Who hasn’t fantasized about going back in time to their youth knowing what they know today and living it all over again? In this case a young British detective from 2006 suddenly and unexplainably finds himself back in the year 1973. I especially loved that because it was the year I graduated from high school. In this case though it’s more of a nightmare than a fantasy.
I’d seen promos for this show in print and on TV and found the premise intriguing. The first thing an uninitiated American needs to know is that the BBC’s idea of a “season” is only eight episodes long. Sort of like this year’s season’s worth of The Sopranos, it was over just as you were getting into it. I was used to this, having fallen in love with other British offerings like The Avengers as a kid and later on with the hilarious Are You Being Served?
If you’ve ever played the computer game MYST, you can really feel for the main character. In the game you find yourself on an island and you don’t know how you got there, what you’re supposed to do now that you’re there, or how to get back home again. In this case Detective Inspector Sam Tyler (John Simm) is frantically searching for his kidnapped girlfriend in 2006 when out of nowhere a car hits him.
When he wakes up to the sounds of a hospital operating room, he finds himself lying in the street, wearing strange clothes and no idea how he got there. He sits up and smiles at an old car just like the one he used to own, but this one looks brand new and he’s holding the keys to it. In a daze he jumps into it and hurries back to his precinct house only to discover the clean well lit and computerized office he once knew is now a dingy primitive and very low-tech place he doesn’t recognize.
In short order he’s told it’s his first day there after being transferred from another precinct. His boss DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) is a rough no-nonsense taskmaster, who cares little about suspects' rights or proper procedure. Sam’s co-workers begin looking at him funny when he talks about DNA samples, cell phones or modern detecting techniques. A favorite is when Sam aims his pistol, one of his detectives asks another "Do you think he can hit it?" To which Sam replies, "You should see my PlayStation Scores!"
Throughout the first episode and ultimately the series Det. Tyler keeps trying to figure out if this is really 1973 or a coma-induced dream. At one point he becomes convinced that committing suicide will bring him back to his own time. He finally confides this to officer Annie Cartwright (Liz White) and at the end of the first episode she keeps him from jumping off the roof of the precinct house to test his theory.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Jet in Columbus
Thanks for your help with the links TV
2 - Matthew
I did a simlar article for Everybody Hates Chris when I came on-board. It won't horribly wrong and Joan went postal on me just about. Luckily I've learned never to get too ambitous and just do what I'm capable.
Nice job BTW.
3 - Jet in Columbus
Thanks Matthew... I think?
4 - Ian Woolstencroft
I wondered how this series would translate for American audiences and the answer seems to be not very well.
When you talk of making the series a straight period piece you’re missing the point. This isn’t designed as a real 70’s set police drama, Sam’s view of 1973 is coloured by the TV of the time. The series is a parody of shows like The Sweeney and (to a lesser extent) The Professionals. DCI Gene Hunt is Jack Regan (played by John Thaw who’s probably more well known to Americans as Inspector Morse) from The Sweeney, just moved from London to Manchester (my hometown) in the north of England. Britain in 1973 was only like this on TV, I should know I was around at the time.
As for the clothes, I thought the actors looked perfectly fine in them. If they were embarrassed about wearing the fashions of the 70’s they wouldn’t be very good actors. And god help them if they had to do something set in Ancient Rome, I’m sure a toga is far more embarrassing than a pair of flared trousers from the 70’s. I can’t say I noticed all the cars looking new but I’ll look out for it next time I watch the series.
David E. Kelley (Boston Legal) is working on an American remake and while I’m not a fan of Americanised versions of British shows (Cracker, The Office) this is one I’m looking forward to. Given the abundance of cop shows at the time, it will be interesting to see where they go with it.
And just for the record The Avengers seasons ran for 26 episodes.
5 - Jet in Columbus
Ian, Thanks for the perspective from "across the pond"! I was/and still am trying to figure out what constitutes a British TV season. Considering this show was only 8 episodes long, what do they do for the rest of the year, and do fans have to wait (ala The Sopranos) a whole year for another 8 episodes?
I have the box set of the Avengers (which I love) and also (Are You Being Served? (which is hilarious) I'm a fan. A absolute favorite British comedy is "The Black Adder" which also has an extreeeeeeemly short set of episodes per year.
