Life on Mars : from Manchester to New York / edited by Stephen Lacey and Ruth McElroy.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Lacey, Stephen, 1952-

McElroy, Ruth.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Life on Mars (Television program : United Kingdom).

Physical Description:

xi, 210 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cardiff : University of Wales Press, 2012.

Summary:

Life on Mars (2006-7) is one of the most talked-about television drama events of the last decade. Centring on Sam Tyler, a detective inspector in 2006 who is inexplicably catapulted back to 1973 after an accident, the series mixes science fiction with police drama. This collection, the first extended account of Life on Mars, includes contributions by experienced television studies researchers and extends the discussion to the series' follow-up Ashes to Ashes (2008-10), set in 1981, giving due consideration to the series' impact in the USA and the critical and popular response to the Spanish and American remakes. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I Quality TV Form and Aesthetics

1 Life on Mars: Hybridity and Innovation in a British Television Context / Robin Nelson Nelson, Robin 19

2 'Am I Mad, in a Coma or Back in Time?': Generic and Narrative Complexity in Life on Mars / Nichola Dobson Dobson, Nichola 31

3 Immersion versus Alienation: Listening to Life on Mars / Rob Smith Smith, Rob 43

Part II Contesting the Past Television and History

4 Memory Banks Failing!: Life on Mars and the Politics of Re-imagining the Police and the Seventies / Andy Willis Willis, Andy 57

5 Sam Tyler and the 'New North' / John Curzon Curzon, John 69

6 'Moonage Daydreams': Nostalgia and Cultural Memory Contexts of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes / John R. Cook Cook, John R., Mary Irwin Irwin, Mary 79

Part III Recalling the Past Television as Memory

7 'Up The Wooden Hills to Bedfordshire': Time Travel, Childhood and the Uncanny Home in, Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes / Peter Hughes Jachimiak Jachimiak, Peter Hughes 91

8 The Medium is the Monster ... or the World?: Discourses of Uncanny 'Old Media' and Immersive 'New Media' in Life on Mars / Matt Hills Hills, Matt 105

9 Consuming Retrosexualities: The Past Live On Screen, Online Now / Ruth McElroy McElroy, Ruth 117

Part IV Life on Mars as International Television

10 'American Remake - Shudder': Online Debates about Life on Mars and 'British-ness' / Brett Mills Mills, Brett 133

11 The Emigration of Life on Mars: Sam and Gene Do America / David Lavery Lavery, David 145

12 Locating Generational and Cultural Clashes in the Transfer of Successful Formats between the United Kingdom, Spain and the United States: The Case of Life on Mars / Joseba Bonaut Bonaut, Joseba, Teresa Ojer Ojer, Teresa 153

Part V Debating Production

13 Julie Gardner and Claire Parker: In Conversation 169.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [193]-201) and index.

ISBN:

9780708323595

0708323596

OCLC:

760973432