Life on Mars producer Cameron Roach considers Sam Tyler’s unique situation in the second and last series of the hit show. Words: Matt Chapman.

As the producer of Life On Mars, Cameron Roach is one of the few people able to answer the questions that Sam Tyler asks in the opening credits of every episode: Is he mad? In a coma? Or back in time?

“You shouldn’t ever know that!” Roach says in his office in BBC Manchester. “There’s always an explanation for both worlds and both time zones. But in the new series we explore the options further.

“The notion that he might be mad, but has always been in 1973, is one that is explored.”

Sam has already questioned his sanity in the first series, as everything from modern songs on the radio to a talking girl from the Test Card intruded on his 1973 world. But surely his knowledge of things to come is enough to back up his belief in a future life in 2006?

“Well, we test that in the new series,” says Roach. “We test Sam and make him have some self doubt about what he knows. When that happens, it’s adds to the notion that he’s always been in 1973, and anything he thought was the future might just be his imagination.

“In episode three, he uses what he believes is his knowledge of the future and it backfires on him. That makes him even less willing to use what he knows.”

Summer of 73

But whether Sam is really in 1973 or not, the writers went out of their way to give the impression of a very real period in time.

“We’ve really followed a calendar,” Roach says. “The last series was in April and May, so this time we’ve gone to June and July and slightly into August. We were quite strict with ourselves. If the writers wanted to reference something, whether it was political, sporting or whatever, it had to have been in that time frame.”

Not that those restrictions hampered the stories for the new series.

“It’s such a huge resource really,” claims Roach. “In this series you see suburbia for the first time, with a big Ice Storm wife swap story; and there’s an episode where we go into the heart of the Irish community; and one where we go into the Ugandan-Asian community. It explores issues that were prevalent at the time.”

Roach is happy to admit that the show has been “slightly braver” this time round about what it can and can’t do, after worries about the portrayal of sexism and racism in the first series.

“We try to do it without ramming it down the audience’s throat, though,” he says, “because we don’t want any of them to find it uncomfortable.

“In episode two we have a young black officer in the department, and we have nodded to the racism. But we know that within the police force it was even more extreme than that. Black officers had to laugh along and be almost racist themselves in order to fit in.

“We’ve referenced black comedian Charlie Williams, because he was able to make the ‘coon jokes’, dare I call them that. To us now they are incredibly shocking, and you think how could that ever have happened, but it was only 30 years ago.

“We want to remind people of how far we have moved on. We’re constantly criticising where we are in society, but in a lot of areas we have made huge, positive steps forward.

“But we can also look at where we are now and comment on it. Have we almost over-policed ourselves and lost community spirit? You’re not allowed to help a kid cross the road for fear of being branded a paedophile. Tufty wouldn’t be allowed!”

Collars and cuffs

But the show’s creators don’t want to get preachy. Life on Mars remains a solid cop show, albeit one with big collars, daft facial hair and dodgy suits.

“Having come on board in the second series, I had a good idea of its shape. It was about developing crime stories, because the notion is that every episode can be watched independently. That’s why the audience enjoys it. So we have gone to new areas, because, as long as Sam is investigating a crime, we can take the characters elsewhere.”

It’s that dedication to the story that Roach believes stops Life on Mars becoming a nostalgia piece, like Heartbeat.

“There are no 1970s celebs popping up in this series – though Tufty is very exciting and we have a brilliant Camberwick Green sequence. We filmed Tufty in a school hall last Friday, and all those memories came flooding back.

“But we’re not a nostalgia show and we don’t overuse it. We constantly check ourselves, so there are no Chopper bikes and it’s not that knowing as a series. It’s more intelligent than that.”

So we won’t see the characters nipping off to London for an episode based in Carnaby Street or the King’s Road?

“Part of the charm of the series is the fact that it is Northern and is very much Manchester-based. And that’s something of 1973 as well, because policing was about community spirit, and Gene Hunt’s notion of policing is about defending the community, no matter what it takes. He’s the sheriff of the town.”

Seriously funny

Phil Glenister certainly took his role as Gene Hunt very seriously, as did John Simm as Sam Tyler. Roach believes that is an important factor in the show’s success.

“It’s the same for any artist on this show, and every director. As soon as you start playing it for laughs, it’s gone. Even when Tufty emerges, and one of them has to wear the outfit, it’s due to necessity and wanting to solve a crime.

“Because it’s played seriously the audience will enjoy the humour in it. That’s the key.”

So will Sam’s questions be ansewered? To maintain secrecy around the show, even John Simm didn’t know how the series was going to finish until the last two weeks of filming.

“John really has to understand what is going on, so it’s been quite hard for him.

“We’ve had to drip feed information to him, so he knows. But in a way he’s experiencing it in the same way that Sam experiences it. He just doesn’t know what’s coming.”