Product Details

• Actors: John Simm, Philip Glenister, Liz White, Dean Andrews, Marshall Lancaster
• Format: Box set, Color, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Acorn Media
• DVD Release Date: July 28, 2009
• Run Time: 466 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (82 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001V7YZHU
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,983 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Life On Mars: The Complete First Series (U.K.)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A thoroughly engrossing and unpredictable police drama with a fantastic twist, Life on Mars concerns Manchester, U.K. police detective Sam Tyler (John Simm), who is hit by a car while investigating the disappearance of a colleague. When Tyler comes around, he's still in the street where he was knocked down--but the year is 1973, 23 years before the accident. Certain he's dreaming or in a post-accident delusion, Tyler drifts through the streets in shock and skepticism about everything he sees--especially the dark, smoky, thuggish atmosphere of his police precinct, nothing like the clean, high-tech office with which he's more familiar. After a brutal introduction to his boss, Detective Chief Inspector Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), Tyler tries to reconcile his apparent responsibilities as a 1973 cop with disturbing suggestions he is trapped inside his own mind, suffering a coma in the 21st century.

Part of the fun of Life on Mars is watching Tyler come to terms with the primitive state of crime-solving in the era of Starsky and Hutch. Forget state-of-the-art investigative science, and forget institutional regard for suspect rights and police procedure. Rather than accept Hunt's status quo, however, Tyler fights every step of the way for progressive policing, putting him on a daily collision course with other cops. Still, over the eight episodes in Series One, Tyler does make some inroads and gains the respect of his commander--which doesn't mean the two don't throw their fists at one another regularly. As anxious as Tyler is to get back to the future, his romantic connection to a policewoman (Liz White) helps ground him (or trap him?) in his perhaps-unreal surroundings. Still, there's a question: is there a reason Tyler has turned up in a year when he was still a little boy, facing difficult times? The answer is remarkable, as Life On Mars: Series One moves toward a powerful conclusion. Life on Mars proved such an attractive concept that the show was remade for American television in 2008, starring Jason O'Mara as Sam Tyler and Harvey Keitel as Gene Hunt, and with Gretchen Mol, Michael Imperioli, and Lisa Bonet also in the cast. --Tom Keogh

Stills from Life on Mars: Series 1 (U.K.) (Click for larger image)

Product Description

The time-warping detective series seen on BBC America

Dreaming, delusional, or displaced in time? Police detective Sam Tyler (John Simm, State of Play) must decide which describes him in this intriguing twist on the police procedural that has won two International Emmys® and rave reviews from critics and fans.

Hot on a killer’s trail in modern-day Manchester, Tyler gets struck by a passing car and wakes up in 1973. The high-tech tools and respect for proper procedure have vanished. Instead, he finds himself working on a homicide squad where hard drinking replaces hard thinking; forensics takes weeks to analyze; and his boss, DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister, Cranford), has no qualms about roughing up suspects--or Sam himself. Still, Tyler has real-world crimes to solve, even as strange voices call him back to his 21st century life. But when he bonds with sympathetic policewoman Annie Cartwright (Liz White, The Fixer), Sam wonders: does he really want to return?

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Audio commentaries for every episode with cast and crew
• "Take a Look at the Lawman," an hour-long documentary with cast and crew interviews and behind-the-scenes footage
• Interview clip with director Bharat Nalluri
• "The Music of Life on Mars" featurette with composer Ed Butt
• "Get Sykes" featurette with production designer Brian Sykes
• Outtakes reel

See all Editorial Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Journey Back to 1973 Manchester April 3, 2009

By Kimberly

Format:DVD

I am ecstatic to see this wonderful series from the UK come out on DVD for us Americans to own. Life on Mars is one of the best live action series I have seen in a long time with a combination of great drama, comedy, and superb performances by all involved. John Simm and Philip Glenister who play Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt are especially fantastic, their chemistry as a team is exceptional.

