User Reviews

I have to say that gimmicky shows involving "time travel" (if that's what this is) can go horribly wrong and degenerate into progressively sillier situations. So I have been skeptical approaching "Life on Mars." Having now seen Episode 3, I think I'll be sticking it out. John Simm is very good. He has the difficult task of playing in a straight cop procedural whilst simultaneously continuing the subplot of being a stranger in a strange land. It is easy to lose one's balance doing that, but Simm never seems to falter. Philip Glenister, meanwhile, is a reckless force of nature. And in this episode, we get the first glimmers of how the relationship between Simm and Glenister may unfold. Hopefully the show will avoid turning this into a buddy picture, or at least a buddy picture only. Both the characters and the actors deserve better. But it should be enjoyable to watch, as I think the writers have something a lot more complicated in mind.

In this episode, it must be noted, John Henshaw turns in a standout character creation, managing to tread the fine line between the admirable and the maudlin.

Pretty good story here, too. I managed to get nothing right with my guesses.