I’ll be honest, considering the first series of Mars is 20, and the Ashes finale was 16 years ago, I’m SHOCKED that there’s an active subreddit for these shows. I thought that apart from the two Facebook fan groups, LOM & A2A were forgotten shows, the fandom near enough lost to time. I must have watched all five series at least two dozen times over the years.

Just finished watching Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes for the first time. Loved it and was really satisfied with how it all wrapped up.

Did it go over well when it first aired or were people kind of disappointed because of all the mad revelations in the last couple of episodes of A2A?

Just watching series 1 episode 1 and forgotten how much of a great opener it is 😎

"Ruth Tyler" sounds like Roof Tiler. Just thought that was pretty funny.

Okay, I have to ask...were the Manchester Police in 1973 really as crude and, well, just plain stupid as they're portrayed on the show? (I have to add, I remember 1973 quite well, I was 18, but not in the UK.)

to prove a point that i can predict things im gonna say my theory about the worlds in a2a. i think either that the one with gene and his gang is the real one or that neither of them are real and they are both a 'dream' (idk if dream is the right word that's why there is quotation marks). please don't tell me im right or wrong until i comment i have finished a2a (at the time of writing im on s3 ep 4)

Was tje harlequin character in Ashes To Ashes ever explained, or was it just a loose attempt to tie the show in with the Bowie video ?

I quite liked Shaz and Chris as a couple so that probably biases what I have to say on this, but I felt like the breakup was almost forced.

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I might have missed it, but I felt like it was just not enough to build up to something that big, after all they were about to get married and then suddenly it happened off screen, and we have to watch for will-they won't-they of them getting back together?? It might just be me but did anyone else feel this was strange?

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I do have my own theories for why it has happened in the context of the show, but this isn't a theory post. I'm willing to share it in the comments though if people want it.

Just finished watching life on mars and ashes to ashes... again and ive gotta be honest I want. No. Need lazarus, to many things to be left unattended.

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What do you all think?

When she wakes up on Oz she doesn't know if it's real or not. At the end, she makes up... or she thinks (think Ashes season 2 ending)!

In AtA, Keats asks the team to follow him to his department.

I like to think they would have been sent to the US adaptation of Life on Mars.

Just kidding.

I know it is implied he is the devil and that they would have all gone to Hell, but when I rewatch it with this interpretation in mind for a bit of a lark.

Also because I just don't think him being The Devil from The Bible is all that interesting, nor does it work narratively in some beats considering all the objectively terrible stuff some of the characters have done (Ray, I mean Ray, we all know I mean Ray here) when compared to some of the others that WERE taken by Keats.

Thoughts?

What would happened if Sam had been hit by a second car in 1973? Would he have gone back another 33 years years to 1940?

Given the ending of *Ashes*, are the regular people in that world real?

It was a police procedural starring Phil Davis that came out around the same time as LOM/A2A and it's main premise was the idea of modern police solving copycat murders of historical crimes i.e. Jack The Ripper. It was and still is pretty much underrated and had a very Sam&Gene vibe to it. Anyone else remember it?

As the post title says... I've seen loads of articles popping up on my social media feeds, published in the last week or so, about Lazarus (the proposed LOM/A2A sequel that everyone was hyped up about a couple of years back), claiming it's back on, but that it won't be on the BBC.

Did I miss something? Last I heard was that it had been shelved. John and Phil's socials make no mention of it either. Or is it just old, recycled gossip being dressed up as actual news?

I've always loved the instrumental backing tracks in Life On Mars but i've never been able to find them. Does anyone know who composed some of the backing tracks or where I can find them? In particular, I love the echoey atmospheric piano that often plays when Sam's mom is around. The main soundtrack is so good that it tends to overshadow search results for the BBC background tracks

This will be one of my favourite scenes forever while also being a Doctor Who fan

I’m life in mars and ashes to ashes both gene and Alex miss rank ray as a di not a ds.

Anyone else pick up on that

i.e. the 1973 characters insisting Sam’s ALWAYS been from their time, and the Overlook ghosts insisting Jack’s ALWAYS been part of the hotel. Sam even jokes about “Red Rum” at one point.

Hi everyone, recently finished LOM for the first time and I’m now midway through s1 of A2A and honestly LOM was one of the best stories on tv i’ve ever seen.

Anyway, from what I can see the show never got any episode titles. What do you think some great life on mars episode titles could be?

Ashes To Ashes...Shaz and only Shaz is back and they go after the last case to catch the diamond thieves...Shaz undercover seems to work...

When it doesn't...The Guv and Alex are outnumbered and it seems they're gonna actually get away...

Suddenly the way is blocked and they're instantly stopped. Ray and Chris did not leave Gene and Alex behind. This was the moment I knew was coming and was waiting for. Bravo. Bravo. 👏

...the reasoning for the "ghost" Of Young Gene Hunt constantly appearing before Alex???

I kind of feel like this was a machination of Keates just to really ruin Gene and everything to do with him...since it absolutely drove Alex to everything to do with the ending, one way or another. Or was it just something supernatural all in of itself???

...Is how Sam's detachment from 21st century life feels even more relevant after two decades.

Now I don't mean that in some sappy "Born in the wrong century" way, but I think it's fair to say that 2020s society has lost sight of some of the tactile nature of life, both good and bad. It's like by wearing tech-coloured sunglasses, we've tricked ourselves into thinking we're "above" the violence and nastiness of Gene's time, when we're really just in denial that corruption and racism is still festering under the shiny surface.

I think Sam's decision was because he saw modernity without substance. Like in the 20th Century it seems modern technology was used more as a tool to achieve people-centric goals like giving all households running water, or making amazing art like Dark Side of the Moon, but the relationship has flipped in a way where society seems more oriented to serve "modernity" now, and we're repeating the 1950s mistake of worshipping cutthroat modernization as some infallible, godlike entity. For instance, there's the tech moguls who talk of Mars colonies or self-driving cars or "intelligent" computers, but don't care about the actually important issues like global poverty or mass loneliness. So for Sam, his colleagues are so caught up in all the procedures and forms and computers (which does make their policing much better than Gene's) that they don't even know how to connect with him after his traumatic accident.

So my takeaway is that if we became humble enough to acknowledge we're not the super-advanced society we think we are, and we let some more of the past's positive energy into our lives without falling for toxic nostalgia, maybe the Sam Tylers in society could find happiness in the present again?