Life on Mars audience

The trailer tries to appeal to a mainstream audience. It is fast-paced and has quick editing, alongside the Immigrant song by Led Zeppelin. This song is easily identifiable and also from the era the show is primarily set in. There is also a voice over that makes the plot clear and easy to understand for the audience. The main character introduces himself as a DCI, letting the audience know this is a crime genre. Then, we see the car transform from a typical 2006 car to a 1973 one, telling the audience it is also sci fi and that the show is a hybrid-genre.

The main character is played by John Simm. He had already worked with the BBC on other shows, so he was already a familiar face for many regular viewers. Not long after Life on Mars, he appeared on Doctor Who as the Master, which would further boost him image to a mainstream audience.

The trailer portrays a variety of tropes for sci fi and crime. The main one for sci fi is the time travel aspect, highlighted by the transformation of the car. The audience is left with the enigma of how Sam Tyler got to the past

The sidekick character Gene Hunt acts as representation for older men who remember the 70s.

Life on mars was a critical success. It garnered a large following that still continue today. Part of the reason it was able to gain such a loyal fanbase is because of its sci fi element, as sci fi fans are known for being devoted and obsessive to their favourite series'. The fan wiki has 328 pages and goes into great detail about plot synopsis, what certain characters represent, and references to the era. This ties into Jenkin's fandom theory, as these fans are actively engaging with the show and creating information pages on it for all to enjoy. Unlike the BBC description of the show, these fans have no obligation to create this much fan content in this much detail, but out of a love for the show they have.

Life on Mars- post modernism

Life on Mars uses a lot of intertextuality. The name of the series is a reference to the 1973 David Bowie song of the same name. A news article Sam sees briefly references the politician Enoch Powell. There is also a poster for a 1950s western movie. The episode is very disconnected from the world of 1970s policing, despite revolving around it as a plot. This is because the episode acts more as a pastiche of 70s crime shows such as The Sweeney's more than as an accurately documented example of real life police investigation in 1973.

Bricolage is another trope of post-modernism. The episode is a great example of this because the whole thing can be broken down into different parts inspired by or referencing other media. Time travel has been done in almost every sci fi series that has run for long enough, and the many expected tropes of crime, including the weary detective and the sidekick who plays off him. Much of the crime genre aspects, as mentioned above, are based off depictions of police from 70s crime shows.

social context is not explicitly discussed, but it does acknowledge the treatment of race and gender in the episode. The only main female character is constantly belittled by other characters because she is a woman, and the pub owner reveals that he has created a facade in order to please his white customers.

Despite the time travel, the episode follows a linear narrative.

It matches the post-modernist narrative in the sense of not knowing what is real and what is fantasy, however only Sam experiences this while the audience have no doubt what is real or fake.

The series takes place in a hyper reality. It is very separated from actual 1970s police work.