EclipseMagazine.com (Free subscription) | 24/11/2009
When Manchester Detective Chief Inspector Sam Tyler [John Simm] woke up after being struck by a car in 2006, he found himself in the Manchester of 1973, newly assigned to that year’s version of his old station – and bumped down in rank to Detective Inspector. Worse, in the old school world of 1973, his [...]
Televisionary (Free subscription) | 24/11/2009
Time to go down the yellow brick road again. Yes, Stateside Life on Mars fans, that day has finally arrived as Acorn Media today releases the complete second season of the original UK drama series Life on Mars on DVD. Forget about the lackluster (and mercifully short-lived) American version and travel back to the 1970s with the original UK Life on Mars, which has only deepened and grown more mysterious...
EclipseMagazine.com (Free subscription) | 15/08/2009
It’s a reasonably nice day in Manchester in 2006 and Detective Inspector Sam Tyler [John Simm] and his team, which includes his girlfriend Maya [Archie Panjabi] have discovered another victim of a particularly cagey serial killer. When Sam and Maya quarrel about methodology and hunches, Maya stalks off and, following her hunch, is taken by [...]
Dan's Media Digest (Free subscription) | 13/08/2009
FX are going to show the American remake of sci-fi cop drama Life On Mars . The cancelled 17-episode long series will inherit True Blood's timeslot (Fri, 10pm) from 9 October. Jason Thorp, Managing Director of Fox International Channels UK: "The original Life On Mars and its follow up Ashes To Ashes have a huge fan base in the UK that numbers millions. We are therefore delighted to be able to...
fictions (Free subscription) | 02/08/2009
Harker issue 3 & 4 by Roger Gibson & Vince Danks Ariel Press Harker issue 1 & 2 were reviewed a few weeks back. The verdict: I thought it was great. So with issues 3 & 4 I was really hoping it was going to live up to the promise of the first issues. Well, Gibson & Danks have taken that promise and really gone for it. If 1 & 2 established the characters and setting and dastardly...
Film Intuition: Review Database (Free subscription) | 28/07/2009
Now Available From Acorn DVD [Jen's Pick of the Week] The Music of Mars Check out the Remake Photo Slideshow View Footage from the BBC Series Series Trailer: My Name is Sam Tyler... Video: Sam's Search for Answers Video: "Is There Life on Mars?" Where Am I? Bookmark this on Delicious Print Page While I haven't noticed that the UK seems to have quite as voracious of an appetite for the hospital...
San Fransisco Chronicle (Free subscription) | 24/07/2009
RATING: (WILD APPLAUSE) As good as the American TV remake was, the original British "Life on Mars" ranks with "The Wire" as one of the best TV series ever made. On the surface, it's the story of Manchester cop Sam Tyler (John Simm) who gets hit by a...
Biased BBC (Free subscription) | 23/07/2009
In last week's episode of the ground-breaking new drama "Left of Centre", the Guardian published a lament about the state of BBC drama by veteran producer Tony Garnett. The BBC's drama commissioning controller Ben Stephenson responded , using the word "passionate" four times and - controversially - saying that the BBC ought to promote "left of centre" thinking. (The Biased...
The Wertzone (Free subscription) | 02/07/2009
In 2008, DI Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) is a police psychologist based in London who is planning to write a book about the criminal mind. She is intrigued when she is forwarded a batch of reports from a Manchester copper named Sam Tyler, who fell into a coma after a car accident and experienced what appears to be a vivid hallucination about going back in time to 1973. Drake is fascinated by the world...
The Wertzone (Free subscription) | 28/06/2009
Sam Tyler is still stuck in 1973, unsure if he has somehow really travelled backwards in time or if he is merely stuck in a coma in 2006 and is fantasising everything that is happening to him. However, now he has been there for a few weeks he is getting more used to life in the 1970s and is starting to downplay the unusual auditory and visual hallucinations he continues to suffer from. But, just as...
Nik Nak’s Old Peculiar Blog (Free subscription) | 23/06/2009
You know, I’ve got to admit, it’s not that often I’ll post up some sample questions. Well … Apart from on a Friday, that is … But I recently got asked to provide some sample quizzes, for a community centre, over in Basildon. And, as they’re sample quizzes, I’m going to reprint them, here. Or, at least the first one I put together; here, enjoy! ROUND ONE....
Liberal England (Free subscription) | 17/06/2009
While I was away Stephen Tall at Liberal Democrat Voice tagged me for a meme on my five favourite political dramas. My television viewing has been uneven over the years- I did not even own a set for several years in the 1990s - but here are my five choices in no particular order. You will see that I have interpreted "political drama" liberally. Life on Mars My most recent choice. It was telling...
Honour & Wisdom (Free subscription) | 13/06/2009
Incoherent post alert If the rumour of Sam Tyler returning in season 3 of Ashes to Ashes does ring true this is great because I think John Simm was awesome in Life On Mars and he sold me in The Devil's Whore. However -yes big however- that means the overload of Ashes to Ashes bashing will start all over again from the purist Life On Mars fans. Now I avoid the fandom because it's just too much. I'm...
maniacmum (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
Ok so, now a certain Ms Philips has been unspoilered, please allow me to let a great enormous SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! not only for this luvv-erly pic of the Gene Genie, complete with appropriate cowboy boots (if ever there was a modern cowboy, it's Gene Hunt), but also for the most brilliant series end since .... Being Human . Watching the last episode on Monday night I felt just as...
Boggartblog (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
It seems just as some people thought Kevin Turvey, investigative journalist, aka Rik Mayall; and Alan Partridge, radio DJ and chat show host, aka Steve Coogan, were real people, so some officers in the Met appear to have thought Life on Mars was a guide to good policing techniques. Apparently two gentlemen of Nigerian extraction, funny that, claim that one was waterboarded, just like in Guantanamo...
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