Life on Mars
“Is he mad, in a coma… or has Detective Sam Tyler really travelled back in time?”
A detective chief inspector from 2006 is investigating a serial killer when he is knocked over by a speeding car. Waking up, he finds himself mysteriously transported back in time to 1973. Initially struggling to come to terms with his situation, he has to come to terms with the old-fashioned technology and attitude of the day, while figuring out how he came to be trapped in the past.
Details
First Aired: 1/9/2006
Languages: English
Created by: Matthew Graham, Ashley Pharoah, Tony Jordan
Type: Scripted
Production
BBC OneCompanies: BBC, Red Planet Pictures
Countries: United Kingdom
Where to watch · US
Videos
Seasons
Series 1
The first series of Life On Mars focuses on Sam's life following the crash and his arrival in 1973. Elements are thrown in to suggest he is mad, in a coma, or travelled back in time. Also during the first series run, Sam is informed that he is DI (Detective Inspector) to DCI Gene Hunt and the rest of the CID department in Manchester in 1973. This revelation is something that Sam finds hard to understand; he spends most of the series working alone, against his team and Gene.
Series 2
Sam learns that an operation is to be conducted on him in 2006 to try and revive him from his coma. However, he believes that to return to the twenty-first century, he has to betray his colleagues in 1973 — but can he regard them as imaginary, or are they real - at least for him?
Specials
17 episodes
Gallery
Keywords
Reviews
VanVliet
It's rare that you get anything that's original but here's a great example. In times where we are subjected to rebooted series that were popular when most of the advertisers important demographic weren't even born here we have a series that you'll have never seen anything like it before. I know people who read this will never experienced that but with this in mind here's a classic. Being original isn't, of course, going to make it a success so the scripts are top class and the characters allow the superb actors to create something very special.
