The most innovative, intelligent and witty drama to have been produced by BBC television in recent years is Life On Mars. The show’s premise sounds peculiar – a modern-day detective with the Manchester Police Force is involved in a car accident and is somehow transported back in time but not space. He wakes up in the Manchester of 1973 and going back to his own office, he finds a completely new cast of characters. The show posits three explanations for his predicament – he is actually in a coma following his accident and is lying in a hospital bed, he has gone mad or he is really back in time. But which is it?
The main character, detective Sam Tyler is played by the wonderful John Simm, and it is through his eyes that we the viewers encounter this strange world. A world without mobile phones, computers, email and the internet. It is also a world lacking the customs of political correctness that we have grown used to. Sam meets his new boss, DCI Gene Hunt, played to perfection by Philip Glenister, and his first encounter with this man is resolved by a punch to the stomach. Mr Hunt does not like anyone challenging his authority and solves most problems with a slap. During an interview with a suspect, Gene decides that hitting the man is the best way to acquire a confession. Sam comments, ‘This place is like Guantanamo Bay’. To which Gene replies, ‘No, it’s nothing like Spain.’ From our strandpoint, we understand what Sam is referring to, but the humour comes from Gene getting the wrong end of the stick.
The show also highlights the casual sexism and racism of the times – and they can be quite shocking. Indeed, the actors sometimes had difficulty saying some of the lines. Along with the constant cigarette smoking, bad food and suspect haircuts, we feel we have come a long way since then. However, the show’s popularity showed something else. There appeared to be a longing among its audience for simpler times, a desire to get away from form-filling and long-winded niceties and a return to ‘getting things done!’
Another reason for the show’s success was that it was a drama both men and women loved. Men loved the car chases and, it has to be said, occasional violence while women loved viewing the world through Sam’s eyes and also, oddly, found themselves falling for the macho aggression of Gene Hunt. How strange that there was even a website called ‘Gene Hunt for Prime Minister’!
Life On Mars, which ran for two series resolving the mystery, has now spawned a spin-off called Ashes to Ashes with the action moving to 1982. While the new series has had a measure of success, nothing can match the quality and novelty of the original.