Life on Mars

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Contributor: Rosalind Esche

The thing that has kept me going during all three lockdowns has been the British tv drama series Life on Mars, first unleashed on our tv screens 15 years ago in January 2006. I somehow managed to miss it then, but discovered it, thanks to my son, during the first lockdown during the spring of 2020. Now I wonder how on earth I’ve managed without it all this time. What a life saver! Life on Mars boasts some of the best writing for British tv drama in living memory. This is no ordinary popular tv series, it is so much more than that. In case you don’t know, it’s about a police detective who has a car accident in 2006 and wakes up in 1973. If that sounds bizarre, too “sci fi” for you, outlandish, silly even, don’t be put off – watch it, you’ll be surprised.

If you like strong characterisation, tight plotting, sharp dialogue, profound themes, laugh out loud humour – you will find all of these and more in Life on Mars. This is genuinely great writing. Life on Mars, groundbreaking in its day, has to be one of the most remarkable tv dramas ever broadcast – after 15 years it has not dated at all and is still held in great affection by legions of devotees. It is easy to see why – it fires your imagination, evokes powerful emotions, makes you fall in love with its characters, refuses to deal in easy stereotypes, presents you with complex moral dilemmas, surprises and challenges you, and amidst all of this it entertains and amuses with tremendous pace and energy.

The writers manage to create a seamless interweaving of all these disparate elements, producing a compelling drama enacted by characters who steal into your heart as each episode unfolds, drawing you into their world, making you care. The subtle layering of themes, and the cross referencing between not only the various plots, but between the two different worlds of 1973 and 2006, is deeply satisfying, and warrants more than one viewing in order to capture all of its rich complexity. Most of all it is the development of personal relationships between the characters which is ultimately so moving. But there is no sentimentality here, this is tough writing, demanding mature reflection on thought provoking subjects such as corruption, loyalty, conscience, duty, truth, loneliness, alienation, friendship and love.

Once you start watching it you feel an overwhelming need to discuss it endlessly with someone else who’s watching it, conversations can last hours and continue over days, weeks, months. Is Sam in a coma or is he mad, or has he actually travelled in time? Are his colleagues real, or a figment of his imagination? Who, or what, is Frank Morgan? Ultimately you realise that what really matters is the emotional immediacy of the drama itself – it isn’t meant to be a realistic text, it’s about the transformational power of love and friendship, about choosing life in the face of grey, bleak isolation.

This must be why Life on Mars speaks to so many people at the moment. Everyone I know who’s been watching it during lockdown has felt compelled to watch it over and over again. You never tire of it, and each time you re-watch an episode you discover something new. That is the mark of excellent writing. It is life affirming and uplifting, which is why it has become the comfort viewing of so many people during this wretched pandemic. It should be prescribed by the NHS as essential to mental wellbeing.

Hats off to writers Matthew Graham, Ashley Pharoah and others, for producing such great work, to the cast for exceptional acting, to the directors and producers and everyone else involved in this most wonderful drama series, what an outstanding achievement. Thank you for enriching my life.

Life on Mars is available on Britbox.

#LifeonMars

 

‘Life on Mars’ a lifeline during stressful times

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Contributor: Aileen Downham

In the last couple of years, aided by belonging to a book club, I was usually reading a book a month. When the first lockdown began in 2020, there were two dozen or more unread books on the shelves, but I felt the need to stock up on some new titles. These were mostly inspired by Radio 4’s ‘Good Read’ or book dramatisations and the like. I had a good mix of genre, no doubt pandemic-influenced. 

Mistakenly, perhaps, I began with ‘The Plague’ (Albert Camus), but didn’t get far!  Next, I dipped into sections of the ‘Frederick Douglass Narrative’ (on slavery). Painful, but important, reading. I thought of starting Claire Tomalin’s ‘Samuel Pepys’ for some balance, but 400 plus pages looked too daunting. I should’ve persevered! Lockdown life had adversely affected my concentration.  It was easier to opt for newspaper articles (not pandemic-related), occasional poetry and some mini-autobiographies in the Sunday Supplements. On the whole though, much less reading during lockdown.

Several months into the pandemic, I was dealing with (non-Covid-related) health problems, trips to A&E and a few stays in hospital. Life became hugely stressful. Diagnosis unconfirmed. It was after many months of this uncertainty that a close friend recommended watching the drama series ‘Life on Mars’. This is a drama like no other. A masterpiece. It instantly lifted my spirits. I was hooked, and watched daily until the last episode! It’s a multi-layered piece, dealing with all human emotion. When you’re stressed and worn out, any viewing ideally needs to be something that won’t totally drain you, but provide you with some light relief. This it certainly achieved.

