Life on Mars is a BBC television programme set in 1973 first broadcast in January 2006. It tells the story of Sam Tyler (John Simm), a police officer, who is hit by a car in 2006 to find he awakes in 1973 to work in the same job but 33 years before. To make the series believable and not too farfetched the producers had to make it authentic and true to 1970s life.
Firstly they had to address the ethical views of the time. This meant that characters had to speak and act like police officers of the 1970s. This is shown in many different ways. In the 1970s there wasn’t the suing culture that there is in the present day. Also it was fairly new to find women in the workplace; as a result there would have been a lot of sexual banter. This is portrayed in this episode when Sam asks the opinion of a female officer, something which is considered the norm in 2006, the rest of the workforce turn her words into innuendos. As this is a male dominated environment there is a lot of physical aggression towards colleagues and even suspects. This is all new to Sam who is used to a more professional way of working however the outcome is the same. There are further examples of a slightly more relaxed approach portrayed in Life on Mars. Officers discount suspects based on their relationship with that character. This was acceptable back then but nowadays this is not the case. Finally many of the workers jump on the desks, this is an example of less health and safety measures in the past and also the lack of technology, such as computers, on desks that could be damaged.
Technology is another way in which Life on mars is made authentic. Just after Sam Tyler has awoken in 1973 he instantly ask for his mobile phone, a device in which modern day society can’t live without, and the police officer doesn’t believe there is such thing as a mobile phone. Later when he is talking to a women asking for a virgin mobile number more sexual references are made making it appropriate to the situation. Also before he gets hit by the car there is music being played through an iPod. This then changes to a tape once he is woken in 1973. The location of the car accident in which Sam is sent back in time is not far from the M6 motorway. When he wakes there is a sign for an upcoming development of the M6 on the same site. There are no computers in life on mars, just like there would be no computers in a real 1970s police station. To the workers in the police station a PC means police constable, a reference is made to this in this episode and is a joke understood by the audience only not the characters. Other ways in which the producers have made the technology in Life on Mars authentic is that fingerprints cannot be found on the skin and it takes a fortnight for prints to be processed.
The Police force was a lot more relaxed in the 1970s. The dress code was a lot less formal with most officers with shirts untucked. Sam Tyler is actually wearing a casual jacket and jeans to make it appropriate to the time period. There is evidence of smoking indoors in the first episode, something which is now illegal in the modern day. Evidence from the crime being investigated was touched without gloves and one officer even dropped bits of food over the evidence. Lastly the wallpaper in Sam’s room was typical styling for the time set.
No comments:
Post a Comment