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.

Like some of the reviewers here, I wasn't expecting much of this and started watching almost by accident.

I am a '24' man(!) and I have to say after watching this, 24 (after season 3 anyway) starts to show it's weaknesses. In "Life on Mars" you really start to care about the character and what is happening - it has many surprises. Some are startling, some dawn on you as you watch.

Now I wouldn't be old enough to actually remember the 70's, but it is very atmospheric - and crucially, not in an over-the-top way.

The 'real world'(??!) storyline is handled with a light touch too. You go through it with him as clues (or more questions) pop up unpredictably!

This deserves to be a huge hit!

If you have only seen the poor U. S. New York version then STOP! This is not a cult classic by an accident or some sort of snobbery this is a 2 series Drama that actually then expands into the 1980s sequel Ashes to Ashes ( yes David Bowie theme) the later also 10/10 and 3 series long.

It is just the kind of Drama you can as I am doing now watch again and again.

I was born in the 73 so this resinates with me somewhat but it is a show for all ages and as a whole host of quality actors.

Watch it all the way through to ashes to ashes last episode to find out true ending to this

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!