Persuading DCI Hunt to return

In The Guardian, writers Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham attempt to persuade DCI Gene Hunt to return for Ashes To Ashes, a follow up to Life On Mars.

ASHLEY PHAROAH: OK, we've been asked by the Guardian to discuss why we've made a sequel to Life On Mars.

MATTHEW GRAHAM: It's a fair question. After Sam Tyler died in -

GENE HUNT: (Sneering) The Guardian? Bunch of snivelling pinkos and sandal-wearing poofs. We had an outdoor lav when I was a kid and my Dad wouldn't even let us wipe our arses on it.

MATTHEW GRAHAM: We were all taken aback by the success of Life On Mars and by the response to the last episode -

ASHLEY PHAROAH: Which was a fine piece of writing, Matthew, if I may say so.

MATTHEW GRAHAM: (Modest) Thank you, Ashley. There are still so many stories to tell, stories that can only be told in a series like this.

ASHLEY PHAROAH: Social realism has been the dominant narrative form in television for decades now. As writers it's incredibly exciting to break out of that straitjacket, to explore that "other" wing of British storytelling, the tradition of Blake and Wells and Pressburger and Powell and Terry Nation.

GENE HUNT: Unemployed Scouse postmen shouting at their wives. That's real television.