Scripted series · BBC One
Life on Mars
Is he mad, in a coma… or has Detective Sam Tyler really travelled back in time?
Who's in it
Cast
The principal ensemble across the run of the series.
John Simm
Sam Tyler
16 eps
Philip Glenister
Gene Hunt
16 eps
Liz White
Annie Cartwright
16 eps
Dean Andrews
Ray Carling
16 eps
Marshall Lancaster
Chris Skelton
16 eps
Noreen Kershaw
Phyllis Dobbs
16 eps
Joanne Froggatt
Ruth Tyler
2 eps
Lee Ingleby
Vic Tyler
1 eps
Ian Barritt
Stanley Cooper
1 eps
Reece Dinsdale
Simon Lamb
1 eps
Marc Warren
Tony Crane
1 eps
Tim Plester
Rocket
1 eps
Eva Pope
Carol Twilling
1 eps
Jacqueline Boatswain
Officer
1 eps
Rafaella Hutchinson
Test Card Girl
2 eps
Sagar Arya
Saeed Taufeeq
1 eps
Ralph Brown
Frank Morgan
2 eps
Kevin McNally
Harry Woolf
2 eps
Paul Copley
Reg Cole
1 eps
Anthony Flanagan
Pete Bond
1 eps
Alex Reid
Layla Dylan
1 eps
Katherine Kelly
Auntie Heather
1 eps
Stephen Bent
Arnold Malone
1 eps
Archie Panjabi
Maya Roy
2 eps
Jonathan Duttine
Malcolm Cox
1 eps
Carl Cieka
Hugo Barton
1 eps
Georgia Taylor
Denise Williams
1 eps
Andrew Tiernan
Kim Trent
1 eps
Steve Evets
Dickie Fingers
1 eps
John Henshaw
Ted Bannister
1 eps
Ruth Millar
Jackie Queen
1 eps
Phaldut Sharma
Ravi Gandhi
1 eps
Sean Gilder
Leslie Johns
1 eps
Michael Lawrence
Ryan
1 eps
John Axon
Arthur Coynes
1 eps
Andrew Knott
Derek Bannister
1 eps
John Wilson
Man in Pub
1 eps
Sam Hazeldine
Colin Raimes
1 eps
Henry Cox
Young Lad
1 eps
Caroline Harding
Raimes' Lawyer
1 eps
The Nutevio profile
TV DNA
How Life on Mars actually feels to watch, measured on the traits our editors track across every series.
Signature profile
Life on Mars reads strongest on Character Depth, Tension and Bingeability.
How fully written and psychologically layered the ensemble is.
The sustained pressure the series keeps you under.
How hard it is to stop after one episode.
How often an episode ends on a hook you can't ignore.
How much each hour depends on the one before it.
The scale, internal logic and texture of the world.
How much the series is designed to affect you.
Visual ambition — scale, craft and set-piece filmmaking.
How often the series is genuinely funny, by design.
The story
What it's about
A detective chief inspector from 2006 is investigating a serial killer when he is knocked over by a speeding car. Waking up, he finds himself mysteriously transported back in time to 1973. Initially struggling to come to terms with his situation, he has to come to terms with the old-fashioned technology and attitude of the day, while figuring out how he came to be trapped in the past.
The run
Seasons
2 seasons · 16 episodes.
- Poster unavailableSpecials
Season 0 · Unannounced
Specials
17 episodes
Season 1 · Complete
Series 1
20068 episodes
7.7IMDbThe first series of Life On Mars focuses on Sam's life following the crash and his arrival in 1973. Elements are thrown in to suggest he is mad, in a coma, or travelled back in time. Also during the first series run, Sam is informed that he is DI (Detective Inspector) to DCI Gene Hunt and the rest of the CID department in Manchester in 1973. This revelation is something that Sam finds hard to understand; he spends most of the series working alone, against his team and Gene.
