Oh yeah, tonight's episode features Gene appearing on the Crimewatch of the day, Police 5 (hosted by Shaw Taylor). I remember watching that as a nipper!

I remember our local post office appearing on Police 5 after it was involved in an armed robbery. Shaw Taylor came down to film the report. He stood on the roundabout with the post office behind him (and behind those were the garages I mentioned earlier in the thread. The ones that the sunlight in the teaser trailer reminded me of. Funny how things come round in a circle).

I liked that one even more, and almost got a bit emotional near the end. Can't wait for the finale next week (is it the finale next week?)

Yes it is. I reckon I've worked out what will happen, though. I think it turns out Alex's dad plants the carbomb in the car to kill himself and Caroline after finding out about her affair with Evan, which is why he's been popping up as the evil clown throughout the series.

Loved the boyband stuff from last night's. "Take That." "A gang in East17, Backstreet Boys." "They'll get Busted."

Here's my theory:

I think it could be Evan that planted the car bomb, maybe thinking if he can't have Caroline, no-one can. This might explain why he was there so quickly after it went off. I think Alex was either meant to be in the car with them or still at school.

It would shake Alex up as he's the person she trusts most and it'd make her more desperate to get back as she's left Molly in his care.

Although I'm probably completely wrong, I'm usually rubbish at these things

Well, we wait and see.

Forgot to mention it was great to hear a bit of The Selecter in what was a fairly sparse soundtrack last night.

You really don't see many post offices committing armed robbery so much anymore - gone are the days...

It's because they've all closed down. Many rural post offices have had to turn to petty crime and muggings to keep the wolf from the door.

Well, you can be involved in an armed robbery but not commit it. I mean, my uncle was involved in an armed robbery and...no, wait. He was commiting it.

That particular post office is actually still going.*



* The one that got robbed where I lived, not the one my uncle did.**



** He didn't actually do a post office, it was a bank.***



*** He's a law abiding citizen now.****



**** Honest.

Our main town centre post office ran riot after it was closed down last year - it ransacked Argos, and then tore up the new paving on High Street. Nobody admits to having seen anything, but they did. The CCTV footage was conveniently 'unavailable' for months.

They did catch it eventually - it's now doing community service, tucked away in the back end of WHSmith.

You should be careful. Some of them are paedophiles in disguise.

OK, I've avoided this thread until now because I hadn't seen all of Life on Mars. Well, I treated myself to both series after coming back from NYC and getting hooked again at Widdy's house, and now I feel like I can safely read through it.

I need to think on the ending; it's not clear to me exactly what happened. Still, this was the best TV I'd seen in a long time.

The most recent A2A episode was weird - some parts of it were brilliant, but as a whole it didn't totally hang together as an episode. I loved Matthew McFadyen and it was fun to see him and Keeley Hawes acting on screen again, and he did a wonderful job playing such a strange character. The parallel with his need to be in control and Alex attempting to be in control of her mind was a nice touch, but I didn't feel like it completely worked in the presentation.
Looking forward to the final episode next week though!

I actually thought the last episode was one of the best so far. Matthew McFadyen was excellent as Gil, and Shaw Taylor is looking well too. The boy band joke was quite funny.

That gag seemed so forced it made me wince.

Wasn't too bad an episode though, I'll agree there.

I loved the boy band joke. All three of them had such a twinkle in their eye!
McFadyen was ace - and I didn't realise that he and Keeley Hawes were married in real life.

Get to bed...you bastaads!

I wish Gene could read me a bedtime story.


By the way, how big are his legs?

Love it

So, I missed the finale episode. Was it any good?

It was about the same standard as the rest of the series.

In other words, you be the judge.

I felt it was the strongest of the series..

I know you're not supposed to use spoiler tags after it's been shown, but for the benefit of those that haven't seen it..

Wife of Rolex was spot on, Alex's dad set the explosion up for reasons mentioned, with the help of layton (sp?).

And in the flashbacks, you see that she is comforted and her hand is held by someone, and you're meant to think it's evan comforting her, but it's actually Gene! Which i thought was a nice little twist there. Leaves people wondering 'is gene real? not real?' for another series

I strongly suspect that's how series two will pan out.


