10 Spectacularly Bad TV Ideas That Turned Out To Be Awesome

2. Ashes To Ashes

Life on Mars was a massive success. Gene Hunt quickly became a highly quotable iconic character. The 1970's roared back into fashion. An International Emmy Award was won. Then Sam Tyler went and jumped off a roof. Was he dead? Was he dreaming? Which was the real world? An emotional sucker punch that still hits home today. Not many TV shows decide to end with their lead character committing suicide and make it uplifting. Then there was a problem. The BBC wanted more. John Simm did not. The BBC got its chequebook out. A new series was announced. With the EXACT SAME STORY. Except it was a woman and it was in the 80's. But still it was the same story. Cop, gets injured, wakes up in the past, tries to get back and Gene Hunt is funny/offensive/slightly awesome. But hey it worked. Keeley Hawes made Alex believable and as sexy as 80's costumes allow. Longer-term stories were built and the finale was one of the most satisfying and moving conclusions to any TV show. In a funny sort of way this show is the anti-Lost €“ all the way through Life on Mars and its successor the writers said that they had a plan. They knew what was going to happen at the end from the very start and every hint and reference will make sense. And gloriously, it did. No spoilers here, but if you have seen the end and then watch the show from the start all the plotlines and tiny hints fit. Whereas Lost fans were left feeling like the writers had been making it up as they went along and then delivered an ending that combined the twin values of being disappointing and making no sense, Ashes to Ashes delivered. Not to mention that Gene Hunt was still a quotable/funny/offensive/slight awesome character to boot and by the end turned out to be one of the most sympathetic characters even written.