Series 2: Episode 1 (Life on Mars)
Encyclopedia
The first episode of the second series of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 time travel
Time travel in fiction
Time travel is a common theme in science fiction and is depicted in a variety of media. It simply means either going forward in time or backward, to experience the future, or the past.-Literature:...

 police procedural
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...

 television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 series, Life on Mars
Life on Mars (TV series)
Life on Mars is a British television series broadcast on BBC One between January 2006 and April 2007. The series combines elements of science fiction and police procedural....

, was first broadcast on 13 February 2007. It was produced by Kudos Film & Television
Kudos (production company)
Kudos Film and Television is a British independent film and television production company. It has produced television series for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, and its productions include Spooks , Hustle, Life on Mars and its spin-off Ashes to Ashes, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard and M.I. High...

 for BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

.

Synopsis

Sam
Sam Tyler
DCI/DI Sam Tyler is a fictional character in BBC One's science fiction/police procedural drama, Life on Mars.In the original British version of Life on Mars, Tyler is played by John Simm and in the American version he is played by Jason O'Mara....

 sees the chance to prevent a murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

 when he comes across the younger version of a villain he will arrest in the future. But he worries that, back in 2006, Tony Crane might be released from remand and exact revenge on Sam's comatose body
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...

.

Cast

  • Sam Tyler
    Sam Tyler
    DCI/DI Sam Tyler is a fictional character in BBC One's science fiction/police procedural drama, Life on Mars.In the original British version of Life on Mars, Tyler is played by John Simm and in the American version he is played by Jason O'Mara....

     — John Simm
    John Simm
    John Simm is an English stage and screen actor. In recent years he is best known for his roles as Sam Tyler in the detective drama Life on Mars and as The Master in the revival of the science fiction series Doctor Who, but he has also starred in many highly acclaimed award-winning television...

  • Gene Hunt
    Gene Hunt
    DCI Gene Hunt is a fictional character in BBC One's science fiction/police procedural drama Life on Mars and its sequel, Ashes to Ashes. The character is portrayed by Philip Glenister in both Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, whereas in the American version he is portrayed by Harvey Keitel.The...

     — Philip Glenister
    Philip Glenister
    Philip Haywood Glenister is an English actor, known for his role as DCI Gene Hunt in British television series Life On Mars and its sequel Ashes To Ashes.-Television and films:...

  • Chris Skelton
    Chris Skelton
    PC/DC Christopher "Chris" Skelton is a fictional character in BBC One's science fiction/police procedural drama, Life on Mars and its spin-off Ashes to Ashes.- Life on Mars :...

     — Marshall Lancaster
    Marshall Lancaster
    Marshall Lancaster is a British actor. He has appeared in many television dramas, including Coronation Street, Holby City, The Lakes and Family Affairs, but is probably best known for playing DC Chris Skelton in the BBC time-travel police dramas, Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes.Lancaster is a...

  • Ray Carling
    Ray Carling
    DC/DS/DI Raymond Milton "Ray" Carling is a fictional character in BBC One's science fiction/police procedural drama, Life on Mars and its spin-off Ashes to Ashes.-Life on Mars:...

     — Dean Andrews
    Dean Andrews
    Dean Andrews is a British actor.He is most famous for his role as DS Ray Carling in the BBC Television drama Life on Mars...

  • Annie Cartwright
    Annie Cartwright
    WPC/DC Annie Cartwright is a fictional character in BBC One's science fiction/police procedural drama, Life on Mars. The character is portrayed by Liz White...

     — Liz White
    Liz White (actress)
    Liz White is an English actress, best known for her regular role as WPC/WDC Annie Cartwright in the BBC time travel drama Life on Mars, which began in January 2006...

  • Nelson — Tony Marshall
  • Phyllis Dobbs
    Phyllis Dobbs
    WPC Phyllis Dobbs is a fictional character in BBC One's science fiction/police procedural drama, Life on Mars. The character is portrayed by Noreen Kershaw, whereas in the American version the character does not exist except for a very minor capacity....

     — Noreen Kershaw
    Noreen Kershaw
    Noreen Kershaw is an English television actress and director.She trained at the Manchester Polytechnic School of Theatre and, at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre, originated the title role of the play Shirley Valentine, later made famous by Pauline Collins...

  • Test Card Girl — Harriet Rogers
  • Tony Crane  — Marc Warren
    Marc Warren
    Marc Warren is an English actor, known for his British television roles as Danny Blue in Hustle, Dougie Raymond in The Vice and Dominic Foy in State of Play.-Career:...

