Love and Liberty

You may have seen the posters springing up this week to advertise the second series of last year’s surprise hit Life On Mars. They’re difficult to miss, as even I spotted them with my glasses off. I have to admit they made me smile, cheesily punning slogan and all. There’s sensitive modern police officer Sam Tyler, scene-stealing ’70s copper Gene Hunt and their Ford Cortina, along with the famous old ‘globe’ logo for the show that’s returning to ‘BBC1 in Colour’ on February 13th. Is Sam insane, in a coma, or really back policing in 1973 after his car accident? Is he now the number two in a real 1970s Manchester police division, or is everyone he works with just an aspect of his own mind? And what do the sinister sock puppets have to do with it? Apparently this is going to be the last series of the show, though a sequel set in the 1980s is planned. So will we ever get the answers?

Whatever revelations it brings, I’m looking forward to the return of Life On Mars, one of the new shows from the last couple of years that’s at last started making television drama interesting again. And, of course, soon there’ll be another series of Doctor Who as well. With Life On Mars starting slightly later in the year this time, by my reckoning it’s set to finish the Tuesday before Doctor Who begins again, and no doubt there’ll be plenty of back-to-back trailers.

In the meantime, BBC4 continues to repeat last year’s Life On Mars, and you can see the next one on Monday night at 10.30. It immediately follows the first in a new series of Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe at 10 – though it looks like the advertising budget for that series is a little smaller. If you’ve seen one of them in the last week, you might recognise that BBC4 are saving money by repeating exactly the same trailers they used last year…