Life on Mars

Life on Mars (2006)

6 corrected entries in Episode 1

(5 votes)

Episode 1 - S1-E1

Corrected entry: In the casino, the Three Degrees song "Year of Decision" is being played. This was not issued until 1974.

Correction: Ashes to Ashes makes it clear that both series do not take place in the 70's or 80's but in a purgatory for dead coppers, seperate from our timeline.

Episode 1 - S1-E1

Corrected entry: When Sam wakes up in 1973 he is on a building site that is the Mancunian way under construction, this road was completed in 1967. (Though producers deliberately decided to include this, it is still a mistake within the context of the show.)

Correction: The series is not even set in the 70's, it's set in purgatory, so who knows what may be different.

Episode 1 - S1-E1

Corrected entry: The Austin Allegro panda car parked outside the police station is a series 3 model which didn't start production until 1979, and this programme is set in 1973.

Correction: No it isn't, it's set in a purgatory for dead coppers.

Episode 1 - S1-E1

Corrected entry: When Sam Tyler first gets out of his Jeep Cherokee, you can see a blue car coming towards him. By the time the camera cuts back to a birds-eye view, the blue car is gone. We don't see it pass, and there is not enough time elapsed for it to have passed.

UKFilmFan

Correction: This blue car is the very car that runs Sam over just a few seconds into the next shot, back at ground level, looking at Sam through his own vehicle's interior. That is why we don't see it pass.

Episode 1 - S1-E1

Corrected entry: The Ford Zephyr police car has a G registration, which means it was first registered between August 1968 and July 1969. This car is a Mark 3 model, which ceased production in 1966, so the latest registration letter it should have is D. This programme is set in 1973, even then I don't think the police would be using such an old car.

Correction: The police got quite attached to certain cars that perform well for them, and when a car is about to be stopped being manufactured, the various Police forces will buy up a load of them for use, but they won't necessarily be registered right away, hence the late 'G' reg. Also back in the 60's and 70's, Police forces didn't have a 3 year/ 150,000 mileage retirement on the cars either, so there would have been no reason why that car couldn't still be in use in '73.

Episode 1 - S1-E1

Corrected entry: After Sam wakes up on the building site, the Police Constable replies sarcastically, "You were driving a military vehicle", when Sam claims the car isn't his, and that he was driving a jeep. This isn't strictly true - the Range Rover went into production in 1970, and the Land Rover Defender into production during the 1940's, so it's not implausible that Sam Tyler could have owned/been driving a "jeep".

UKFilmFan

Correction: Nobody in the UK would ever refer to a Land Rover or Range Rover as a jeep. Even these days Jeeps are not common in the UK; in the timeframe of the series privately owned Jeeps would be practically unheard of and nearly everybody would still associate Jeeps with the military. What the policeman says is hardly unreasonable.

Tailkinker

Show generally

Other mistake: The registration number of the Ford Zephyr police car is RVP154G but the security etching on the window reads EKM414C.

More mistakes in Life on Mars

Episode 5 - S1-E5

Trivia: Chris is in front of and to the left of the camera, which is on Sam as he runs up and they have a 10 second dialogue. Sam then turns round and runs back the way he came, shouting "Annie". The camera tracks to follow him and at the very last moment Chris is forced to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. (If you listen to the audio commentary you can hear the producer laughing about this). (00:40:25)

More trivia for Life on Mars

Show generally

Question: When Sam reads someone their rights why does someone else tell him he's saying it wrong? This happens few times in different episodes.

strikeand

Chosen answer: Sam is using the modern wording of the right-to-silence caution prescribed by legislation such as the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. In the 1970s, the wording would have been different, if it was used at all.

Sierra1

More questions & answers from Life on Mars

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