Life on Mars

We've been watching clips of this BBC show over the summer. Pretty cool. The premise involves a Manchester (UK) Detective Chief Inspector who gets hit by a car in 2006 and wakes up in 1973. Is he mad, in a coma, or really back in time? A risky premise for sure, but the show generally pulls it off.

John Simm plays Sam Tyler, who gets thrown (literally) for a loop. The contrast between Tyler's modern-day police tactics and 1973's old school practices are highlighted in each episode. Plus there's a nice Ford Cortina for Tyler's boss to drive.

Sam Tyler: I think we need to explore whether this attempted murder was a hate crime.
Gene Hunt: What, as opposed to one of those I-really-really-like-you sort of murders?

Great stuff. Hopefully season 2 will be on BBC America early next year, since it's done in the UK. It will be remade as an American show, with Boston Legal's David E. Kelley at the helm. A BBC successor show, Ashes to Ashes, will follow in the UK. Filming has already started. This time the unlucky traveler is a female cop, who winds up in 1980.