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Life on Mars
More information about the BBC's new series about a time travelling cop is now available. Life on Mars, is a new show from the makers of Hustle and Spooks and will air on BBC1 starting in Januray 2006.
The following is taken from the press release about the series:
What's it all about?
The series stars John Simm as Sam Tyler, a driven and ambitious young detective who is determined to keep the streets of 21st Century Manchester safe. However, the hunt for a serial killer becomes a personal vendetta when Sam suspects his girlfriend and colleague Maya has been kidnapped by the very man he's tracking down.
But after a near fatal car accident, Sam wakes up, dazed and confused, in 1973, struggling to understand what's real; Has he gone back in time? Is he in a coma? Or has he simply gone insane?
What follows is Sam's 21st century account of Seventies life feeling like a fish out of water. He must come to terms with an unfamiliar environment and an archaic CID unit where, using his modern know-how, he is integral to the unit's investigation process as he learns how to adapt to their old-fashioned technologies and etiquettes.
Throughout the eight part series, Sam works on some of the hardest cases he has ever been involved with, not least because he's faced with a world where witnesses are regularly intimidated, it takes two weeks to process forensics and his colleagues will nail their suspect whether they have the evidence or not.
Sam's new boss is hard-nosed DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister, Vincent), who gets results by trusting his gut instinct and, all too often, sheer brute force.
In episode one it becomes clear to Sam that the killer who is holding Maya in 2005 started his killing spree here and now in the early Seventies. Could catching the perpetrator be the key to Sam's return to the future?
Life On Mars is created and written by Matthew Graham, Tony Jordan and Ashley Pharoah who all collaborated on BBC One hit drama Hustle, with additional writing credits for Chris Chibnall.
Where did Life on Mars begin?
The initial idea for Life on Mars came from a 'writers weekend' set up by Kudos seven years ago, to come up with an idea for a big new series. Or rather, Kudos sent Matthew Graham, Tony Jordan and Ashley Pharaoh to Blackpool for the weekend, armed with only a brown paper bag full of cash...
"There is still photo evidence from their brainstorming (or should that be drinking) session," laughs Claire Parker, producer of Life on Mars. "They had a flip chart with the words "70s Cop - Ford Granada" scrawled on it."
"None of us fancied littering the airwaves with yet more cop shows," explains writer and creator Matthew Graham, "and yet we knew that's what people love watching. So, we came up with a police show that we would want to watch: A cop falls back in time and tries to solve crimes in the midst of The Sweeney."
While Sam is trying to figure out why he is back in the Seventies he has to get used to his new surroundings. This includes the old cars, no mobile phones, the styles of clothes. Also interesting was the attitude to women police constables. Liz White plays Annie Cartright a WPC in the show, "Like Sam she wants to help people in anyway that she can. She joined the police force but she's stifled by the sexual politics of that time - women were often undermined, underused, ignored, taken for granted - but she fights on through that and is eager to challenge herself in any way that she can without compromising her integrity.".
What was it like going back in time?
John Simm describes his experiences whilst filming the show below:
It was great to go back and 'rediscover' that era. For the first month at least I was looking at all the magazines on set and I think I read every single one of them about twice. The pictures of footballers, the big Curly Wurlys, Party Sevens and all that. And the cars as well, the array of cars!
Everyone on set wanted the Ford Cortina; it became quite a coveted item. Screeching car chases, fantastic!
Unfortunately I didn't get to drive it because it was Gene's car and I didn't have one which is unfair! Hutch from Starsky and Hutch had a car, it was a knackered car but he had a car all the same. Maybe a Capri or something would be nice!
With the costumes I figured that if this is all in Sam's head then he's not going to want to look completely ridiculous in a clownish suit! Luckily because Sam's from the future I didn't have to deal with the big moustaches or long hair or anything like that!
The suits were outrageously bad so I went for the leather jacket and the Cuban heels which were fantastic. Although it's hard to chase criminals in Cuban heals I have to say!
For more information about this show, see the BBC website dedicated to it at www.bbc.co.uk/drama/lifeonmars.
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