Life on Mars

This concept was a great way to bring back the '70s cop show. Smack 'em around 'til you get the truth and damn the legal process. No time in the laboratory, but lots of cars. The settings, the clothes, the music, the bobbies' clothes all take me back to my childhood. I love the twist of seeing it through the eyes of a modern day cop, plus his attempts to do police without a computer and instant forensic results. Sam is obviously going to have to learn to do police work by his guts than relying on technology. I'm hooked on waiting to find out if Sam can get back. I get a huge kick out of the other characters too, particularly Gene, the antithesis of Sam. The series is alternately funny and touching.

This British series, which made it's trek to the States, Has proved to me to be one of the best series on BBC America this year (the other being Hex).

The commercials for the series don't do the justice of what the series entails. The commercial make you think that the show is basically your run of the mill Sci-fi series working with a weak plot. I have always said that marketing is just as....if not more...important than the actual subject.

You have probably already read the synopsis from other comments presented here, so I won't bore you with the background too much. However, as I watch this series (currently have watched the first 2 episodes) I can't help but be reminded of another British export from many years ago...The Prisoner.

During each case that our hero is involved in, things come into play about where he actually is. He has no idea whether he's delusional, transported in time, or in a coma. This twist, put into the plot line, is what sets this show apart from the others in a very refreshing way.

Overall, I was quite pleased with how this series has turned out and I hope to see much more of it as well as being able to buy the DVDs if they released here in the U.S.

This series harks back to the best of BBC drama, and is cast and designed to perfection - although one or two anachronisms do creep into the script from time to time. As if the accuracy of the Seventies setting wasn't enough of a draw, however, there's also the 'mystery' element, the fascinating question of whether or not the other characters all exist in Tyler's imagination - and, if so, what they represent. It would be easy (and I suspect too glib) to suggest that Gene Hunt is a personification of Tyler's aggressive nature (I mean, as names go *Gene Hunt* seems a bit of a heavy clue - maybe too heavy!) but if that *is* the case then presumably the two of them will have to be reconciled in order for Tyler to recover from his injuries. The most disturbing aspect of this as a theory is that it would make the series concept a finite one and by definition preclude a second series, and I'm already a life member in the Gene Hunt Fan Club - I think he's one of the most delightful new creations to appear on British television in a long time.

With 'New Tricks', 'Jericho' and now 'Life On Mars', the traditional British cop show seems to have received a new lease of life in the last couple of years. This was long overdue, but it's a thrilling prospect that we now have a new generation of heroes to set against the Bergeracs, Taggarts, Regans, Barlows and Dixons of earlier times. And if we *are* heading for a new Golden Age of British TV I would like to go on record, here and now, nominating Gene Hunt as one of its brightest ornaments already!

I've not watched this before as I had got a bit jaded with too many productions with John Simm. Now I want to marry him. This is just brilliant, great concept, terrific characters, plenty of action and it is fall off the sofa funny. Love it!

A couple of days ago I watched the Italian Mafia film 100 Feet, which featured Ballroom Blitz by the Sweet in the soundtrack. The very same song popped up in Life on Mars two days later. I'm now expecting it to hear it in Poldark series 5 which has come to Netflix UK this week and is my next up.

Titled after the David Bowie song of the same name, this is a great time travel drama. I've just finished watching the first part, and I think its safe to assume I'm going to be addicted for the next few weeks. The plot revolves around a 2006 policeman who is transported back in time to 1973 when he is run over by a car. He finds himself wearing different clothes in a strange Manchester he has never seen before. As well as coping with the new decade he now inhabits and the sense of displacement he feels, he also is forced to deal with the crimes of 33 years ago, using very primitive methods. A WPC tries to help this fish out of water, but can he ever find his way back home again? And what is with these strange voices in his head..? Sufficed to say, we'll find out the answers soon enough, and I for one can't wait!

Oops sorry I forgot, Celebrity Big Brother and Soapstar Superstar are on the other channels.. and we all know which'll get the most viewers between this and them. "You'll never go broke appealing to the lowest common denominator" etc. But for those who are sick of cheap reality shows clogging up our schedules and want something with a bit more substance, you're in for a treat..