If you happen to have seen the US series please give this version a chance as well. While the premise is the same they are very different in tone. The original UK series is grittier and the 1970's Sam finds himself in is much more politically incorrect adding a bit more conflict and spice to the series. Sam and Gene's relationship is also more of a buddy cop type compared to the father/son type relationship you get from the US version. Even the ending is completely different and in my opinion much more emotionally satisfying than the US one. The UK series is really one of a kind and should not be missed.

Note: This DVD only has the first 8 episodes of the series. The DVD with the final 8 episodes will be coming out sometime in 2010.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Journey August 18, 2007

By Jen

Format:DVD

The premise of Life On Mars sounds strange - a modern day cop has an accident and wakes up in 1973 - and it could have misfired very badly. It doesn't, though! John Simm is perfect as DI Sam Tyler, the modern cop who's suddenly policing a very different Manchester. He brings the right mix of vulnerability, confusion and depth to the character. Is he mad, in a coma, or has he gone back in time? he doesn't know, and neither do we.

Philip Glenister plays DCI Gene Hunt, Sam's new boss in 1973. He's crass, foul-mouthed, sexist, bigotted, and has an insult for everyone. He's also corrupt, but he's not the bad guy...everything is shades of grey.

Life On Mars is a fascinating show. On one level it's a cop drama, but there are a lot more levels underneath it. Add to that a fantastic soundtrack, and it's a show you will watch over and over again.

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Existentialist fish-out-of-water buddy cop show December 11, 2007

By Nicole Carlson

Format:DVD

One of the most unusual, subtle, and philosophically sophisticated series to grace the small screen!

Our first glimpse of DCI Sam Tyler isn't very promising. He's coolly efficient at his job, but doesn't seem to derive anything more than a grim satisfaction from it. He's dating a subordinate, which tells you everything you need to know about his social life.
Then he is thrust into a bizarre situation: after a near-fatal car accident, he finds himself in 1973. Why 1973? He doesn't know. Complicating Sam's already impossible situation is that some of his senses (especially sight and touch) indicate that he is in 1973, while others (especailly hearing) indicate that he is lying comatose in a 2006 hospital bed.
Lost, confused, and frightened, Sam attempts to work out what has happened to him... and how to get home to 2006. If he can't trust his memories or the evidence of his own senses, what can he trust?
Very slowly, Sam begins to change. He smiles. He rediscovers and reconnects with what he's lost--a family cat, football matches, then his mother and father. We see that 1973 Manchester is, economically, a much bleaker place than 2006 Manchester... but it's also warmer, more organic, all earth tones in contrast to sleekly modern 2006, which is filmed in cool blues and greys. Sam's 1973 bedsit is hideous, a garish riot of oranges and browns, but it's also more lived-in than his spotless white-and-chrome 2006 flat. But 1973 isn't a lost paradise, either; "Life on Mars" doesn't hide 1973's flaws or film it through a rose-coloured camera lens. It shows us what we have gained, and what we have lost along the way. We see that the reforms in policing that stifled Sam and his colleagues in 2006 are a direct reaction to the police abuses Sam sees in 1973.
Sam's 2006 knowledge and sensibilities are both boon and liability. He's had a thorough grounding in criminal psychology and modern forensics, and he's extremely well-acquainted with drug crime, which is only just beginning in 1973. But he never seems to realize the extent to which casual racism and sexism affect life in 1973. He treats WPC Annie Cartwright, the lone woman in the department, as an equal--which she appreciates--but doesn't understand why everyone else doesn't. He sees in her a talented cop being underused; he's right, of course, but he thinks that all he needs to do to further her integration into CID is to draw attention to her abilities. To no one's surprise except Sam's--certainly not Annie's--the men react with undisguised contempt.
It's this sort of subtle contrast between 1973 and 2006--the weaknesses inherent in being from the future, as well as the strengths--that really set "Life on Mars" apart.