Re: life on mars
 

Ashes To Ashes

LIFE On Mars may be ending as we know it but there’s good news for fans of the hit TV drama set in 1973.
BBC1 bosses today confirmed they are developing a spin-off show – also to be named after a David Bowie song – which could be filmed in Manchester next year.
Ashes To Ashes is set in the 1980s and is due to feature some cast members from the original show

link: http://blogs.manchestereveningnews.c...that_1981.html

Re: life on mars
 

That article is from October 2006 ;) I wonder if there is anymore news on it...

Re: life on mars
 

From the Wikipedia entry:

Re: life on mars
 

I was wondering if there was any more news, other than it is in the pipeline, like who is going to be in it, what is going to be like... :)

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Have you seen the trailer for the last episode ! wow it's going to be one hell Of a episode !

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Calling all Life On Mars fans.......

Get home early, Cancel anything already planned, and prepare for a night of quality TV......this is going to be one hell of an episode.
Let's hope it's a good one to end on !!!

Monday, 9:00pm BBC1 - FINAL EPISODE OF LIFE ON MARS

Re: life on mars
 

Oh no i've only gone amd missed it shame it was not on tuesday @ 9 ;)

Re: life on mars
 

It's about time we paid tribute to those little gems that helped make Life on Mars what it is - ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to post a list of your favourite Gene Huntisms. :D

My recent favourite:
As genuine as a tranny's fanny

And one for further discussion - do we think that 'this investigation is moving at the speed of a spastic in a magnet factory' was perhaps a leeeeeetle too close to the bone, even given the 1970s context?

Re: life on mars
 

You can't have it both ways - why is it funny to take the mickey out of transsexuals, but not spastics?

A lot of it is very close to the bone, but that's how it was in the 70's and I for one am glad that todays overwhelming PC directive hasn't affected a brilliant bit of television. :tu:

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A very good point. To what extent do we only laugh at the things we haven't been banned from laughing at?

I'm not sure they're quite the same in this case though. In the one case the metal leg braces are necessary medical intervention, in the other the surgery is elective ... however I don't want to get in to over-analyzing.

Another recent selection:
More fingers in pies than a leper on a cookery course
as nervous as a very small nun at a penguin shoot

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Indeed - LMAO at that one. :D

Although, I'd never laughed so much as I did when they did the little 'Trumpton' style intro the other week. :rofl:

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'You are surrounded by armed b*stards!' :D

Agree on the intro...

'Listen, you. I can just about handle you, driving like a p*ssed-up crack-head, and treating women like bean-bags, but I'm going to say this once, and once only: stay out of Camberwick Green!' :)

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:dunce: I shouldn't be posting late at night...... TUESDAY it is.
Can't wait for tonight.

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My fav:

"If I was worried as you, I wouldn't fart for ****ing myself"

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Tea is brewed, Easter egg is perched on the arm of the sofa ... here we go! :hyper:

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Take that as bad then you've conformed to the PC brigade. What was right in those day was right, you shouldn't or can't question them now. Just that fact you now think it's a little close to the bone and that you can't take it in context means just that. I say you because of the way you mentioned it 'leeeeetle', it was emphasized which 'could' mean you object.

In fact I'd rather be back in that era than the big bro, pc, lemming/sheep society of today.

"Blacks, they all look the same" sounds sooo bad today, but was soo right then, it just not out of context of those times.

Am I now a racist?? :rolleyes: lol.

The series was pure class and well done BBC for letting it go out on a high.

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Utter, utter, utter class. I challenge any American re-make to end as deliciously ambiguous as that did.

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What an anticlimax :(

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Absolutely excellent, but I suspect my head hurts more than Sam Tyler's now :erm:

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You have got to be kidding! This was a piece of classic TV, and you were there to see it! We'll be arguing about what the ending meant in the pub for decades!

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And what's the point of that? Why not give us an ending which would really have thrown the cat amongst the pigeons by getting the modern-day Tyler meeting up with his aged 70's colleagues?

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brilliant, loved it, the series has been a class above - and they all live happily ever after ;)

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they should have ended the series when he jumped off the roof, the ending was tacky.

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Just about to settle down & watch it. (Recorded it). The one liners are brilliant, the "tyranny's fanny" one was superb. There was one about "As much use as Liberace`s cock" something or other, wish I could remember it, laughed my ar*e off.

