Series Two
As noted below, episodes two and three of Series Two were shown on digital television channel BBC Four a week before they were aired on BBC One. These advance airings took place at 10pm on Tuesday 13 February 2007 and Tuesday 20 February 2007, immediately following the airing of the previous episode on BBC One.
On Tuesday 27 February 2007, episode three was preempted from its planned airing on BBC One by a football match (the unplanned-for FA Cup fifth round replay between Manchester United and Reading), and the 10pm airing on BBC Four featured a repeat of the first episode of the series. When episode three was finally aired on BBC One on Tuesday 6 March 2007, another repeated episode followed at 10pm on BBC Four. The Series 2 page on BBC's Life On Mars microsite now includes the sub-heading "Catch up on Series 2 every Tuesday, 10pm, BBC Four", indicating that the advance airings have been scrapped in favour of repeats; resulting in an episode airing on BBC One being immediately followed by the previous episode on BBC Four, and one episode (the third) being aired in three consecutive weeks.
| No. | Title | Writer | Director | Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | "Episode 1" | Matthew Graham | SJ Clarkson | Tuesday 13 February 2007 (2007-02-13), 9–10pm |
| Tyler has visions of someone disrupting his life support system in 2006, and encounters who he thinks is the same assailant in 1973, running a gambling syndicate and protection racket. Recognising the man, Tony Crane, as a killer he failed to stop in the future, Tyler is prepared to go to any lengths to make sure his life is not threatened and the man doesn't kill his original victim. Meanwhile, the department is looking for a new DC, and they can't seem to find the right man for the job. Eventually, Sam chooses who he thinks deserves the promotion for the person's help in solving the case...Annie, who becomes WDC. | ||||
| 10 | "Episode 2" | Chris Chibnall | SJ Clarkson | Tuesday 13 February 2007 (2007-02-13), 10–11pm (BBC Four) Tuesday 20 February 2007, 9–10pm (BBC One) |
| On an assignment to return a career safe breaker nicknamed "Dicky Fingers" from prison for further questioning, Tyler, Ray and Chris are attacked by robbers and the man who they were taking in for questioning is broken out. Is a local gangster to blame, or is there more going on than meets the eye...? Meanwhile, Sam tries to break in the first black detective in the department, a man who will later become Sam's mentor when he first joins the police force. | ||||
| 11 | "Episode 3" | Julie Rutterford | Richard Clark | Tuesday 20 February 2007 (2007-02-20), 10–11pm (BBC Four) Tuesday 6 March 2007, 9–10pm (BBC One) |
| The team receives a bomb threat, claiming the IRA has planted a car bomb in Manchester. Being from 2006, Sam realises the bomb warning reported doesn't fit with his understanding of IRA methods. However, when Sam's modern know-how fails and nearly kills Ray, the rest of the department shun his line of investigation to focus on an Irish socialist group. At the same time, Sam's visions of the future suggest that he may have suffered brain damage, affecting his higher reasoning, from having been in a coma for so long. | ||||
| 12 | "Episode 4" | Ashley Pharoah | Richard Clark | Tuesday 13 March 2007 (2007-03-13), 9–10pm |
| The body of a young woman is found in wasteland. The investigation takes the team to suburbia, where a local car dealer is throwing private parties, employing make-up girls from a local company to “help out” when the wife-swapping begins. Posing as married couple Tony and Cherie Blair, Sam and Annie infiltrate one of the parties, only to discover that it isn't as simple as they think. | ||||
| 13 | "Episode 5" | Matthew Graham | Andrew Gunn | Tuesday 20 March 2007 (2007-03-20), 9–10pm |
| The team investigates the abduction of the wife and daughter of a school teacher, who are being held captive by somebody who wishes the team to release a prisoner arrested for the murder of a schoolgirl a year ago. At the same time, Sam faces a life or death situation in 2007 when he thinks he has accidentally been given an overdose. As the deadline draws closer, Sam collapses into a deeper coma, leaving his colleagues to tackle the mystery on their own (albeit using some of his earlier suggestions). | ||||
| 14 | "Episode 6" | Guy Jenkin | Andrew Gunn | Tuesday 27 March 2007 (2007-03-27), 9–10pm |
| As heroin hits the streets of Manchester for the first time, CID and DCI Hunt want culprits for the smuggling, the dealing and ensuing violence, which becomes difficult when Annie is kidnapped by the smugglers. As Sam tries to get to the source of the influx of this deadly drug, he finds himself intractably drawn to a beautiful young woman who was witness to a heroin-related shooting... and who, he later realises, is the mother of his girlfriend in the future. At the same time, Sam's 'visions' reveal that his girlfriend has decided to stop visiting him in hospital, as she can't keep waiting for him to wake up. | ||||
| 15 | "Episode 7" | Mark Greig | SJ Clarkson | Tuesday 3 April 2007 (2007-04-03), 9–10pm |
| In spite of DCI Hunt's testimony, a seemingly water-tight court case fails to put away a local gangster accused of breaking a boxer's hand. Unable to cope, Gene turns to alcohol but soon finds himself in a spot of bother. When it appears as though Hunt may have killed someone, it's up to Sam, torn between Gene and his replacement, Frank Morgan a DCI who actually uses Sam's modern police techniques and vocabulary, to help him out. | ||||
| 16 | "Episode 8" | Matthew Graham | SJ Clarkson | Tuesday 10 April 2007 (2007-04-10), 9–10pm |
| Sam learns that an operation is to be conducted on him in the future to try to remove a tumor and revive him from his coma. He is told by Morgan that he has to remove the cancer in the police force first. Hence, to return to 2006, he has to gather incriminating evidence on Hunt in 1973. However, the lines between reality and delusion are blurred when Morgan reveals to him that he is actually undercover. During a botched sting operation, Sam returns to the future, but decides to jump off a building to return to the past again where the life and people he knows exists. |
Read more about this topic: List Of Life On Mars (UK TV Series) Episodes
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