Ashes To Ashes series two isn't really too much of a distant memory, but already the DVD is here. It's in the shops to buy now if you want to sit through the whole thing again. Unlike those big-old American boxsets that everyone seems to be watching, Ashes To Ashes only has eight episodes to get through. Probably a rainy day's viewing then. But what's in the boxset?

For all our ATA news and reviews, go here.

The thing I like about Ashes To Ashes is that it it gets talked about. Talked about, speculated upon and talked about some more. Whether you like it or not, you have to admit that this level interest makes this show pretty great, even though it has missed the target as much as it has hit the bulls eye in this second series. Today's news that there would be a third series meant that I watched this with greater interest than usual - how would Alex Drake get home?

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They're clever buggers, the BBC. Just as I post up a trailer for the series two finale of Ashes To Ashes and wondering whether the show would be around for a third series, I get an email confirming that, yes, Ashes To Ashes will be returning for a third series. On the whole, this is good news because when it's good it's very good. When it's not good, it really is pretty average. So, with fans of show wondering out aloud about its future, this release could not have been better timed. Read on after the jump...

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I had a mad debate with someone in the pub on Friday night about the whole Life On Mars/Ashes To Ashes thing. One of my friends said that he has been really enjoying it this series, and series two has been much better than the first. You can't really argued against that, it has been miles better. Another friend said he was really disappointed by the Life On mars finale, which I found, frankly, difficult to understand. Still, we argued long into the night and it was fun. I have no idea how this series of ATA will end, but end it will tonight (BBC One, Monday 8 June, 9pm). There's a trailer over the jump...

For all our ATA news, reviews and interviews, go here.

One thing - apart from the general torpor of it all - has been bothering me during this second series of Ashes To Ashes. One of Gene's team (one of those inconsequential characters that doesn't say anything and, like one of those Star Trek crewmen always dressed in a red uniform, might get killed in a shoot out) like massively like Bill Oddie. I knew he was taking a break, but still...

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It's the penultimate episode of Ashes To Ashes and a few things are becoming clear. Thanks to this second series' shift to stand-alone detective stories, it's one of the worst cop shows on the box. But we all know ATA is not just a cop show, it's a Charlie Kauffman-esque, metaphysical trawl through someone's head while they're lying in a coma. But seven episodes in an you would've hardly noticed. So (including this one) with two episodes to go it was time to focus more on Alex and her route home. Well, it certainly did that.

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Only two episodes of this to go before it's all over (or at least until the end of the second series) and I was willing Ashes To Ashes to get down to business and start pulling its weight. There's no doubting that it's fun and fruity and well made and all that kind of stuff, but it doesn't half go round in circles - the same sort of gags every week, the same little bit of Eighties TV and the sort of half attempts to shoehorn bits of Alex's back story into the increasingly self-contained weekly cop stories. Sadly these annoying themes continued last night.

For all our Ashes To Ashes news, reviews and interviews, go here.

After last week's Bauhaus-fest it seems the writers and producers may be getting a little fixated on one artist each week in this second series, as last night's episode featured three tracks either exclusively Bowie or at least featuring him singing. Although the track list looks as long as in previous weeks it felt like there were long interludes in the programme with no music at all, which is at the least a lost opportunity to showcase some great music. It's rapidly becoming one of the only reasons I'm still watching the show.

Related: Soundtracks from Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4

One of the weakest stories of the series so far last night, involving a dead criminal who came back to life halfway through his sex change and whose new identity fooled absolutely no-one except the slow-witted plod, hid one or two rather interesting plot developments including the final appearance of Alex's mystery stalker. Even so, as the weeks tick inexorably by, rather than being sucked in by the mystery I'm finding the glacial pace extremely irritating and summoning up enough interest in the eventual outcome increasingly hard.

More Ashes to Ashes.

It was a bumper night for Bauhaus fans on Ashes to Ashes last night with not one, not two, but FOUR tracks gracing the background as the team smoked, drank and fought their way through another episode. With them making up almost half of all the music on the show it would have been unthinkable not to choose one of these to feature in our YouTube selection this week, so click through for that and another well-chosen couple of nostalgic ear-worms from the 80s.

Related: Soundtracks from Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3

Mid-way through the series and the darkness is closing in. What starts off as a run-of-the-mill investigation into disappearing girls turns rapidly into a nest of vipers starring Mack and a slimy old pal from Hendon - Ralph Jarvis - one of those characters who's so sure of his invulnerability that he can piss in the wind without getting wet.

For all our Ashes To Ashes news, reviews and interviews, go here.

Some absolute classics in this week's episode, including some haunting atmospheric mood music from the fingers of keyboard magician Francis Monkman. No matter how far fetched, ludicrous or opaque Ashes to Ashes becomes, at least it's still a good excuse to spend an hour having your 80s music memories tweaked, and maybe even dusting off some vinyl and reliving the sound for yourself. Alternatively, with us to do the YouTube searching for you, simply click through for a selection of the tracks from episode 3.

Related: Soundtracks from Episode 1 and Episode 2

When Morph appears with a defibrillator in his lumpy hands and Alex is thrown across her still sparsely furnished room by the shock, you know she's in trouble. Back on Planet Earth, or wherever she's from, she's in a critical condition. It's a wonder she manages to do so much running around in her head. She's a professional. That's how she does it. And there are murdering, child-injuring animal rights protesters to be brought to book. Gene Hunt's reaction to a vivisection lab being under threat? "Send a Panda round." Classic.

We're already onto episode three of Ashes To Ashes and things are starting to warm up. Monday's episode (4 May, 9pm) sees the team race against time to foil an extreme animal rights activist who is threatening to blow up London. The investigation takes the team to prison, where they interview an animal rights activist put in the clink for a crime he committed in 1977. There's also a guest appearance from Morph. Bee-ooo-bay.

For all our Ashes To Ashes news and reviews, go here.

If you're old enough to remember the eighties then this week's second episode of Ashes to Ashes had another healthy dollop of musical memories for you, proving once again that not all the orchestral manoeuvres were in the dark in that decade. Click through for the full list and to discover what YouTube goodies we've selected for you this week, or go here for the full Ashes to Ashes picture.

Related: Episode 1 soundtrack

The backdrop to this week's A2A was a fairly run-of-the-mill cop story: Gypsy is killed while being chased by police, turns out to have been under the influence of drugs because a bent doctor had been shagging his girlfriend, whom he used to abuse, so one or other or both of doctor/girlfriend had been feeding him sleeping pills and lending him an Austin Princess with its brakes cut hoping for the inevitable to happen. Beneath the surface though, there's lots more going on. For one thing, the doctor is a square sort of bloke.

Related: Episode 1 review

Our "soundtrack" feature proved quite popular last year, so we thought we'd re-run it for the second series. Yes, I know the information is available elsewhere. So what? We've got extra YouTube footage, better jokes, and you were here anyway, so why clock up extra browser miles? It's probably greener just to stay here and click through for our version. This time round, instead of featuring classic cars from the series (and/or the eighties) I'll be sprucing up the soundtrack post headers with featured artists.

Related: All our Series 1 soundtracks and the rest of the A2A lovelies.

Only a few seconds in, and with Molly talking to her Mum via the medium of an episode of Grange Hill, there's no doubting we're back in the weird and wonderful world of Ashes to Ashes and any minute now the Quattro's going to be fired up and all hell will break loose. Except, rather than breaking loose, it's been tied up. Tied up and asphyxiated. At a strip club.