TV Review: Life on Mars

SPOILER ALERT

Anyone who has not seen the BBC comedy/drama series Life on Mars is hereby advised that this review may contain spoilers.

If you told me that you liked your police procedural dramas with a generous dollop of humour, possible time travel and the occasional psychological scene, I would take that to mean you’re a fan of the British police comedy/drama, Life on Mars— because that’s the only program I know that fits the bill (except the sequel, Ashes to Ashes, but I’ll talk about that another time).

DCI Sam Tyler (John Simm) is a British police officer who gets hit by a car in 2006 and wakes up in 1973. The rest of the series catalogues his continual clashes with his new colleagues as he tries to navigate the unfamiliar world of the early ’70s and figure out how to return to the present day. There is also a fairly bog-standard will-they/won’t-they style romantic subplot with WPC Annie Cartwright (Liz White); one of the few characters who doesn’t continually mock and obstruct Tyler, despite her disbelief that he is truly from the future.

So, let’s start with the good things about this program.

For a start, it has got a superb bunch of regular characters. The desperate but righteous Sam; the quiet but strong and intelligent Annie; the blustering, boisterous but ultimately well-meaning Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister); the dim-witted but diligent Chris Skelton (Marshall Lancaster) and Ray Carling (Dean Andrews), who serves as something of a foil and rival to Sam throughout the show. The main players are all developed to perfection with good solid character arcs which resolve themselves neatly by the end of the last series. The supporting characters are also well developed but keep their place as supporting characters.

The pacing of this show is also excellent, blending together humour and darkness, mystery and sentiment and, of course, the lingering threat of insanity in a way which feels perfectly natural and leaves the viewer feeling fully entertained.

The overall story arc is also very satisfying. While each episode can more or less stand alone, insofar as there is usually a particular crime which is discovered and solved in each episode, Sam’s confusion about how he ended up in the past and what he needs to do to get home are never far from the fore and the events of each episode lead neatly to the climax at the end of the series.

I don’t have many negative things to say about this show. The romantic subplot between Sam and Annie was a fairly tedious tableau: Annie meets Sam in the first episode, there’s a bit of chemistry. He trusts her with the truth about what he’s going to; she thinks he’s mad but kind of likes him anyway, even though she’s a little hurt that he wants to get back to 2006 when it’s probably not real anyway. That’s pretty much how their relationship goes in every episode until they finally get together at the end of the very last episode. There’s not a whole lot in between. In most episodes he just has a disturbing experience with the Test Card Girl (Rafaella Hutchinson/Harriet Rogers), confides in Annie, Annie is concerned and whines a little that he doesn’t want to stay with her but ultimately tries her best to support him. Repeat.

Apart from that, it was a truly excellent bit of telly. Go and watch it with my blessing.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

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ATTENTION AUTHORS:

Every Tuesday, I post a new edition of Spotlight: a short post which shines a proverbial spotlight on a published novel or collection of short fiction. If you would like to have your book considered for a future edition of Spotlight, drop us an e-mail including a short synopsis of your book and a link to where we can buy it. Better yet, send me a copy of your book and I can include a mini-review.

I’m still looking to interview fiction authors here on Penstricken, especially new or indie authors. Whether it’s books, plays, comics or any other kind of fiction, if you’ve got something written, I want to hear about it. If you’re interested in having your work featured on Penstricken, be to sure to drop us an e-mail or message us on Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest.

Please be advised that due to a recent surge in interest, I am presently committed to a significant number of reviews/interviews over the next couple of months. If you would like an interview or review, I would still love to hear from you, though it is unlikely that I will be able to begin work immediately.

You can check out our previous interviews here:

• Sharleen Nelson, author of The Time Tourists [2]
• D. Wallace Peach, author of the Shattered Sea duology [2]
• Jacob Klop, author of Crooked Souls
• H.L. Walsh, author of From Men and Angels [2]
• G.M. Nair, author of Duckett and Dyer: Dicks for Hire
• Georgia Springate, author of Beyond
• S.E. Morgan, author of From Waterloo to Water Street
• Megan Pighetti, author of Fairy-Tailed Wish [2]
• Nancet Marques, author of Chino and the Boy Scouts [VIDEO]