Series One
The first series of Life On Mars focuses on Sam's life following the crash and his arrival in 1973. Elements are thrown in to suggest he is mad, in a coma, or travelled back in time. Also during the first series run, Sam is informed that he is DI (Detective Inspector) to DCI Gene Hunt and the rest of the CID department in Manchester in 1973. This revelation is something that Sam finds hard to understand; he spends most of the series working alone, against his team and Gene.
| No. | Title | Writer | Director | Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Episode 1" | Matthew Graham | Bharat Nalluri | Monday 9 January 2006 (2006-01-09), 9–10pm |
| After a road accident in 2006, DCI Sam Tyler awakens to find himself in 1973. Apparently a DI and assigned to work under rough-around-the-edges DCI Gene Hunt, Tyler follows a series of murders which have been committed with the same modus operandi in both 2006 and 1973. The clash-of-cultures between Tyler and others relates mainly to the lack of importance placed on forensic science in 1973. WPC Annie Cartwright stops Sam jumping off the top of a building after he convinces himself that suicide will take him back to 2006. | ||||
| 2 | "Episode 2" | Matthew Graham | Bharat Nalluri | Monday 16 January 2006 (2006-01-16), 9–10pm |
| An armed robber Kim Trent is brought in with no evidence in a case of a violent robbery from a local bookies, Gene plants false evidence on him. Tyler seeing this as grounds for a false conviction and allows Trent to be released without charge, and the man then goes on to commit a further armed robbery from a jewellers, resulting in June an innocent cleaning woman working in CID being seriously injured. After forensics is messed up by Chris, Sam finds new hope in solving the case with Leonard, a partially deaf street cleaner who saw the robbers without their masks. Sam tries to persuade him to testify by offering him police protection but Gene, Ray and Chris don't take the protection seriously resulting in the lives of Annie and Leonard being at risk. | ||||
| 3 | "Episode 3" | Matthew Graham | John McKay | Monday 23 January 2006 (2006-01-23), 9–10pm |
| When a man is killed at a textile factory Gene is convinced the culprit is Ted Bannister the union organiser. Gene pushes Ted for a confession which he gives to save the factory from closure. Gene is happy with the confession, but Sam pushes deeper, and discovers he was instead covering up for a fatal accident. Ted's son is found to have been planning a payroll robbery at the same firm and has stolen guns being tracked by DCI Litton. Sam tries to reason with the robbers and lets his guard down only to be saved at the last second by Gene. | ||||
| 4 | "Episode 4" | Ashley Pharoah | John McKay | Monday 30 January 2006 (2006-01-30), 9–10pm |
| Sam arrests the henchman of Stephen Warren, a local Mr Big, when he learns the whole of CID are on his payroll. Sam also visits his childhood home to interact with his mother (using name of "Bolan", a reference to the glam rock star Marc Bolan), who was being threatened by the landlord, one of Warren's men. Sam tries to help her by giving her some money and she misunderstands his gesture. When Sam tries to go all out after Warren, he finds himself in a fix when Warren sets him up in a honey trap. The girl involved in the honey trap sees the error of her ways only to be murdered by Warren. Gene disagrees with Ray, who says that if they don't play the game, people get hurt and helps Sam bring down Warren, putting his guilty conscience to rest. Sam also attempts to persuade Gene to swap his Red Rum for Tyler's Proud Percy in the Grand National sweepstakes. | ||||
| 5 | "Episode 5" | Tony Jordan | SJ Clarkson | Monday 6 February 2006 (2006-02-06), 9–10pm |
| A Manchester United fan is murdered and it is widely assumed that the culprit is a Manchester City fan. Sam suggests that he go undercover as a barman at the Trafford Arms pub to try to gain more information, where he is assisted by Gene and Annie. The pub is frequented by a group of Manchester United supporters and it soon becomes apparent that they are planning a confrontation with Manchester City fans at the derby game to be held on the following Saturday. | ||||
| 6 | "Episode 6" | Matthew Graham & Ashley Pharoah | John Alexander | Monday 13 February 2006 (2006-02-13), 9–10pm |
| When a handyman in the local newspaper office takes hostages to get his life story published, Sam, Gene and Annie are also captured when Annie attempts to infiltrate the offices disguised as a nurse. The 2pm deadline of the hostage-taker coincides with the time of day in 2006 when Sam's life support machine will be switched off, and Sam is convinced that he must avert one death to prevent the other. | ||||
| 7 | "Episode 7" | Chris Chibnall | SJ Clarkson | Monday 20 February 2006 (2006-02-20), 9–10pm |
| A young man being held for a minor drugs offence dies in custody at the station while Gene and Sam are out. While Gene tries to protect his team, Sam struggles to conduct a proper investigation into the death. After alienating all his colleagues, he is able to determine that Ray forced him to take cocaine, causing a heart attack, and that the others had been covering it up. Gene furiously demoted Ray to Detective Constable. | ||||
| 8 | "Episode 8" | Matthew Graham | John Alexander | Monday 27 February 2006 (2006-02-27), 9–10pm |
| Sam encounters his parents Ruth and Vic Tyler in 1973; he believes that if he keeps his father from running away, he will awake from his apparent coma. The closer he gets to apprehending his father, the more he hears sounds which indicate he's close to waking up. Gene suspects Vic is deeply involved in crime involving hardcore pornography but Sam thinks otherwise. At the end, Gene reveals Vic is a ruthless gangster. Rather than traumatising his family more by arresting his father, he instead lets him run away. Flashbacks throughout the entire series are revealed to have been from young Sam's memories of this incident that he only now remembers. |
Read more about this topic: List Of Life On Mars (UK TV Series) Episodes
Famous quotes containing the word series:
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