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I realise this is somewhat late, given that the series has been running for at least 5 weeks here in the UK, but is anyone watching it?

Despite what it may sound like, this is not a documentary or science special, but a cop show with a twist. I managed cunningly to miss the first 2 episodes, but as far as I can tell, the lead was involved in a car accident and appears somehow to be in 1973 instead of 2006.

Now he's carrying on his job as a cop, but in 70s Manchester instead of today. There are the usual crime mysteries going on, but underneath is also the mystery of what on earth is going on. Is he in a coma? Has he gone mad? Has he done a Quantum Leap? And what on earth is with the creepy Test Card girl and her even creepier toy clown? For non-Brits (or those who don't remember the times when BBC used to shut down for 6 hours a night), here's the image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BBC-TCF.jpg

I kind of fell into watching this show and I can't really say why I like it. The lead is a nice guy, it's fun watching his reactions to 70s situations (like meeting Marc Bolan of T Rex in a seedy nightclub). There's a fair amount of action too. I guess I just like it the way I like Starsky & Hutch, or the Persuaders, or Lord Peter Wimsey...

Any how, anyone else have a view, or am I alone in watching this? For those who are interested, it's on BBC1 at 9pm Mondays.

Failing that, anyone got a cop show to which they're particularly attached?

DW

EDIT: for more accurate dates and the Beeb's official website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/lifeonmars/

I didn't know actually. How do you live? smile Well, it's out on DVD next month if you get sufficiently interested.

Personally I'd no longer survive without TV - for ages there's been nothing on except Top Gear and CSI (and its spin-offs). Now I've invested in a digibox and Due South, McCloud, The Persuaders!, Randall & Hopkirk: Deceased etc. are all at my disposal.

Plus what else would I play Sonic on? smile

DW

I've been watching this show avidly, to the point where I had a regular weekly arrangement going with one of the guys from my reading group in Blackburn. It involved watching Life on Mars and Prison Break, and severe abuse of the buy-one-get-one-free on ice cream at the local Asda. smile

I'll be intrigued as to where the second season goes after that finale.

But other than that, the only cop show I've ever had allegiances to is Due South - which is still possibly my choice for my best series of the nineties, possibly my favourite live action series of all time, and not having the money to avoid the R2 boxset (we got a better deal than the US on that one - pilots included!) is driving me up the wall. wink

*runs off to her favourite fanfic archive to read that Due South/Animaniacs/Pinky and the Brain crossover again*

I'm getting uneasy in general with the way that every series these days seems to have to be geared up for a cash-cow milking sequel rather than just tell a story and have done with it.

Lost, Carnivale, Dead Like Me, Carnivale, Invasion - even a kids' series like Shoebox Zoo...

There're too many of these - often quite engaging - dramas that're so busy spinning things out that they get cancelled before the audience actually gets any resolution. Whatever happened to stories with a beginning, a middle and an end?

i'd love to see how dead like me would end, i've seen about 6 episodes and didn't get many answers to some of the questions it's brought up. (who gives the orders? where did the ditzy girl go after following one of the dead people to their personal heaven?)

So.... October releas, then just give it another 6 months to drop to an affordable price...

Okays, that connection has moved seeing Life on Mars up in my priorities list.

I don't know if you saw Doctor Who Night on BBC3 over the weekend, but it seems that Spoilers (typed in white - highlight to view): this new series is going to involve not just time travel, but parallel universis, so Life On Mars describing the Doctor as fictional as opposed to an urban myth might not look so far-fetched after all. End spoilers

I'm not saying that it's a cast-iron support for the idea by any means, but it makes it look a bit less far-fetched.