I had no idea that Life on Mars was supposed to be a parady-in my ignorance I was taking it a full face value. No laugh track?
I especialy loved when Sam sets up with a karate stance and Gene sucker punches him in the hospital room "Ahh that felt better!"
As for the cars, the scene when Sam first appears you'll note that it just rained, yet the car the Bobbie is standing next to is completely shiny dry and clean. Sam walks down a muddy alley and sees the sign for the new expressway, then down the street and every car looks brand new shiny and clean even though it'd just rained and the Volkswagon he staggers up against and sees his reflection is in pristine condition.
Even in the 21st century there are dirty cars with a ding or a dent.
All in all taking it at "face value" I enjoyed the show and look forward to next "Season".
...but that's only my opinion
Jet in Columbus
6 - Bill Sherman
I've enjoyed the first season of Life on Mars, and while I can see the parodic aspects of the show (e.g., the overblown seventies era chase music that becomes more prominent as the season progresses) there's a neat dark undertone to Sam's plight that makes the show even more fascinating: while our hero is trapped in a coma/the past/a psychotic breakdown, his ex-girlfriend apparently still remains in the clutches of a serial killer. This adds an extra layer of desperation to his situation that is never overstated but remains in the back of the audience's mind . . .
7 - Jet in Columbus
Bill as an American, the only real complaint I have is that it was only 8 episodes long...
...but that's only my opinion
♥ Jet in Columbus
8 - Ian Woolstencroft
Jet
It’s a different, more subtle kind of parody than that found in US shows.
Also I looked on it as how Sam would view the 70’s i.e. from a child’s view but also coloured by the TV of the time. Seen that way it could even account for the cars as they are looked at through the rose-tinted glasses of childhood memory. I can’t remember if we find out exactly how old Sam was in ’73 but as someone who was eight at the time I can say it’s easy to have your perceptions clouded by TV, after all you only live it once but TV shows are repeated again and again.
Black Adder is one of the best British (or anywhere else) comedy shows ever but I have to say I hated ‘Are You Being Served?’ It’s the kind of catch phrase comedy show that’s being spoofed in the second season of Extras.
I spent more time in the 70’s watching American shows than British ones with the main exception being Doctor Who.
And Bill you’re spot on about that ‘dark undertone.'
9 - Jet in Columbus
Ian, having never been in the U.K. I took the whole thing seriously (not knowing any better) and enjoyed it thusly.
I guess when it comes back out in reruns, I'll see it from a different perspective.
Sam was born in 1969 and was 4 years old in 1973. He was 37 in 2006 when he met his 29-year-old father in the final episode.
I fear I've never heard of the Sweeney and The Professionals... sorry.
I turned 18 and used to wear clothes very similar to what he wears in the show.
As for Black Adder season 2 & 3 are my favorites.
I liked season 1 when I first saw it, but after he became more sophisicated in two and three I couldn't watch Season one or four any more.
I loved Baldric, especially the time the Lord told him to go answer the knock at his door by ordering him to "Go get the door" and Baldric came back... carrying the door.
Sorry, I liked AYBS for all the double meanings. When Captain Peacock came out in drag to dump his girlfriend and go back to his wife I nearly died laughing.
One thing I don't like about BBC America though, I've seen shows on our Public Broadcasting System that were later shown on BBCA only to find them re-arranged and cut to add commercials and I'm wondering if maybe that's why I have such a skewed view of Life on Mars?
That why I put an "American's point of view" in the title. I figure we may speak the same language but have different entertainment and cultural histories.
Alas
Good cooresponding with you
Jet
10 - Ben
Over here in the UK, we've just had the season 2 finale which is, sadly, the last ever episode.
Season 2 is even better than the first series. And, being shown on BBC, we get hour long episodes without any adverts to spoil the fun.
The show includes a lot of great 70s references but is not intended to be a 70s show. It takes everything that's best from the era and uses it in each episode. The cars are better than the cars we used to drive in the 70s but they are the ones everyone remembers (the ones we wanted at the time).
Above all, the show is a release from today's hectic, stressful lifestyle and it lets us reminisce on times gone with the benefits of hazy hindsight. And all this wrapped up in some good writing and acting.
