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Life On Mars - Series 1 Reviews

2006 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 80
  • from 13,011 members

LIFE ON MARS is a throwback to the crime-fighting style of the 1970s, drawing its inspiration from such TV series as THE SWEENEY and THE PROFESSIONALS. As was characteristic of classic 60s fantasy, the creators have taken some risks with the show�s politically incorrect references, daring to be slightly subversive. While .. Read more

Starring John Simm, Philip Glenister, Liz White, Dean Andrews
Director John Alexander, John McKay
Genres Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Television

Buy From: £9.93

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  • Most helpful members' reviews (3) of Life On Mars - Series 1

    View all
  • 43 out of 51 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Policing at it's best!!

    This is how policing should be!!

    Well, some of it.....no red tape, no bloody human rights....

    Oh, and it is a fantastic series, John Simm & Philip Glenister are brilliant actors....it's just a shame it can't go on for more and more series.

    It would be good for Sam to go back to his year and meet DCI Hunt as an old man, and they have one of those 'deja vu' moments....

    Get it, watch it and fully enjoy it!!

      • Mike Thompson from Runcorn, Cheshire, England
  • 34 out of 35 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Cracking stuff from the Beeb!

    I watched the first episode of this and was instantly hooked. The stories are great, the skips between modern day and the 70's are trippy man!! Its actually quite scary to watch the policing methods from back then. Warning, you WILL be hooked after the first look!

  • 13 out of 14 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Quantum leaps meets kojak?!

    Saw this on tv and was hooked and glued for the entire series. Top notch acting with indepth plots and the time-trip mystery that continues to keep you guessing until.........!

    This is must watch tv to be grabbed and savoured. The Americans are having a bash at remaking it for them over the pond so I presume we will be seeing a Starsky and Hutch approach at some point in the future. This is required viewing of the highest order for story, sub-plot, acting and sheer brilliance of concept but as said, be warned - Series 2 has been commissioned by the beeb...

      • Malcolm Swords from Manchester
  • Most recent members' reviews (2) of Life On Mars - Series 1

    View all
  • 6 out of 6 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    The best TV drama of the last ten years

    Current TV has never been so bad; 'reality' shows, buying houses abroad, 'celebrity' challenges, endless cookery, crap soaps that lost all touch with reality years ago etc etc. Need I go on?

    Then along came 'Life on Mars'. What makes it so good?

    1: John Simm. Watch ANYTHING he is in. The man can act and chooses what he appears in very carefully.

    2: Gene Hunt. Brilliantly written and superbly played by Philip Glenister. One of the best comic creations of recent times.

    3: Time travel/coma mystery. The contrast of the the 1970s with modern day is well done.

    4: 1970's style cop-show. 'The Sweeney' has never been bettered; this comes close.

    5: No political correctness. Refreshing to escape it for a while.

    6: Addictive. Watch one and you'll watch them all.

    I watch very little TV these days. This series was compulsory viewing for me. Watching it again on the DVDs makes me realise just how good it is.

    Brilliant!

      • A customer from Wiltshire
  • 3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Life On Mars Disc 2

    EPISODE 3...Sam starts to feel at home in 1973. But there's a fatal stabbing at Cresters Textiles, he's shocked to discover that Cresters is the converted Mill where he lives in 2006.

    EPISODE 4...Sam calls into question the ethos of his whole department when he takes on a local gangster. But does Sam realise the full consequences of this fight? And can Gene lay to rest a ghost from his past?

      • Gavin O'Donnell from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
  • 43 out of 51 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Policing at it's best!!

    This is how policing should be!!

    Well, some of it.....no red tape, no bloody human rights....

    Oh, and it is a fantastic series, John Simm & Philip Glenister are brilliant actors....it's just a shame it can't go on for more and more series.

    It would be good for Sam to go back to his year and meet DCI Hunt as an old man, and they have one of those 'deja vu' moments....

    Get it, watch it and fully enjoy it!!

      • Mike Thompson from Runcorn, Cheshire, England
  • 34 out of 35 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Cracking stuff from the Beeb!

