List of Ashes to Ashes characters
This is a list of characters in the BBC television drama series Ashes to Ashes.
Main Characters
The police team of Life on Mars, Hunt, Carling and Skelton, is also present in Ashes to Ashes, having transferred from Manchester and Salford Police to the Metropolitan Police Service.
Gene Hunt
Alex Drake
Chris Skelton
Ray Carling
Sharon "Shaz" Granger
1981 Characters
Caroline Price
Caroline Price (Amelia Bullmore) is Alex Drake's mother, who works as a high profile solicitor defending clients she believes to have been wrongly accused by the police through corruption and incompetence. In "The Missing Link", it is revealed that Caroline had been having an affair with Evan White, and had been involved in a government cover-up. In the last episode of the series, Caroline reveals to Alex that she is taking two years off work to spend time with her daughter, and says how much she loves her. She is killed in the car bomb set by her husband Tim, who had found out about the affair.
Danny Moore
Danny Moore (Rupert Graves) is a businessman trying to redevelop London's East End. He takes Alex out on a date.
Edward Markham
Edward Markham (Adam James) is a local playboy whom Gene suspects of being a factor in London's growing drug problem.
Luigi
Luigi (Joseph Long) is the owner of a wine bar where the CID drink after work. He is at times either visibly irritated, exasperated, or amused by their racist humour.
Ryan Burns
Ryan Burns (Leo Bill) is a choir singer suspected of murdering one prostitute and raping another. He works as a waiter at the Police Commissioner's fancy dress party which CID attend.
Zippy and George
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Zippy and George are puppet characters from the children's television show Rainbow, which was produced by Thames Television for ITV between 1972 and 1992. In "Deja Vu", they are seen on TV, and Alex Drake expects them to start talking to her, similar to Sam Tyler's experiences with television during his coma. In a later dream-scene (presumably Alex's) they do indeed speak, but to Alex's daughter, Molly Drake, telling her Alex will never return to her. They serve a role similar to the Test Card Girl of Life on Mars and the Clown also in Ashes to Ashes.
Tim Price
Tim Price (Andrew Clover, not credited until episode eight in order to hide the Clown's true identity) is Alex Drake's father, who died in 1981 with her mother. In "The Missing Link", CID discovered that Tim had represented members of the Revolutionary Worker's Front to get them off criminal charges, and was also involved in a government cover-up along with his wife Caroline. Tim is revealed, in the last episode of the first series, to be the clown tormenting Alex throughout the episodes, as it is revealed at the same time that he was behind the car bombing.
Viv James
Station Sergeant Viv James (Geff Francis) works behind the desk at CID. He seems to be very productive at his job and gets on well with all the officers. When Sharon Granger is stabbed, the perpetrator (Gil Hollis) is subsequently assaulted by police officers DC Chris Skelton, DS Ray Carling and DCI Gene Hunt while in police custody. Viv pleads with the officers to stop, knowing that this act could result in the dismissal of all officers involved, causing Gene later to miraculously apologise. As a Police Sergeant (PS), he outranks Detective Constible (DC) Skelton, yet always addresses him as "sir".
Gil Hollis
Gil Hollis is a charity fund-raiser, who claims to have all the charity money stolen in a robbery. CID figure out that he staged the robbery himself when he tries to shoot them at Luigi's wine bar. After running away he accidentally stabs WPC Sharon Granger whilst trying to recover the money.
2008 Characters
Molly Drake
Molly Drake (Grace Vance) is Alex Drake's young daughter. Her voice is first heard reading from Sam Tyler's file in the opening scene of "Deja Vu", while her mother drives her through central London. She is briefly held at gunpoint by Arthur Layton. She frequently appears to Alex as hallucinations at points throughout the series, often Alex does not directly see Molly but either senses her presence in the room or via her peripheral vision leading her to vanish whenever Alex turns to look directly at her.
2008 and 1981 Characters
Arthur Layton
Arthur Layton (Sean Harris) is a retired Special Forces explosives specialist who shoots DI Alex Drake in 2008. Alex encounters him in 1981, and suspects that, despite giving the appearance of being a lowly fence, he is the kingpin behind a drugs smuggling operation in the city. Layton is later released from prison by Tim Price and arranges the car bomb that Tim uses to kill himself and his wife Caroline, setting in motion the events that would lead to Alex's shooting.
On several occasions he quotes the famous lyrics 'I'm happy, hope you're happy too' from David Bowie's Ashes To Ashes.
The Clown
The Clown (Andrew Clover), dressed in a Pierrot costume resembling that worn by David Bowie in the music video for Ashes to Ashes, appears to have a similar role to the Test Card Girl from Life On Mars, offering Alex Drake cryptic messages, often in her daughter's voice. Unlike the Test Card Girl, the Clown frequently appears in the background of scenes. On Andrew Clover's website the character is referred to as The Angel of Death. It was seen in the final episode of this series that the clown and her father, Tim Price, were one and the same person, as he was to blame for her parents' death. Tim was prompted to hire Arthur Layton, an ex-army explosives expert turned criminal, to engineer the explosives to kill him, his wife and his daughter in a revenge attack, for his wife Caroline having an affair with their associate, Evan White.
The Clown was briefly visible to Sharon Granger after she was stabbed and nearly killed in episode 7.
Evan White
Evan White (Stephen Campbell Moore) is both Alex and Molly's godfather. In 1981, he works as a lawyer under Alex's mother Caroline, representing the murder suspect in "Nothing Changes". In "The Missing Link", CID discovered that Evan had been having an affair with Caroline. After the death of Alex's parents in a car bomb, a video left by the father, Tim Price, revealed that he knew about the affair and decided to kill himself, Caroline and Alex with the bomb. Evan asked that Alex never be told the truth that her father tried to kill her, resulting in Layton blackmailing him, leading to the chain of events that got Alex shot and sent back to 1981