  • Harry Woolf — Kevin McNally
    Kevin McNally
    Kevin McNally is an English actor who has worked in theatre and radio extensively as well as in film and television.-Life and career:...

  • Eve Olawi — Yasmin Bannerman
    Yasmin Bannerman
    Yasmin Bannerman is an English actress. Bannerman was born and brought up in Gloucestershire and attended the Rose Bruford College in London until 1993...

  • Andy Eddows — Steve Garti
  • Reporter - Jonathan Wright
    Jonathan Wright
    Jonathan Wright is a British historian and author.His books include The Jesuits: Missions, Myths and Histories - published in the USA as God's Soldiers...

  • Russell Askey - Craig Cheetham
    Craig Cheetham
    Craig Cheetham is an English actor. One of his main roles was in Peter Kay's Max & Paddy's Road to Nowhere in which he played the character Billy Shannon...

  • McKee - Michael Atkinson
    Michael Atkinson
    Michael John Atkinson , an Australian politician, was the South Australian Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Veterans' Affairs, and Minister for Multicultural Affairs in the Rann Labor Government. A day after the 2010 election, he stepped down as Attorney-General and resigned...

  • Nurse - Gemma Waasli
  • Doctor - Julian Kay

Production

  • The BBC's original intention for the second season was to broadcast the following weeks's episode on BBC Four
    BBC Four
    BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....

     at 10:00pm, immediately after an episode aired on BBC One
    BBC One
    BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

    , although this practice was quickly abandoned.

Music

  • Head In The Sky - Atomic Rooster
    Atomic Rooster
    Atomic Rooster were an English progressive rock band, composed of former members of the The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Throughout their history, keyboardist Vincent Crane was the only constant member, and wrote the majority of their material. Their history is defined by two periods, in the early...

  • Street Life - Roxy Music
    Roxy Music
    Roxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...

  • Break Through - Atomic Rooster
  • Son of my Father
    Son of my Father
    "Son Of My Father" is a song popularised by Chicory Tip. Giorgio Moroder, the co-writer, also recorded it and had a minor hit.Originally written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte in Italian as Tu sei mio padre and recorded under the moniker Giorgio. A copy found its way to studio manager Roger...

     - Chicory Tip
    Chicory Tip
    Chicory Tip is a British pop group from Maidstone, Kent, originally comprising; vocalist Peter Hewson ; guitarist Rick Foster ; bass guitarist Barry Mayger ; drummer Brian Shearer ; and guitarist and keyboard player Rod Cloutt Chicory Tip is a British pop group from Maidstone, Kent, originally...

  • Everybody Gets To Go To The Moon - The Three Degrees
    The Three Degrees
    The Three Degrees are an American female vocal group. Formed in 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,, the group has always been a trio though there have been a number of personnel changes and a total of fourteen women have represented the group so far. The original members were Fayette Pinkney,...

  • Spooky - Dusty Springfield
    Dusty Springfield
    Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...

  • Year Of Decision - Three Degrees
  • Starman
    Starman (song)
    "Starman" is a single by David Bowie, released in April 1972. The song was a late addition to The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, included at the insistence of RCA’s Dennis Katz, who heard a demo and loved the track, believing it would make a great single...

     - David Bowie
    David Bowie
    David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

  • Bring Me Sunshine
    Bring Me Sunshine
    "Bring Me Sunshine" was the best-known signature of Morecambe & Wise. The duo regularly used the song to close their shows for the BBC in the 1970s...

     - Morecambe and Wise
    Morecambe and Wise
    Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, usually referred to as Morecambe and Wise, or Eric and Ernie, were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984...


Viewing figures

This episode only attracted 5.7 million viewers, a real slump from the viewing figures of the previous series.

Homage

The conclusion has similarities with the short story The Unicorn in the Garden
The Unicorn in the Garden
"The Unicorn in the Garden" is a short story written by James Thurber. The most famous of Thurber's humorous modern fables, it first appeared in The New Yorker on October 31, 1939; and was first collected in his book Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated...

, where a woman is sectioned for reporting her husband's delusions of seeing a Unicorn in their garden.

External links

  • Episode 1 at bbc.co.uk
    Bbc.co.uk
    BBC Online is the brand name and home for the BBC's UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize...

  • Episode 1 at the Internet Movie Database
    Internet Movie Database
    Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...

  • Episode 1 at TV.com
    TV.com
    TV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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