Life on Mars

This concept was a great way to bring back the '70s cop show. Smack 'em around 'til you get the truth and damn the legal process. No time in the laboratory, but lots of cars. The settings, the clothes, the music, the bobbies' clothes all take me back to my childhood. I love the twist of seeing it through the eyes of a modern day cop, plus his attempts to do police without a computer and instant forensic results. Sam is obviously going to have to learn to do police work by his guts than relying on technology. I'm hooked on waiting to find out if Sam can get back. I get a huge kick out of the other characters too, particularly Gene, the antithesis of Sam. The series is alternately funny and touching.

Wow- yet another gem from the BBC after the brilliant Spooks and clearly taking a page from classic American sci fiction/police dramas. Simm looks perfect as the archetypal time travelling hero( he would have a good DR WHO!) and i cant believe that the viewing population would watch trash like reality TV shows featuring under sexed models with false noses and ex basketball junkie criminals. This already has my diary fixed for Monday evenings at 9pm and it is great to relive my past when i was at school- roll on Bowie, Slade ,The Glitterband and The Sweet- the age of glamorous rock bands, The SWeeney and Cortinas. A cracker! And will the BBC continue their great dramas in the months to come as there is very little on terrestrial TV to stimulate the cortices of my brain. I cant wait for the next episode- will Sam Tyler be remembered like Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap?

This British series, which made it's trek to the States, Has proved to me to be one of the best series on BBC America this year (the other being Hex).

The commercials for the series don't do the justice of what the series entails. The commercial make you think that the show is basically your run of the mill Sci-fi series working with a weak plot. I have always said that marketing is just as....if not more...important than the actual subject.

You have probably already read the synopsis from other comments presented here, so I won't bore you with the background too much. However, as I watch this series (currently have watched the first 2 episodes) I can't help but be reminded of another British export from many years ago...The Prisoner.

During each case that our hero is involved in, things come into play about where he actually is. He has no idea whether he's delusional, transported in time, or in a coma. This twist, put into the plot line, is what sets this show apart from the others in a very refreshing way.

Overall, I was quite pleased with how this series has turned out and I hope to see much more of it as well as being able to buy the DVDs if they released here in the U.S.

Like some of the reviewers here, I wasn't expecting much of this and started watching almost by accident.

I am a '24' man(!) and I have to say after watching this, 24 (after season 3 anyway) starts to show it's weaknesses. In "Life on Mars" you really start to care about the character and what is happening - it has many surprises. Some are startling, some dawn on you as you watch.

Now I wouldn't be old enough to actually remember the 70's, but it is very atmospheric - and crucially, not in an over-the-top way.

The 'real world'(??!) storyline is handled with a light touch too. You go through it with him as clues (or more questions) pop up unpredictably!

This deserves to be a huge hit!

Stumbled on this series on BBC America and miss it terribly now that the first season is over.

Great over-arching conflict (Is Sam imagining he's from the future? Is he living inside his coma-induced reality? Or did he really travel back in time?) intermingles well within each episodes crime to solve. Loved when promises a witness complete anonymity if the guy will agree to finger the perpetrator in a line up; handled in a way that recognized the humor without diminishing the seriousness.

Plus, even though it's promoted as Sam's story, the series would suffer greatly without the Guv (DCI Gene Hunt). In the US, Philip Glenister's character would too easily be a cardboard-flat, corrupt, irredeemable cop. Here he's written and played with many shades letting you cheer for him at times, loathe him at others, pity his neanderthal ways, respect his desire to be a "good cop" while shaking your head at his twisted definition of a "good cop." He's a smart and unpredictable foil for Sam. They're each a better man for having to deal with the other even as they resent the complication and will never fully agree on their methods. There's a grudging respect building between them.

It's Sam's and Hunt's push me-pull you relationship that makes this must-see for me.