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Well, apart from Ray, whose new missus turns out to be a raging feminist, and rips his danglers off after about 5 minutes :D

Top class TV - absolute classic. I loved the bit at the end:

Sam: You shouldn't be driving.
Gene: Well, I am... (you just know he's thinking 'sod off, you nancy' :D )

---------- Post added at 22:10 ---------- Previous post was at 22:09 ----------

But that would have left us with even more questions. No way was that tacky - by leaving it ambiguous, it actually makes us think about it. Bit of a shock for this day and age...

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100% class

Gene Hunt: Anything happens to this motor, I'll come 'round your houses and stamp on all your toys. Got it? Good kids.
they are all here : http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars

daz300

Re: life on mars
 

WTF???

So is he back in a coma after jumping off the roof then?

or when he walked to the light did he even wake up in 2006/7??

I had read that the writers said they would give it a clear cut ending so that they could not make a new series. All they did was drive off. That clearly leaves it open for more??

My head hurts after watching that!

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Nowt wrong with that, :cool:

Jim.

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Well I hope he never goes back to the present time, and i doubly I hope we have a new totally un-PC cop show with those 5.

Re: life on mars
 

That wouldn't have thrown any cats anywhere. Virtually everyone has worked through that scenario in their heads or in forum threads like this one almost since the first series started. It would hardly have been an original ending.

They have ended it in such a way that it is going to be *extremely* difficult to explain it without leaving any loose ends. Honest, this is a classic. I predict the 'Life on Mars question' will become a modern TV phenomenon.

My thinking so far hinges on the DCI/Surgeon. Who was more believable as a 'real' person? DCI Frank Morgan or Mr Frank Morgan?

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I never said there was.

However the creater had said the ending would mean there was no chance of it returning!

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Take the 'what if' sci fi element out if it as that's now over and what have you left, the 'Sweeney', and that's already been done.

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It would be very difficult for it to return as we now know the one of tow possibilities for the conundrum as to why he was there. Which you choose to believe is up to you. He was in a coma, and has jumped back into it, or he had amnesia, and was dreaming of the future. Neither needs further explanation.

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It might not have been an original ending but it would have left more questions and imagination. And as for being extremely difficult to explain, bringing someone from deep within Tyler's mind in to reality, wouldn't that be difficult to explain, instead of "oh, he's back in another coma"?

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Dreaming of the future? He must be a prophet if that was the case then. Explain Robocop et al.

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A tidbit lifted from a forum Mrs T frequents:

:spin:

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Hence he called him 'Dorethy' in the last episode.

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This is sci fi. Take your pick from 1,001 possible solutions, or invent your own and make it 1,002. :D

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the key word was enigmatic ;), in my opinion :)

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Not the 'One of Two' possibilities then as quoted, lol.

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Definitely not. Another lift from another forum thread:

Was the testcard girl switching off Sam's life at the very end?

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Exactly, I was only answering Rob's post as in what he said was flawed.

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Thought it was a good ending, it clearly left it open for a "new" series. Perhaps a spin off with Sam & the Gene policing old Salford. If the writers have any sense that is.

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Now with the possibility of a sequel, Ashes to Ashes, featuring Gene Hunt, it's going to be a major story line to get a figment of Sam's imagination (yes, that's the way that I have took it ;) ) to go off on his own, without Sam. Can someone go off and do there own thing, in Sam's brain?

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end it now, imo, it has had an huge impact, please let us not lose that edge ;)

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Ashes to Ashes is definitely happening. Ashley Pharoah said on Radio 5 this afternoon that shooting was starting later this year...

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I heard that Gene goes off to London. I don't know if that is right or not, but how???

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Do us all a favour and get a copy of the Manchester Evening News tomorrow - apparently they have an exclusive interview.

http://blogs.manchestereveningnews.c..._to_ashes.html

Re: life on mars
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6542633.stm

"Life on Mars sequel jumps to '80s"


:confused: :rolleyes:

Re: life on mars
 

Nice that for once a series is not allowed to drag on and on and finishes on a high and gets people thinking.:tu:

Reminds me of The Prisoner in that respect.Short,well written episodes and series that finished ambiguously and everyone was discussing it down the pub for days...if not decades later. :)

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Why can't thay just leave it alone :cry5:

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The Answers...