Best episode · S01E04 Episode 4
Season 2 · Complete
Series 2
20078 episodes
8.0IMDbSam learns that an operation is to be conducted on him in 2006 to try and revive him from his coma. However, he believes that to return to the twenty-first century, he has to betray his colleagues in 1973 — but can he regard them as imaginary, or are they real - at least for him?
Best episode · S02E08 Episode 8
Where the series peaks
Best Episodes
The hours that define the show, ranked by audience response and editorial signal.
S02E08
Episode 8
Sam learns that an operation is to be conducted upon him in 2006 to try and revive him from his coma. However, he believes that to return to the 21st century, he has to betray his colleagues in 1973 - but can he regard them as real or imaginary?
- Directed by SJ Clarkson
- Written by Matthew Graham
S02E07
Episode 7
A water-tight court case fails to put away a local gangster. Unable to cope with a guilty man walking free, DCI Hunt turns to alcohol but soon finds himself in a spot of bother. When it appears as though Hunt may have killed someone, it's up to Sam, torn between Gene and his replacement - a DCI who actually uses Sam's modern police techniques and vocabulary - to help him out.
- Directed by SJ Clarkson
- Written by Mark Greig
S01E04
Episode 4
Gene believes that local gangster Stephen Warren and the police can co-exist and that the streets are safer as a result. But Sam knows that in the future, dodgy deals like this will irrevocably change the relationship between the public and the police. Whilst Gene lays a ghost to rest, Sam sets to work on convincing his new partner, but is distracted when he meets his mother as a young woman.
- Directed by John McKay
- Written by Matthew Graham
S02E05
Episode 5
The team investigates the abduction of a young woman and her daughter, who are being held prisoner by somebody who wishes the team to release a prisoner arrested on a murder charge a year ago. At the same time, Sam faces a life or death situation in 2006 when he thinks he has accidentally been given an overdose. As the deadline draws closer, Sam collapses into a deeper coma, leaving his colleagues to tackle the mystery on their own - albeit using some of his earlier suggestions.
- Directed by Andrew Gunn
- Written by Matthew Graham
S01E01
Episode 1
After a car accident in 2006, Sam Tyler wakes up in 1973. Sam's 21st Century attitudes make him a fish out of water in this world of clunky technology and old fashioned policing. And nothing seems more alien than his new boss, DCI Gene Hunt, who believes in gut instinct and, all too often, sheer brute force. Then Sam discovers a connection between a murder in 1973 and the kidnapper in 2006. Could solving this case be the key to getting home?
- Directed by Bharat Nalluri
- Written by Matthew Graham
S02E01
Episode 1
Tyler has visions of someone disrupting his life support system in 2006, and encounters who he thinks is the same assailant in 1973, running a gambling syndicate and protection racket. Recognising the man as a killer he failed to stop in the future, Tyler is prepared to go to any lengths to make sure his life is not threatened and the man doesn't kill his original victim.
- Directed by SJ Clarkson
- Written by Matthew Graham
Behind the series
Created by
Showrunners, creators, executive producers and the writers who set the voice of the series.
The craft
Key Crew
Directing, writing, production, camera, music and editing.
Executive production
- Cameron RoachProducer
- Claire ParkerExecutive Producer
- Matthew GrahamExecutive Producer
- Marcus WilsonProducer
- Jane FeatherstoneExecutive Producer
Writing
- Guy JenkinWriter
- Julie RutterfordWriter
- Tony JordanWriter
- Matthew GrahamWriter
- Chris ChibnallWriter
- Ashley PharoahWriter
Direction
- John AlexanderDirector
- Bharat NalluriDirector
- John McKayDirector
- SJ ClarksonDirector
- Richard ClarkDirector
- Andrew GunnDirector
Cinematography
- Grant CameronDirector of Photography
- Balazs BolygoDirector of Photography
- Tim PalmerDirector of Photography
- Adam SuschitzkyDirector of Photography
Where to watch
Streaming
Availability verified against regional listings.
- Amazon Prime VideoStreaming
- Amazon VideoBuy
- BritBox Amazon ChannelStreaming
- Amazon Prime Video with AdsStreaming
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