Incidentally, John Simm shot to fame over here in "The Lakes" which showed what a good actor he is. You can pick it up from Amazon UK and I'd receommend it.
11 - Jet in Columbus
Thanks Ben, I'll have to check that out. I wish they'd hurry up and show season two here!
Jet
12 - billy-joe
it doesnt matter that it is eight episodes long, this means it doesnt stay on the same subjects for a few episodes, like in America aka. Lost....hmmmmm, thats all.And it also means it's not tooo boring, it's done quickly and good and the episodes dont allways leave a stupid massive clif hanger at the end, wich ussually turns out to be nothing, but all in all, the series are really good, are are much better than theese stupid cop shows theeses days, their all the same, even the series Heart Beat is slow and boring, the fact it's set in the sixties....bla..bla...bla....ect.
13 - Mark
Sorry, but "letting him be the stranger in a strange land because he’d transferred from Australia and wasn’t used to the police procedures of the U.K." shows you've missed the point rather. This programme aims to show that the past is not just another country, it is another planet. Far more alien than a different contemporary country. Yet that very alien nature makes Sam feel alive. Things he once took forgranted he now has to fight for.
Granted, seeing it reduced by 25% can't have helped, but it's a little disturbing that a number of American reviews I've seen seem unable to view the world outside their own context. It's rather like me saying "Dances With Wolves" would have been a good film if only it had been set in Dorset. While the BBC are keen to export it, this is a British show about Britain aimed at a British audience.
Sorry about the lack of American cars in 1973 Manchester! Our roads have bends, so we design cars that can turn corners ;-)
14 - Jet in Columbus
Mark, it was meant only as an alternate context for americans that aren't familiar with the show, or the culture.
Lighten up.
I LOVED the show... or couldn't you tell, whether I "got" it or not. many people love shows without knowing everything necessary to enjoy it!
Jet
15 - Jet in Columbus
The new season begins next Tuesday on BBC America December 10th with back-to-back episodes at 8 and 9 PM Eastern time in the U.S.
Enjoy!
16 - Jet in Columbus
The new season begins TONIGHT on BBC America December 10th with back-to-back episodes at 8 and 9 PM Eastern time in the U.S.
Enjoy!!!
17 - Jet in Columbus
...sorry that's tonight Dec. 11th on BBC America
18 - Jet
Did anyone catch the American ABC version of this last night. I thought they did a great job on the pilot?
19 - El Bicho
glad to see you are back manning the keyboard
20 - Jet
For the moment anyway my friend, for the moment...
And thanks
jet
21 - bliffle
I saw the pilot last night. It was OK.
Good to see you back Jet.
22 - Jet
Thanks Blif,
Just to update everyone, My heart is only putting out 19.9 percent of what it's supposed to. I'm very weak. I just spent 4 weeks in the hospital; when I passed out I slammed my bare knees, then my elbows and then face into our concrete driveway.
my upper left arm had one spiral fracture from shoulder to elbow and three additional lateral fractures.
I'm trying to update my diary blog, and getting there.
Thanks
23 - Jet
Now, as for the casting and writing in the American version of "Life on Mars". I loved it, and it show a lot of potential.
Of course (as witnessed by this article) I loved the original British version, though some are nonplussed that I didn't know it was supposed to be a parody.
Apparently neither did ABC.
I think the difference will be when the american version peels off the original and goes its own way.
I will say I was overwhelmed with nostalgia by the 1973 era muscle cars.
I'll wait a few episodes before I pass judgement, but so far, I like it a lot.
24 - Dr Dreadful
Jet, good to see you up and about. You certainly have been in the wars (again!). Sounds like you need to take your body back to the store. Do you still have the receipt? ;-)
Best wishes for a good recovery!
25 - Jet
Doc, in 21 days I've used up three M.D.s, two cardiologists, 1 orthopedic surgeon, 2 psychiatrists, 1 psychologist and more nurses than I could count. I've had two surgeries and have spent probably 18 of the 30 days of September in a hospital.
Nothing is under warrantee repair, unfortunately.
I'm trying to recount it all in my diary blog, but some of it was experienced in a drug hazed fog.
Thanks for the kind words
Jet