As Chris and Ray in Life on Mars, Marshall Lancaster and Dean Andrews are responsible for much of the series’ humour. Matt Chapman spent some time with the laughing policemen.

Marshall Lancaster and Dean Andrews are in a playful mood. A black and white puppy is scampering round Lancaster’s feet, and the young actor is keen to have fun with a hapless journalist.

“This is the new edition to the show,” he says. “The dog is in the first six episodes,” adds Andrews. “Then it dies in episode seven.”

Andrews laughs. “We talked about that,” he goes on. “Giving out a load of lies and seeing which ones we could spot in print.”

The pair’s comic frame of mind is understandable. In Life on Mars, Andrews has some wicked one-liners as DS Ray Carling, the main thorn in the side of Sam Tyler (John Simm), while Lancaster provides more sympathetic light relief as rookie DC Chris Skelton.

Neither actor is averse to a bit of physical comedy, either. Lancaster stripped down to his best 70s-vintage swimming trunks for a scene in the first series. So, are there more unusual outfits to come in series two?

“We do a little bit of an undercover episode where we pretend to be post office clerks and I was a plumber,” says Andrews. “But nothing too obvious, really. It’s more about people this time.”

“We’ve got Tufty, though, haven’t we?” adds Lancaster. “The road safety squirrel!”

“Yeah. Whoever wears the suit gives it a different dimension,” says Andrews. Lancaster agrees. “It’s funny to hear Tufty swearing…”

Special format

The thought of Tufty saying anything more earthy than “nuts” is enough inspire and subvert a wave of nostalgia, all at once. But, in a lot of ways, that’s what the show is all about.

“We just knew from the format that it could be special,” says Lancaster. “It’s got nostalgia, a quest to get home, a vast array of characters and villains, and guns and cars for the lads. It was always on to a winner.”

“That was the main reason we signed up really,” says Andrews. “Guns and cars and shooting people.”

But there’s a lot more to Andrews and Lancaster’s roles than that. Both claim their share of the spotlight in series two, which is no easy task with leads like John Simm and Phil Glenister.

“Both our characters develop, and we get a bit more involved in the cases this time,” Andrews says. “Chris has taken on board a few things that Sam taught him, and he puts them into practice.”

“He taught us to use the tape recorder last year, and that comes in to play again,” adds Lancaster. “We do a bit on surveillance using hidden bugs, this time round.

“As things progress, Chris puts more and more faith into Sam. Towards the end, we don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

Business as usual

As for Andrews’ 70s man Ray, however, it’s business as usual. He and Sam haven’t let any of their grudges lie since the first series.

“I still rip the piss out of him all the time,” Andrews says. “Anything to make him seem small.”

“We had some good scraps in the first season, but he always won. I’m not quite sure how… We haven’t had any flaps so far this time, but I never quite forgive him.

“There are one or two things happening in the second series that end up being his fault. But Ray is still able to smack people about, rough them up and all that kind of stuff. It’s just as much fun.”

Being the bad good guy (and the epitome of what was wrong with attitudes in the 70s according to John Simm) hasn’t had a negative effect on Andrews, however.

“The public response has only been positive,” he says. “Especially when I look like this.

“When it first came out, I’d got my normal look, with shortish hair and no sideboards or moustache. When we knew we were doing a second series, I started to grow it again. And, as it started to develop, the reactions started to get more frequent.

“But I haven’t heard one single average response. Everyone just loves it. People get in touch and say, ‘I didn’t watch it on TV, but I bought the DVD and now I’m hooked.’ If all the people who say that watch the second series, we might get eight or nine million people tuning in.”

Future past

With such a large potential audience, surely the second series can’t be the end? Phil Glenister who plays DCI Gene Hunt has joked about doing a Christmas special. At least, we think he was joking…

“Life on Mars meets Doctor Who?” laughs Andrews.

“Gene would get hold of David Tennant and shout, ‘You’re no Jon Pertwee!” adds Lancaster.

How about Life on Mars the Musical?

“It’s already been mentioned!” says Lancaster.

“It’s Nineteen Seventy-THREE! I’m having HOOPS!” belts out Andrews in an operatic voice. “DON’T come in my office Sam Tyler!”

Of course, the spin-off that really is on the cards is Ashes to Ashes, set in the 1980s.

“I suppose we could have tried doing this series in a different era,” says Lancaster. “But it wouldn’t be the same without that 70s feel.”

“I think it needed to keep the same ethos, otherwise it would have lost its appeal,” agrees Andrews. “It would have been a different show altogether. As soon as you go away from it there are comparisons to be made and it’s not what you want, really. People saying it’s not as good as it was last time.

“Besides, if it had been 1984 we wouldn’t have been in it!”

But, with both actors contracted for three years in total, the mission to Mars might not be over yet.