I really liked it as usual.

I think there is something more to the events in the past than them just being a false manifestation as in both Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes, the events of the past have a direct influence on those in the future. Does the coma/unconsciousness act as a conduit for a rip in the space/time continuum? Is it just a happy coincidence? Do all comatose patients have the ability to transcend eras? Has anyone asked them?

Anyway, I thought that was probably the best episode of the series. Well done them.

Good use of the word 'conduit' aswell Sean. One of the best sounding words in the English language.

Although some of the individual episodes suffered for it, the overall arc of the series and the way it played out from the first episode to the last was very clever. I particularly liked how Gene carried young Alex into the station the same way he'd carried adult Alex back in episode 1 and how her dad slowly turned into the clown in the car. Fantastically creepy.

I do think if Ashes To Ashes had come before Life On Mars people would be hailing it as piece of TV gold, but as it came after such a great predecessor it can never really be viewed in it's own right. Which is a bit of a shame really.

Next series...? I'd quite like to see 80s Gene find himself in 2009.

I've just watched the last episode on BBCi player.



Agreed. These are the best elements in the episode for me. The rest of it was up to it's usual standard... (slightly disappointing, but still just good enough to force yourself to continue to watch, in the hope that you'll finally be convinced that the show's as fantastic as Life On Mars*)

*Which it isn't. And can never be because:
Life On Mars was a lot to live up to, Sam Tyler was a better lead character, and 1973 is cooler than 1981 in terms of style, music, TV cop action dramas, etc.




What if Gene had an accident & found him self back in the 1950s? ... in black and white.

I'd agree with this to a certain point - it's a well-made show, good performances and a clever series arc that made up for some slightly meandering episodes. Looking forward to seeing where they go in series two.

I hope they finish it after series two. I enjoyed it but only once I decided to enjoy it for what it was and not think of Life on Mars. However, I think it'll be over-long if they keep her there much longer.

Finally watched the last episode, and it was pretty darn good I have to say, certainly the most enjoyable of the series. It hasn't been a total disaster, and in fact was one of the few things I'd been especially fussed about watching on the televisual conveyance unit of late.

Apologies if this has been mentioned before but I was just reading an article about that film starring Colm Meany Three and Out and was surprised to see that he's playing Gene Hunt in the american version of Life on Mars.

That's a damn good choice, I have to say.

I'd agree that he's a pretty good choice for that character.

I'm slightly starting to despair of BAFTA after LOM lost the best drama award to The Street AGAIN.
It was more of a snub when s1 lost out last year, I s'pose - but to lose again to the same show is ridiculous.

For anyone that hasn't got series 1 or 2 on DVD yet, they have them in Morrisons for £14.99 each, which is a bloody good price, I think.

Dude. Cheers for that - the best I've seen them anywhere in town thus far is twenty notes apiece.

It was only by complete accident I saw them today when I was grocery shopping - I didn't have s2, and had to ask an assistant if this was kosher, as it seemed cheap - not that I'm complaining, of course.

If anyone fancies a bit of a Philip Glenister evening, then just have ITV3 on from 9pm tonight. He's in Clocking Off, then he pops up in Hornblower afterwards and then again in the same episode of Clocking Off after that.


That's my evening sorted.

Or you can get them for £13.53 each from Asda or TheHut.com.
Bargain!

From the BAFTAS at the weekend.

Heh.

Are you groping my leg, Tyler? Poof.

Holy crap.

US "Life on Mars" remake dying due to WGA strike

At last, some positive strike-related news that I can get behind.

My god yes.

Looks like that was a bit premature, it's been picked up for a full series and here's the trailer.

That is so weird to watch . . .

That video won't play for me.

It doesn't work for me either but it's up on You Tube.

Life On Mars US


It is bizarre to watch (why have they changed it to 1972?) but I have to say that they seem to have done pretty decent remake. I'm very interested in seeing it.

How is that I've only just got the 'in the nick of time' pun, and then, only by watching a US trailer?

Woah. Those pictures are freaky.

I think I'll stick with Manchester 1973, thanks.