Supposedly ;)

Re: life on mars
 

have to say the more I hear about Ashes to Ashes the less I like it.. again it's someone in the present going into a coma and ten going back in time

it's too similar to LOM and will end up being like a rubbish sequel.. why not just use Gene Hunt and all the others and then put them in the 80s and leave it at that

Re: life on mars
 

Thanks for that link :) I was and still am a little bemused, brilliant show, wish Sam hadn't gone out the way he did.

Re: life on mars
 

Absolutely Briliant !!! 100% Quality !

This was one of the best TV series in history !!!
The ending was amazing.
I kept on wondering when it was going to end. Especially with the music coming in several times, I thought that was it.
eg. When he saw the light in the tunnel, when he was walking around in the present, or when he jumped off the roof.
It just kept on going on and on and I was really happy when he came back to 1973 again.


I have to disagree. Too many TV shows end in this mystery style where you never find out an ending or have to work it out yourself. Here, there was a conclusion.

I'm really glad that Sam and Annie got together in the end. It was about time they kissed.

A few little things that I wondered about....

Why did Sam not tell Morgan about Ipod's and Mobile phones, Computers, when trying to tell him he was from the future....Had he forgotten about these things ?
If he is now back in 1973, what happens to his thoughts about the modern world.
A few episodes back he persuaded the girl to keep the baby who once born and grown up becomes a police officer and dates Sam.
By the time she is old enough, Sam will be much older so who will it be that she will be dating ? Is there another Sam Tyler ?
Or will this have changed history and they will no longer meet.


Overall, excellent TV !!! I loved it.

Re: life on mars
 

I'm optimistic for Ashes to Ashes, Gene Hunt is a great character and can easily carry a series.
I loved the ended of LOM although I was shocked at first and couldn't really get my head around it..but it makes sense and as the article Cobbydaler linked to states, Sam living back in 2007 back to the boring drudge of modern day police work seemed very out of place considering what the character had gone through, a very unorthodox ending and something Hollywood would never have had the balls to do. The testcard girl at the end was pure genius.

I really hope this series is recognised by BAFTA. I hardly watch regular TV apart from catching the news but I've had a weekly appointment with BBC1 for every episode. Something I haven't done for a very long time.

Re: life on mars
 

The one thing i will miss more than anything els is that beautiful beautiful Ford Cortina it was so much a part of the show :(



RIP cortina we we hardly knew thy :(

http://www.americancarsuk.com/Previo...naDSCF0015.jpg

Re: life on mars
 

He's going to have an original Audi Quattro in Ashes to Ashes.... :)

Re: life on mars
 

According to the lead writer, as interviewed by the Manchester Evening News:

1. Sam really was in a coma. He really did wake up. Then he committed suicide.
2. His return to 1973 occurs during the last couple of minutes of his real life, which is in 2006. However as it's a dream or coma state, who's to say how many years Sam may have back in the 1970s before he actually dies? The implication is he might live a lifetime in those moments.
3. The testcard girl was only supposed to symbolise 'the end', as in the end of Life on Mars, nothing more subtle than that.
4. The female DCI who is to appear in Ashes to Ashes is a psych profiler who has read the report Sam gave on his return to work in 2006 (we saw him briefly with a dictaphone right near the end) - including all he had to say about Gene Hunt. She is going to have an accident and end up in 1981 working with ... Gene Hunt. The new series will explore in more detail exactly who, or what, Gene is and what he symbolises.

Re: life on mars
 

"John Simm" - Nominated for Best Actor.

"Life On Mars" - Nominated for Best Drama

"Life On Mars" - Nominated for Audience Award.

Re: life on mars
 

I already know about the nominations, I meant win one :p.

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Yeah, let's hope it is recognised for the quality Tv that it is and for the great acting talent. :tu:

Re: life on mars
 

This really has been one of the best tv show's of the last 20 years if only thay made more show's that are as good as this !

Re: life on mars
 

Well, there is every reason to hope that the next series is going to be as good. The fact that they have been willing to take the format to a different city and a different decade (and give it a new title) while keeping the same basic premise at the core, is a good sign. If they had reneged on their promise not to do a third series of Life on Mars I'd have been worried, it would just have gone on and on and got wierd like Quantum Leap did.

