Life On Mars - Series 1 Episode 1

'Life on Mars' is a British crime drama TV series that started in 2006 - 2007, it aired on BBC. John Simm who plays Sam Tyler has somehow been sent back in the past to the 1970s. The series starts with Sam Tyler, who is a policeman for the GMP in 2006. Suddenly, we see Tyler get hit by a car. He then wakes up as a Detective Inspector in 1973 and works for the Manchester and Salford Police.

The first episode involves the audience is following the protagonist Sam as he is suddenly taken to back the 70s, we don’t know any more than the other characters in the series. When Sam is transported back into 1973, he learns more as he lives the life in the 70’s, making Sam the audience surrogate. Starting from the first episode, the story about Sam's situation may be confusing for him and the audience, the reason behind this is either he is in a coma, dead or he has travelled back in time. This is where the sci-fi drama comes into play.  Although the anonymous mystery of Sam's problem is shadowed through the entire series, 'Life on Mars' is based on a crime drama. Whilst back in time, Sam Tyler meets his new partner Gene Hunt to solve cases. 'Life on Mars' also involves with the play of the buddy cop genre following shows such as “Ride Along” where the two main protagonists start their partnership with some with issues and problems, but then develop to grow respect towards each other.

Furthermore, to confuse the paradox of Sam's situation, the series uses non-diegetic sounds where Tyler and the audience can hear audio covered in a hospital scene that Sam may be in due to the fact that he may be in a coma. The episode further complicates the mystery by having a character persuading Sam that he's in a coma which ends up as a lie.

Life on Mars gives the audience a feeling on what life was like in the 1970s. This presence is also created by producers through design, music, and how the way people act towards certain features of society. One example of this is the use of smoking. We can see that nearly everyone in the office is smoking. This can be used as a representation of the 70’s as smoking was promoted back then. Another example that we can tell that is based in the 1970’s is the way the majority of the police force act towards the female police officer, Annie Cartwright. They proceed to make sexist statements when Sam needs her for the current case. The atmosphere is so detailed to create an environment based out of the 70s with the use of cars, costume, layout of sets and the police station.  
Some would argue that police crime dramas are all near enough the same, 'Life on Mars' involves something different which creates a unique experience for the audience and helps it divert standard crime dramas.