Life on Mars (2006) Review: A Cop Show Lost in 1973

Is Life on Mars worth watching?

Yes. Life on Mars is a clever, funny and surprisingly moving police drama that uses a time-travel premise to stage an argument about what policing is for. John Simm and Philip Glenister make a brilliant odd couple, and the 1970s setting is recreated with affection and bite. The reservation is that the case-of-the-week structure can feel formulaic, and some of the period humour has dated awkwardly even though it is often the point.

What is Life on Mars about?

Sam Tyler (John Simm) is a detective chief inspector in 2006 Manchester, investigating a serial killer, when he is knocked down by a car. He wakes up in 1973. He is still a police officer, but now in a station without computers, forensic procedure or much interest in suspects’ rights, working under the bullish DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister). As Sam struggles to adapt to the technology and attitudes of the era, he also has to work out what has happened to him: whether he is mad, in a coma, or genuinely back in time.

Liz White plays Annie Cartwright, a policewoman who becomes Sam’s closest confidante, while Dean Andrews and Marshall Lancaster are the CID officers who make up Gene’s team.

Life on Mars was created by Matthew Graham, Ashley Pharoah and Tony Jordan and made for the BBC. It is a British series in English, named after the David Bowie song. This review covers the complete show: two series and 16 episodes, broadcast in 2006 and 2007, and the story has ended.

Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt

The show’s heart is the clash between its two detectives. Sam is a modern, by-the-book officer who believes in evidence and procedure. Gene Hunt believes in instinct, intimidation and the occasional punch. Their arguments are the engine of almost every episode, and the writing is smart enough not to hand the win automatically to Sam. Sometimes his methods are right; sometimes Gene’s bluntness gets results, and the series lets both men be admirable and deeply flawed.

Philip Glenister’s Gene Hunt became one of British television’s most famous characters, a bombastic, politically incorrect force of nature with a gift for outrageous one-liners. John Simm is equally good in a less showy role, anchoring the series with a performance full of confusion, frustration and loneliness.

Time travel as social commentary

What lifts Life on Mars above other police procedurals is how it uses its premise. The 1970s are not simply a costume party. The show confronts the casual racism, sexism and brutality of the era’s policing, often through Sam’s horrified reactions, while also acknowledging what the modern world has lost: a sense of community, loyalty and plain speaking.

The mystery of Sam’s condition runs through both series, adding eerie, dreamlike moments to the procedural framework. Strange voices, visions and a recurring sense of unreality keep viewers guessing about what is real.

Where the format shows its limits

Most episodes follow a case-of-the-week pattern, and some cases are more memorable than others. The formula can feel repetitive across the run, and a few episodes lean too heavily on period pastiche. The show’s humour sometimes relies on the audience laughing along with attitudes it elsewhere critiques, a tension that is deliberate but not always resolved.

Who should watch Life on Mars?

It is ideal for fans of British crime drama, viewers who enjoy genre-bending mysteries, and anyone nostalgic for 1970s television. Sixteen hour-long episodes make it a manageable binge. Expect violence, strong language and the prejudiced attitudes of its period, which the show portrays deliberately.

Worth watching next:

• Happy Valley for another brilliant northern English police drama, this time grounded firmly in the present.
• Line of Duty for modern British policing and a very different look at corruption and procedure.
• Inside No. 9 for more British television that bends genre into something stranger.

The verdict

Life on Mars is an inventive, entertaining and thoughtful crime drama built on a brilliant premise and two memorable central performances. Its procedural structure sometimes feels routine, but its wit, atmosphere and serious questions about justice make it a British classic worth revisiting.

Rating: 4/5