    I watched the first episode of this and was instantly hooked. The stories are great, the skips between modern day and the 70's are trippy man!! Its actually quite scary to watch the policing methods from back then. Warning, you WILL be hooked after the first look!

  • 13 out of 14 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Quantum leaps meets kojak?!

    Saw this on tv and was hooked and glued for the entire series. Top notch acting with indepth plots and the time-trip mystery that continues to keep you guessing until.........!

    This is must watch tv to be grabbed and savoured. The Americans are having a bash at remaking it for them over the pond so I presume we will be seeing a Starsky and Hutch approach at some point in the future. This is required viewing of the highest order for story, sub-plot, acting and sheer brilliance of concept but as said, be warned - Series 2 has been commissioned by the beeb...

      • Malcolm Swords from Manchester
  • 13 out of 16 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    a fine blend

    ok! so it's a cross between 'quantum leap', 'the sweeney' with a touch of 'the wizard of oz'. give this blend a twist of northern-england life in the '70s, and for those of us who are old enough to remember when their parents had rodger whittaker records on their chrome record racks, this is an excellent piece of television. great characters and superb script (especially when the 1973 and 2006 cultures trip over each other).

      • john feeney from doncaster
  • 12 out of 15 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 2 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    'Life On Mars'

    There is something lacking about these series, it is more like the appropriation of unreality, like a staged Adult ' Mr Benn'' series where for whatever reason, the hero is allowed to exhibit the worst excesses of moral narcissism, and the supporting actors are used to placate this smugness. It is all very manipulative and there is more of this in Feb. I just wish the BBC didn't feel so proud about itself for more such mediocrity

      • AntonyG from South Croydon
  • 11 out of 12 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Makes you wonder!

    I'd seen a couple of episodes when screened on the TV and decided to get the DVD's. Hmm, my wife watched one and loved them all - addictive viewing to say the least.

    There are some scenes that make's you wonder how things have changed - I can relate to that year! To mention just one scene that had me laughing so much... He asks prior on them going to arrest some potentially violent criminal, 'What protection are they wearing, have they got anti-stab vests?' (and a few other things). The reply he gets is 'They got their helmets!'. In the context it's said and the timing it makes instant viewing appeal. Well thought out plots and perfect timing and acting makes the episodes compulsive viewing.

    The other issue really is that was it better then or is it better now? Those who can relate to that year will no doubt have the answer!

      • A customer from London UK
  • 11 out of 16 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 0 stars

    Life On Mars

    Boring didn't go anywhere or do anything at all interesting , one for the old pretentious Potato Sacks to watch on a sunday afternoon after EastEnders has finished , It sent me to sleep

      • Stephen Hardy from Tamworth
  • 12 out of 20 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 1 star

    very good

    you lot just live to complain how can you give this a bad review, and one you said the 'best thing about this movie is when it ended' god you don't even know that your reviewing a tv series lol......... anyway this a good tv series recommend it to anyone

      • A customer from London
  • 8 out of 11 people found this review helpful

    * * * This review contains spoilers * * *ShowHide

    Rated - 2 stars

    overrated

      • David Rogers from London, England
  • 7 out of 7 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Ah yes. Lives up to the hype.

    If you liked Spooks (same production company), and/or you liked The Sweeney, and/or you like a fast paced action drama with interesting characters developed in some depth then you will like this.

      • Andrew McMenamin from London, UK

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    • LIFE ON MARS is a throwback to the crime-fighting style of the 1970s, drawing its inspiration from such TV series as THE SWEENEY and THE PROFESSIONALS. As was characteristic of classic 60s fantasy, ...

    • Life On Mars - Series 1
    • DVD: £9.93
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    • RRP £39.29 (you save: 75%)
    • LIFE ON MARS is a throwback to the crime-fighting style of the 1970s, drawing its inspiration from such TV series as THE SWEENEY and THE PROFESSIONALS. As was characteristic of classic 60s fantasy, ...

Rating breakdown

13,011 Member ratings
  • 100
4,034
  • 90
2,260
  • 80
3,252
  • 70
1,535
  • 60
830
  • 50
430
  • 40
221
  • 30
165
  • 20
169
  • 10
115

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