Episode by episode, the story became comforting and the characters familiar. One could identify and empathise with them and their own personal troubles. ‘Life on Mars’ is a moving tale, thought provoking, challenging, and never dreary. During all of this visual/mental stimulation, you forget your own problems and become more outward looking. The stress inevitably lifts for the duration, and in some cases, even longer. This, of course, is helped by an outstanding cast, headed by the main character ‘Sam’.

Watching this series bestowed a real sense of wellbeing, and remains go-to viewing whenever I feel overwhelmed by personal events. ‘Life on Mars’ allows you to forget about yourself for a while – no bad thing.  One has to say that this is a drama with definite health benefits!

Contributor: Aileen

Reading through the lens of lockdown
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Contributor: Claire Richards

“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.” — W. Somerset Maugham

“I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go into the library and read a good book.” — Groucho Marx

I’ve always found comfort and escape in reading. Like Lucy Mangan, whose Bookworm was cathartic, I spent much of my childhood with ‘my nose in a book’. My sporty family despaired. Why on earth would I want to idle hours away in a corner, ruining my eyes? I read anything and everything: stories set in boarding schools or fantasy lands, about tomboys, good girls, plucky boys or ponies. I, a cowardly child, became them all. I was Enid Blyton’s George shinning up a rope and Julian daringly confronting the villain.

Last April, soon after the start of lockdown, I injured my back. ‘Keep on the move,’ my doctor advised, so friends suggested I try audiobooks… What a revelation! What a snob I’d been about how I ‘read’. How much I’d missed! The first book I listened to – recommended by an admirably wise and intelligent woman – was Robert Harris’s Conclave. Narrated by Roy McMillan with exactly the right tone and pace, I was riveted. 

I always feel better after delving into Jane Austen’s world, so next I (re)turned to Mansfield Park. I hadn’t bargained on the power of Juliet Stevenson’s narration to create a whole new hierarchy of detail. In Fanny’s censorious judgement of Mary to Edmund, say, is Austen revealing more than Fanny’s ‘good worth’? After all, doesn’t Fanny want Edmund for herself? Confined by our own lockdown, surely we can understand Maria’s desire to escape Sotherton by climbing over that iron gate. Yet, although beguiling, her antics ultimately destroy Maria, whilst cautious Fanny’s need for safety brings happiness close to home.

Still, with Edmund settling for a woman he doesn’t love passionately, something was missing. So I turned to Persuasion. How had I never realised it’s Austen’s most romantic text? Anne’s rivals for Wentworth’s affection, albeit younger, are not in her league for looks or intelligence. For Anne, who doesn’t have her eye on a Pemberley, true love conquers all – time, separation, misunderstanding, even understandings; genuine kindness, patience and loyalty prevail. And for us, separated now from those we love, isn’t that what we, too, hope for, what we always hope for?

I’ve long been drawn to the sense of closure in thrillers and detective stories, something even more appealing in these uncertain times. I listened to Sisters (Michelle Frances), reassured that the sisters eventually come together in a satisfying epilogue after the real criminal meets her end. I loved The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Its retirement village setting adds poignancy, partly because the talent and valuable experience of ‘the elderly’ can be celebrated, but also because the pandemic has so cruelly targeted them. ‘There are people here who could take you apart and put you back together again,’ declares former trade union leader Ron somewhat melodramatically, but he makes the point. As Captain Sir Tom Moore proved, we need them. Let us not underestimate them.

And films and television? Have they provided the refuge I’ve found in a ‘good book’? As always, it depends on the text. Channel 4’s series It’s a Sin by Russell T Davies was shocking and heart-wrenchingly tragic in its portrayal of the homophobia and cruel loss of life to the plague of AIDS in the 1980s. Through the power of its drama, there is a message that desperately needs to be heard now more than ever. 

And then there was Life on Mars, recommended by a dear friend and creator of this blog. Isolated and alienated from those he loves, the hero, Sam, finds himself in a dystopian world of violence, sexism, homophobia and racism, a 1970s cop show world where ‘doing things by the book’ is scorned. Like many a dystopia, we see aspects of it today. Sam navigates his world with compassion and often a quiet and understated determination. Ultimately, the power of human connection and love has the last word. We can but hope…

Contributor: Claire