In preparation for my trip to Manchester, I rewatched Life On Mars and drowned in a sea of Gene Hunt witticisms. I found a site with shooting locations for the show and hoped to visit at least one. But before I scouted them out, I went to a Tesco Express...
With my trip to Manchester, UK coming up quickly, I decided to re-watch Life On Mars. It had been many years since I had the pleasure of watching the Gene Genie in action. I laughed aloud many a time to his brutal quips.
In addition to his disparaging repartee, there were also the jibes from Ray. I laughed heartily in the scene where Chris asks what a nol-au-vent is and Ray replies with all the confidence and aplomb of a gourmand as a cheap cigarette smolders between his yellow fingers, "It's puff pastry shell filled with a savoury meat mixture." That line was delivered just perfectly.
Oh, and the scene where the gang busts out of the building with the pool and chase a suspect in their swimming trunks cracked me up. In another, Gene says something about a Bakewell tart and, having been doing some prep for the trip, I knew what it was.
I kept waiting for the Quattro but, after it never appeared in the series 2 opener, I figured it must be in Ashes to Ashes. With Ray smoking a cigarette in basically every scene he's in, I wondered if the actors were tobacco lovers themselves or if they were given clove cigarettes.
Hopefully I'll be able to find a filming location or 2 while I'm in Manchester. The most prominent one, Stopford House, whose exterior stood in for the police station, is out in the burbs. We shall see...
