It’s never easy taking an iconic British TV series and transplanting it to America, but the success of The Office proved it can be done. A paper factory in a small town is a fairly universal scenario, as is the embarrassing, deluded boss, so not much tweaking is necessary to appeal to a U.S. audience. But with Life on Mars, simply swapping New York for Manchester will not be enough.
The original series became the must-see programme of 2006, with a combination of excellent scripts, an eye for period detail and, crucially, spot-on casting. The story was simple but intriguing. Detective Sam Tyler (John Simm) is hit by a car in modern day Manchester, and wakes up 33 years earlier in 1973. Is he mad, in a coma, or actually travelled back in time?
While he attempts to figure out how to return to 2006, he has to try and adapt to the totally un-PC policing methods of the day. Men are hard, women are decorative totty, and an interrogation consists of punching the suspect until he confesses. Sam’s new boss Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) sees himself as the sheriff appointed to clean up the streets of Manchester, by any means necessary. Can the two possibly develop any sort of mutual respect and learn from each other?
So can Life on Mars USA recreate the same magic as the BBC series? Two episodes in, and the answer seems to be no, or at least not yet. The first show is pretty much a scene-for-scene copy of the original, with Sam (Jason O’Mara) doing his fish out of water bit and alienating the entire squad room along the way. There are a few new touches, such as expanding on the relationship Sam has with his girlfriend in 2008 – unlike the typical repressed Englishman, Yanks are definitely better at expressing their feelings.
It’s Certainly Not Manchester
The second episode is much more New York in feel, with a series of robberies on check cashing stores, and several encounters with the resident hippie chick in Sam’s apartment building. But the relationship with policewoman Annie (colourfully nicknamed “No Nuts” here), the one person who at least tries to sympathise with Sam, shows no sign of progressing beyond the “Don’t talk such nonsense” stage.
O’Mara does his best with the thankless task of replacing John Simm, bearing a slight physical resemblance despite the perfect Hollywood teeth and chiselled jawline. And he does at least partly succeed in capturing Sam’s frustration at being trapped “on a different planet”.
The biggest casting mistake, however, is Harvey Keitel as Gene Hunt. Colm Meaney had the part in the pilot episode, and at some point Glenister was asked to reprise the role, but had to decline as he was busy filming the follow-up show, Ashes to Ashes. By the time the series aired in America last year, Keitel had been drafted in.
Gene Hunt Waving A Fan?
To be fair, Keitel does try to make the part his own, and it was only ever going to be an uphill battle to replace Glenister in a role he was born to play. But the age gap between Keitel and O’Mara is far too wide – at most Gene is 15 years older than Sam – and Keitel simply looks too old and set in his ways to ever change.
Life on Mars USA only lasted for one series in America, so it appears the Gene Genie did not work his magic after all. Did the revolving door casting mean it was doomed from the start?
