Good morning.
Today's column is about the concept of the decade, and is named, therefore: "The Decade: A Concept", by David Loughrey.
Here goes.
The concept of the decade is a funny old business.
The way people split the past into arbitrarily delineated sections, attach memories of events, ideas and fashions, and then drop the "19" so they can just call them the '80s or '60s is just odd.
Nobody knows who invented the decade, apart from secret government agencies set up to keep things from you and I, the average citizen.
Decades are funny old things.
The '70s, for instance, were full of short shorts, sideburns and large lapels, until, overnight on December 31, 1979, everyone donned a white shirt and a skinny tie and started listening to the Human League and dancing around in a queer fashion.
Nobody knows why these things happen, so, sadly, they will always remain a mystery.
Even scientists can't work it out, which is amazing.
Ashes to Ashes, the sequel to Life on Mars, takes the concept of a decade and uses it to base a whole television programme around.
Life on Mars followed police officer Sam Tyler (John Simm) of the Greater Manchester Police, who found himself, after being hit by a car in 2006, waking up in the 1970s.
In Ashes to Ashes, police officer Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) is shot in 2008, and wakes up in the 1980s.
Prime is screening the second eight-episode series of Ashes to Ashes, which was on the BBC and everything, from December 3.
It is not until the end of series three that the reason for all the alarming time travel between decades is revealed, but there is plenty of fun to be had while you wait.
Ashes to Ashes, when stripped down to its basics, is really another British police crime show.
Nothing wrong with that of course.
Series two begins in 1982, with ships heading off to the Falklands war, Maggie Thatcher running the country, amusing fashion and plenty of political incorrectness.
DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), as the face of that incorrectness, is a highlight.
"I didn't know you had a PhD in masturbation, Inspector Drake", he barks at our hero, as she investigates the apparently sleazy death of a young police officer.
On top of her police work, Alex has to deal with plenty of weird goings-on.
Dogs talk to her, revealing strange snippets of information, as do wild-eyed old ladies in the street.
Most importantly for the denouement of the series, a mysterious stranger, who also seems stuck in 1982, adds to her confusion.
Probably best to stay home on Fridays next month so you don't miss what happens next.
