisoners and make racist remarks before wrecking their livers on Double Diamond; and where the brightest spots of the TV schedule are Open University and the Test Card Girl."
"When I served y' 'ad a job for life in me prime from 1953-1990! Not over-analyse every little thing with 21st-century, politically correct pseudo-babble!" he swore loudly; holding PCSO Annie Cartwright by her high visibility vest on the collar. "It was guys punching each other in the street with no recompense. We had men who could carry guns without having to fill out a form and who could drive really big gas-guzzling cars without any guilt!" Ray snarled in temper, he was the same as he'd ever been; despite his hair going grey and retired in 1991; twenty seven years ago when Gene was a mere Detective Inspector still.
Carling is Seventies man writ large and we should be grateful that species is extinct. He wears a vest and his hair looks like it was styled during a power cut. He runs along towpaths in skimpy orange swimming trunks and has a torso that's closer to a Party Seven than six pack. He has no concept of innocent until proved guilty and thinks it's acceptable to turn up to a swingers' evening with a prostitute he's just busted. He's racist, disablist and homophobic.
DCI Gene Hunt gets knocked out cold near his beloved blue Ford Mondeo Titanium X business edition, as swages of ambulance team paramedics surround him as Ray Carling beat him in the street, DI Alex Drake and DCI Sam Tyler ran to their beloved boss "Gene, are you all right?!" she shouted "Wake up, we need you back at base!" Sam Tyler begged "Boss, please don't die just because your former Guv has it against you, for one lousy breath! Come on, we've been best mates since the 1970s where we both grew up in Manchester with our Annie!" DCI Gene Hunt's eyes turn all the colours into swirls as he goes unconscious, as DI Alex Drake attempts to start CPR on his chest. The minutes turned into months, eventually transforming into years until the 1970s.
Gene ends up in his childhood town of Manchester, 1973 only just ten years from his birth - an adult viewing the old school world through 21st Century eyes and childish glimpses; when he is transferred to the hospital bed with millions of wires plugged into him and machines beeping away.
