First season of Life on Mars ended with Tyler managed to sort out some of the issues that he thinks are holding him back in 1973. He remembers more of his childhood, but no matter what he does, he is still stuck in the past. But now the new development troubles Sam even more with someone messing with his life support back in 2006, and he tries to find out ho was doing that and how to stop him before he kills him.

Cast

As the changes from the first season go, you will see improvements to some of the characters and expanded roles. This is especially the case for the role of Annie. I really liked the Liz White as Annie and I was glad that she got more screen time and more important role to play.

Writing

The stories are really great and more diverse then in the first season. I guess that writers felt free to explore the world of the seventies. Main, Tyler, storyline has got a new twist with someone trying to kill him. He seams more comfortable with his state and him being in the past and that will culminate in the series finale when he will be given the choice to make.

Conclusion

What more to say, than that this is the great series and that you definitively need to see it. I will soon post review of the US remake of the Life on Mars, and you can see how different (or similar) two series are, and why making remakes is always a bad idea.

Life on Mars is another on a long list of great series made by BBC. Both critics and viewers reacted extremely positive, and Life on Mars is, and remained one of the best rated series on BBC with  5 to 7 millions viewers during it’s two seasons run. Interesting fact is that series is conceived decade before it’s actually made and rejected by the BBC because of the program politics at the time. Thankfully, show was made after all.

Series creators came up with original concept for a police drama that is set in 1973, and follows a detective Sam Tyler who gets hit by the car in 2006, and wakes up in 33 years in the past. He is a detective in the past time-line, and is transfered to Manchester police department. And he is trying to understand what’s happening to him, is he really back in time, or he is dreaming and hallucinating in his own time after the accident. Series got the name after the song by David Bowie that is also used in the series.

Casting and characters

One of the strongest element in the series is the cast, and each actor is casted spot on and they managed to create great characters. John Simm is in the main role of Sam Tyler, and with Philip Glenister as Gene Hunt made on of the greatest police detectives tandems I have seen in a long time.

Writing

Sam Tyler is in center of the story and through out the series he is trying to get home. From time to time he is experiencing strange phenomena causing him to hear voices and see things not really there and he is even more confused what the truth really is. Each episode is a separate case they investigate, and some of them remind Sam about his own time and work. Humor is very important and it’s written as very smart and often subtle.

Production & Music

Life On Mars

Again, as in best tradition of the British productions, they managed to make excellent recreation of the period and to make a choice of excellent soundtrack  with music from the seventies, and as I mention again use of Bowie’s Life Of Mars as a main theme, often used in the moments something new about Sam’s state of mind is revealed.

Conclusion

This is excellent show, and you will want to use it over and over. My recommendation is to get DVD or BluRay and enjoy it in full, because for US market all episodes are cut to fit into the program scheme.