It seems some fuddy duddy at BBC Prime's eventually
wisened up to the fact that they've choked us with too many repeats-of-repeats and icey, grey drama's to justify taking our cash.
First the channel took a fresh step into the new millenium with the March debut of
Dancing With Stars 5 and now they've announced the premiere of the time travel series Life On Mars.
We're very pleased with the news - specifically seeings as TVSA's citanul
made a special request for it three weeks ago.
This, from his description of the show:
"Detective Inspector Sam Tyler is a highly successful present-day police office until the day he gets hit by a car and wakes up in 1973. There are three possible explanations for this - either he’s mad, or he’s in coma and imagining everything, or he really has travelled back in time. However, he’s not sure which of these is the case.
Some of you may have read the preceding paragraph and thought, “I’m not into science fiction, so this isn’t my kind of show.” But you’d be wrong.
While the time travel aspect is there in the background, it remains in the background. The show is really about an outsider trying to find his place in a setting that is very different from anything he knows. In fact, for all intents and purposes, he could be on another planet (which is a partial explanation for the show’s title).
Being a policeman in the 1970s is very different from being one in the 21st century. This was a time when forensics were almost non-existent, and it was permissible to beat a confession out of a suspect.
Sam’s abhorrence of his new colleagues’ methods and his attempt to apply a “modern” approach bring him into conflict with his superior, Gene Hunt, and it’s the relationship between the two that makes the show.
The two of them clash frequently, yet they share a close friendship, and you get the sense that while each may deplore the other’s methods, deep down they admire the effectiveness of them."
Made by the creators of
Spooks and
Hustle, the show's won both a BAFTA and International Emmy Award (for shows outside the US) for Best Drama Series.
In a similar move to what happened with
The Office, ABC has ordered a US remake of the series, which is currently still in production after being halted by the writers strike.
There are two eight-episode seasons to the series and a follow-up sequel called Ashes to Ashes, which recently premiered in the UK.
Life On Mars premieres on Tuesday, 13 May 2008 at 20h30.
If the date's still the same at the time.