Series 3 (2010)
Series 3 consists of eight 60-minute episodes. The first episode of the series aired on 2 April 2010. Episodes 7 and 8 were joined as the show's first "two-parter" (i.e. the two episodes form one direct narrative) and was advertised as such.
| No. | Title | Writer | Director | Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Episode 1" | Matthew Graham | David Drury | Friday 2 April 2010 (2010-04-02) |
| After being shot by DCI Gene Hunt, DI Alex Drake wakes up 3 months later, back in 1983. The team is investigating the kidnap of a young girl, Dorothy Blonde, who was abducted as her stepmother walked her to school. With a £50,000 ransom demanded for Dotty's life the team has to work fast. However, Dotty's father, David, wants to go it alone. And when newly promoted Ray panics while running the sting, it seems the family may have been better off without CID's involvement. Gene is forced to put his career on the line as he's unable to stand by and watch a young girl lose her life. Meanwhile, Alex is being haunted by the ghost of a young policeman, while the malevolent DCI Jim Keats advises her to be wary of Gene. | ||||
| 2 | "Episode 2" | Ashley Pharoah | David Drury | Friday 9 April 2010 (2010-04-09) |
| A severed hand arrives in CID's post and the team discover a connection between the hand and the death of six women who were brutally murdered and dumped in a shallow grave. When Gene and Alex discover that all the women were on the payroll at a dating agency run by Elaine Downing (played by Glenister's real-life wife Beth Goddard), Alex goes undercover to try to trap the killer. Shaz finds herself disillusioned with the police force and hands in her resignation but she is persuaded to carry out one final job before she leaves. Meanwhile DI Drake continues to delve into the murky mystery of what really happened to Sam Tyler, believing the truth may be her way home. | ||||
| 3 | "Episode 3" | Julie Rutterford | Alrick Riley | Friday 16 April 2010 (2010-04-16) |
| Gene and the rest of CID are feeling the pressure to stop a series of politically motivated arson attacks in the lead up to the 1983 General Election, after a military compound and a polling station are set alight. DCI Jim Keats announces his plans to monitor the way Hunt and his team work while trying to turn each member of the team against Gene. Ray finds himself having to confront some demons in his past as CID try to stop the arson attacks. Elsewhere, Alex continues to mount her investigation into what really happened to Sam Tyler in 1980 and is struggling to work out why she is being haunted by the young police officer. | ||||
| 4 | "Episode 4" | Jack Lothian | Alrick Riley | Friday 23 April 2010 (2010-04-23) |
| Gene discovers that an undercover operation to catch several drug dealers is taking place on his patch without his knowledge. Determined to take control Hunt blows the cover of an undercover operative who turns up at CID and is eventually placed under his protection, yet it seems someone on the inside is twisting things to help the drug dealers stay out on the streets. Meanwhile, the deceased police officer continues to haunt Alex. | ||||
| 5 | "Episode 5" | Tom Butterworth and Chris Hurford | Jamie Payne | Friday 30 April 2010 (2010-04-30) |
| Gene Hunt is forced to face some demons from his past when two of his former colleagues from Manchester, DCI Litton and DI Bevan turn up on his patch looking for stand-up comic Frank Hardwick who has stolen some money from the Police Widows and Orphans Fund. Hunt smells a rat and leads an investigation only to discover that Hardwick is a frightened man who is in possession of some seriously dangerous information, meanwhile Alex uses the arrival of Gene's former colleagues to delve deeper into the mystery surrounding the death and disappearance of Sam Tyler. | ||||
| 6 | "Episode 6" | James Payne | Jamie Payne | Friday 7 May 2010 (2010-05-07) |
| After the team's attempt to stop a prison riot goes badly wrong and Sergeant Viv James is taken captive, Gene and Alex must negotiate with the leader of the revolt and save their colleague. A conman and former cellmate of the riot leader claims to be Sam Tyler, shocking Alex to the core while Chris and Ray are in mortal danger when their undercover rescue attempt is rumbled by the prisoners. Alex is then left to put her differences with Gene aside to reunite their team, but disaster awaits them. | ||||
| 7 | "Episode 7" | Ashley Pharoah | David Drury | Friday 14 May 2010 (2010-05-14) |
| DCI Jim Keats is coming to the end of his report on DCI Gene Hunt and his team in CID, yet he continues to push Alex to do whatever she can to find out what really happened to Sam Tyler. Meanwhile, CID deal with a disturbance at an ANC illegal drinking den which leads to a murder investigation and forces Gene and Alex undercover into a world of illegal immigration and terrorism while Gene's team falls apart around him. While all this is going on, Chris makes the bravest decision of his life.... | ||||
| 8 | "Episode 8" | Matthew Graham | David Drury | Friday 21 May 2010 (2010-05-21) |
|
A brutal gang murder leads the team to investigate a European wide jewel smuggling ring. Keats completes his report on the department and tries to turn the team against Hunt and transfer them to his control, revealing his true colours. Alex goes to investigate a house in Lancashire which she believes holds the secret of Sam Tyler's disappearance. She uncovers a body in a field, and its warrant card reveals that it is a young Gene Hunt (and its ghost is the young PC haunting her). Meanwhile, Chris, Ray and Shaz are given videos by Keats, which show them that they too are police officers who died in tragic circumstances. Following the successful foiling of the jewel smuggling attempt, Chris, Ray and Shaz move on to "eternal happiness", symbolised by Nelson the landlord and his pub "The Railway Arms", which both appear on a London streetcorner (despite being located in Manchester in Life on Mars). Alex then comes to realize that she too is now dead; After Gene reconciles her to the fact she will never see her daughter again, Alex enters the pub. Gene Hunt remains in Limbo (the missing word ending in "o", like "macho" which Keats was unable to utter), as Keats – ostensibly now the Devil – taunts him. Keats retreats to the shadows, having failed, but saying they will meet again. The episode ends as Hunt returns to his office to hear a new detective push through the doors asking "Who are you and where is my iPhone?" – showing that Gene continues to help dead or dying officers from the 21st century. A post-credits sequence shows a clip from the 1950s police show Dixon of Dock Green, bidding the audience goodnight. The title character George Dixon was shot dead in an earlier film The Blue Lamp, despite the same character subsequently going on to star in the Dock Green TV series. |
Read more about this topic: List Of Ashes To Ashes Episodes
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