Life on Mars Episode Rating Graph

Sam learns that an operation is to be conducted on him in 2006 to try and revive him from his coma. However, he believes that to return to the twenty-first century, he has to betray his colleagues in 1973 - but can he regard them as real or imagined?

After a car accident in 2006, Sam Tyler was up in 1973. Sam's 21st Century attitudes make him a fish out of water in this world of clunky technology and old fashioned policing. And nothing seems more alien than his new boss, DCI Gene Hunt, who believes in gut instinct and, all too often, sheer brute force. Then Sam discovers a connection between a murder in 1973 and the kidnapper in 2006. Could solving this case be the key to getting home?

Sam is finally accepting of this world - until he comes face to face with his 29 year-old dad, Vic. Vic Tyler is a small time gambler who unwittingly finds himself at the centre of a murder enquiry. As Sam moves to protect his father, he embarks upon an emotional journey, piecing together a childhood memory and uncovering an uncomfortable truth that will change him forever.

Gene believes that local gangster Stephen Warren and the police can co-exist and that the streets are safer as a result. But Sam knows that in the future, dodgy deals like this will irrevocably change the relationship between the public and the police. Whilst Gene lays a ghost to rest, Sam sets to work on convincing his new partner, but is distracted when he meets his mother as a young woman.

A water-tight court case fails to put away a local gangster. Unable to cope with a guilty man walking free, DCI Hunt turns to alcohol but soon finds himself in a spot of bother. When it appears as though Hunt may have killed someone, it's up to Sam, torn between Gene and his replacement, a DCI who actually uses Sam's modern police techniques and vocabulary, to help him out.

The team receive a bomb warning, claiming the IRA has planted a car bomb in Manchester. Being from 2006, Sam realises the bomb warning reported doesn't fit with his understanding of IRA methods. However, when Sam's modern know-how fails and nearly kills Ray, the rest of the department shun his line of investigation to focus on an Irish socialist group. At the same time, Sam's visions of the future suggest that he may have suffered brain damage, affecting his higher reasoning, from having been in a coma for so long.

Sam decides he has to embrace this world - for now. But then he discovers Gene is planning to plant evidence to secure the conviction of Kim Trent, an elusive criminal. Shocked by Gene's attitude to crime-solving, Sam releases Trent. But when a young woman gets caught in the crossfire as a result of Trent being freed, Sam is forced to question his methods. Can he and Gene put aside their differences and find the evidence to nail Trent?

Sam and Gene go undercover in a local pub to solve the murder of a local Manchester United fan. As Gene looks like he's set to drink the pub dry, Sam worries about their chances of finding the killer before Saturday's big match. With the press using the murder to fuel the flames of hate between rival fans, Sam is under pressure to solve the murder before the tensions destroy the community.

When his mother's voice bleeds through from 2006 and he hears her say goodbye to him, Sam is desperate - he's alive and determined to make himself heard. But then the call comes in that a man has taken people hostage at the Manchester Gazette and is intent on killing them at 2pm - the same time Sam's machine will be switched off. Could stopping the hostage-taker be a way of staying alive?

When Sam responds to a fatal stabbing at Crester's Textiles he's shocked to discover that it's the converted mill where he lives in 2006. Sam sets up a forensic investigation but Gene already has a hunch about the murderer. Sam believes he has to stop Gene from sending an innocent man down for life. But does he have more to learn about this world than he thinks?