The Ashes - Cultural References

Cultural References

The popularity and reputation of the cricket series has led to other sports or games, and/or their followers, using the name "Ashes" for contests between England and Australia. The best-known and longest-running of these events is the rugby league rivalry between Great Britain and Australia (see rugby league "Ashes"). Use of the name "Ashes" was suggested by the Australian team when rugby league matches between the two countries commenced in 1908. Another example is in the television show Gladiators, in which two series were based on contests between teams representing Australia and England.

The Ashes featured in the film The Final Test, released in 1953, based on a television play by Terence Rattigan. It stars Jack Warner as an England cricketer playing the last Test of his career, which is the last of an Ashes series; the film contains cameo appearances from cricketers, including Jim Laker and Denis Compton, who were part of England's 1953 triumph.

Douglas Adams's 1982 science fiction comedy novel Life, the Universe and Everything – the third part of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series – features the urn containing the Ashes, as a significant element of its plot. The urn is stolen by alien robots, as the burnt stump inside is part of a key needed to unlock the "Wikkit Gate" and release an imprisoned world called Krikkit.

Bodyline, a fictionalised television miniseries based on the "Bodyline" Ashes series of 1932–33, screened in Australia in 1984, to significant public interest and critical acclaim. The cast included Gary Sweet, as Donald Bradman and Hugo Weaving, as England captain Douglas Jardine.