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Beware, the Americans are killing off Life on Mars by making their own version, only it's based in 1972, not 1973. Are they deffo's making a series 3? Coz the ending of series 2 makes it look like there's gunna be more series'. Also on the BBC website it said it wouldn't be the last of Sam Tyler, is that an indication for a new series?

Re: life on mars
 

I don't see why the Americans doing a remake would kill off Life on Mars, but according to the IMDB, production has been put on hold, for whatever reason.

According to the blogs, linked to earlier in this thread, there isn't going to be 3rd series, but a spin off, not involving Sam Tyler. Have a look in this thread for other links.

Re: life on mars
 

Well there's no need for them to remake it is there? Apparantly the actors who played Sam and Hunt got asked to starr in it, but they said no.

Re: life on mars
 

The US TV audience is notoriously less accepting of 'foreign' TV than we are over here. It is therefore quite common for production companies to sell the idea to the Yanks rather than the programme itself. In some cases I think it's a real shame, but in the case of Life on Mars, what enjoyment would a general US audience get out of the backdrop being 1970s Manchester? It doesn't mean anything to them.

Their TV tradition is very rich in this area, they have Kojak, Colombo, Starsky and Hutch ... they have more than enough 70s cop cliches to draw on without having to make do with ours.

And seeing as all those shows travelled over here much more readily than the likes of The Professionals did over there, I think ironically a British audience would probably warm to an American remake. I'd quite like to see it, anyway, if it ever gets made!

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Ah ok, I see why now then. I'm sure it can't be as good as the UK version? :erm:

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America makes very good TV. I imagine it would be quite good but different to our version. Just like The Office became a different program in America after the first season

Re: life on mars
 

They also make some awful rubbish. In the late 80s, they bought the outlines to an excellent British black comedy called Dear John. They completely missed the point. Likewise when they re-made Men Behaving Badly and One Foot in the Grave. They just don't understand how we can find filth and tragedy hilarious. It doesn't compute, and what comes out the other end can, from a British point of view, appear sanitized and dull.

By that measure, The American Office should have been a disaster as well, but the one episode I got round to watching was actually ok ...

Re: life on mars
 

You are right Dear John was hilarious and they ruined it, I haven't seen the US equivalent of the others so can't comment

Re: life on mars
 

well don't forget with the amount of channels they have out there they are bound to produce a lot of rubbish.. mind you Celeb Love Island, Celeb Wrestling we have just as much rubbish as they do

American's make TV for American's and so not having their upbringing and culture it is bound to be a bit hit and miss on us

Re: life on mars
 

They have done really well in recent years though. So many decent dramas and comedys from the States now.

Re: life on mars
 

And so many more that you don't see, and won't ever see unless you go over there and have the misfortune to be stuck in a hotel room for a couple of nights with nothing to do ... thank goodness. Believe me, you shouldn't judge the overall quality of US TV by the extremely small sample you see over here on Sky etc. It is the cream of the crop and not at all representative.

Re: life on mars
 

Well I also aquire a few that dont come over here such as the Wire ;)

Anyway same could be said of TV here. At the moment we have Doctor Who, Peep Show and a few others but how often do we have good programs on the TV here that is British and not a reality show or a 'haha your all gonna die poor and alone!!!' type programs.

Re: life on mars
 

Other TV series from the same company as "Life On Mars" have been quality birish TV..............eg. Spooks and Hustle

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It seems the Ashes to Ashes is so close to Life On Mars that maybe they wanted to continue it but John Simm did not so they needed to find a new way to carry on. I not sure how it willl work with a female and Gene Hunt.

Re: life on mars
 

If the writers have any talent it should be brilliant...

His sexist 70s/80s attitudes vs a 21st century woman!

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Wonder how he'll cope with Thatcherism, I think he'll like her

Re: life on mars
 

I have just got to the end of L-O-M. It is without doubt the best TV series I have had the privelage to watch in many, many years. It almost makes the license fee acceptable.

I will be going back to it to watch it again, to see all the twists and turns missed first time around.

Looking forward to Ashes to Ashes :)

Re: life on mars
 

Here is your chance to find out, it don't look good from what I read but the trailer is so so imo

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news08/080516a.php

Re: life on mars
 

It looks like it'll be crap... The fact that the 2 main characters are Irish is stupid. I'm sure there was an American who would of suited Sam or Gene? Let's hope I'm wrong.

