Looking Back at the 80’s

Life on Mars was one of the most popular British dramas produced in recent years.  It’s main thrust was a delightful conceit: a police officer goes back in time, which results in clash of cultures… cue ample opportunity for dramatic and/or comedic escapades.  If it has been made in the 70’s (and the time travel had been back to the early 50’s) this would have been the extent of the story and nothing much more would have been made of it.  However, viewers in the noughties are somewhat

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Tags: Alex Drake, Ashes-To-Ashes, Audi Quattro, Deja Vu, Gene-Hunt, Keeley Hawes, Life-On-Mars, Nostalgia, Philip-Glenister, Sam-Tyler, The Happy Day

Sam’s Final Fling

It has the potential to be one of those finales that is talked about for years to come (at least around the hallowed halls of Fazzinchi Towers), like Blake’s 7 or Blackadder or Babylon 5 or The Office (or, for all the wrong reasons, Quantum Leap). Life on Mars will be remembered as a genre-breaking series that looked back at the seventies with a gritty realism and a realisation that it almost was like another planet. In Gene Hunt we had a fantastic character who, despite being a

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Tags: 1973, Finale, Gene-Hunt, John-Simm, Life-On-Mars, Period Drama, Philip-Glenister, Sam-Tyler

Dirty, Harry�

I was a little disappointed to hear that season two of Life On Mars is to be the last, a mere 16 episodes doesn’t seem like quite enough to satisfy the palette when it comes to this unusual cop drama. If internet rumours are to be believed there may well be the opportunity to enjoy the US re-make (if “enjoy” is the right word) or even look forward the much suspected sequel/spin-off called Ashes To Ashes (to keep the Bowie theme alive) that will be set in the eighties. All this

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Tags: Ashes-To-Ashes, BBC1, BBC4, Gene-Hunt, John-Simm, Life-On-Mars, Period Drama, Philip-Glenister, Sam-Tyler, The-Sweeney