Re: life on mars
 

I'll caveat this with the fact that I can't see the trailer but being as much of the law enforcement in many cities of the US is Irish immigrant decendancy it kinda makes sense.

Re: life on mars
 

Where's the real Gene Hunt and the cortinas :eek: What about the copshop aka Stopford House in Stockport, nah can't see it being a hit :erm:

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Yes but it will make a nonsense of the IRA episode...;)

Re: life on mars
 

Surely all the scripts will be rewritten around events in US policing history, not UK! It's not Red Dwarf style scifi where it is fantasy future.

Re: life on mars
 

Yeah I suppose so...but I doubt it's going to have anything like the same impact..There wasn't a lot of terrorism in the US during the 70's.

Re: life on mars
 

Perhaps there'll be a Weatherman link...

Re: life on mars
 

Yeah but most of their activities were not against 'civilians' unlike the IRA campaigns and as a consequence the level of anger as shown by Gene Hunt may not ring as true..but what do I know? Could be it will be brilliant just like all the other US crossovers such as Ab Fab,Till Death Do Us Part,Steptoe and Son.

Personally I think that if a US audience can't accept the original then you might as well forget it.How can we constantly take what is good on our screens and try and change it to fit other tastes and still have it work as well as the original?

I know there are lots of Americans who get the originals.There are fans in the US of such shows as Red Dwarf,Blackadder and Ab Fab in their original British humour.There is no need to alter anything to fit a perceived American mentality.

If we can accept American shows like Frasier then I'm sure they can accept ours.

Re: life on mars
 

Your average American is far less accommodating of cultural diversity, which is sad considering how culturally diverse they are as a nation within themselves. They tend to have quite narrow tastes when it comes to TV.

I don't think it matters too much, because it means we can sell our telly to them twice - once to the minor networks who buy it 'as made', and again to the more major networks who buy the concept and re-make it.

The only thinf that niggles me is that most Americans watching such a re-make have any idea that the show originated outside the US, thus reinforcing their notion that they are the only ones making decent TV.

Re: life on mars
 

must be fun ;)

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:sleep: A badly acted pilot. The actors just don't suit the roles... Also, some of the settings look very fake. I can't see it being a ratings winner like the UK version... :rolleyes:

Re: life on mars
 

Bought the first season of the UK version last week and only just finished episode 8. I feel it was a marvelous ending to the story, better than what most anyone following the series could have imagined. Not sure I would want to see the second season though... The ending to the first season being as good as it was. Am I wrong? How does season 2 compare to the first?
Would like to see Ashes To Ashes though, feel it should work.

Re: life on mars
 

Ashes to Ashes certainly isn't disappointing, although the interplay between Gene Hunt and our new time traveller, Alex Drake, is quite different to that between Hunt and Sam Tyler, which makes for a somewhat different TV show, so just because you like one doesn't mean you'll like the other - it would depend what you really liked about Life on Mars.

All in all I really enjoyed it though. They made a lot out of the fact that Alex Drake, who is a police psychologist, had read Sam's report into his 1970s adventures and so believes she knows exactly what's going on. She treats her experience in a totally different way to him, which is refreshing because it means they avoid simply re-treading Life on Mars.

I'd say go ahead and get it.

Re: life on mars
 

I enjoyed the juxtaposition between old and new policing methods, the music, how they had the older Sam's involvement influence his father leaving the younger Sam and his mother 33 years earlier, and the fact that I knew none of the actors.

Ashes To Ashes is not yet available on DVD here in SA, but soon as it is I'll be biting--sink my bicuspids into the spin-off...

Am still interested in knowing how season 2 of Life On Mars compares to the first. I don't want to watch it and feel it took something away from the impact of the first season.

Re: life on mars
 

Season 2 adds a lot to the overall story and explores Sam Tyler in more depth especially as he is still trying to work out what is going on and it is totally worth watching.

Re: life on mars
 

And the overall ending to the show is superb.

Re: life on mars
 

Has anyone watched the US pilot yet then?

Re: life on mars
 

Thanks, will get season 2 then while I wait for Ashes To Ashes to come out on DVD.