January 9th 2006. Just as I was about to abandon all hope with the state of modern television, with its predictable, uninspiring scheduling full of tired, seen-it-all-before shows I sat down to watch the first episode of `Life on Mars' Little did I realise that a mere 16 months and 16 episodes later I would have watched what was, quite simply, the freshest, most exciting TV show in years. Fine tuned to perfection with it's fantastic production design, superb soundtrack full of 70's classics, first-class acting, expert scripting and tense, action packed storylines no other show has delivered such a perfect package in years. In Gene Hunt we have a character who, with his hilarious one-liners and un-PC approach to police work, will surely be remembered as one of the finest TV characters to ever grace our screens. As Sam Tyler, John Simm gives a stunning performance, a performance that is, at once, both heartfelt and believable, a performance that will have the audience feeling every moment of frustration, confusion and mystery as he tries to make sense of this strange new world. The ongoing `will he-won't he' romance with the quite adorable Annie continued to enthrall and never once felt like padding. The growing relationship between them was beautifully handled and added a sense of hope to Sam's ongoing struggle. Even better the second series showed no signs of ever running out of steam with moments of quite surreal brilliance. The quite superb Camberwick Green spoof and the continued usage of the Open University guy and the frankly quite terrifying Test Card Girl are particular high points. And then, on April 10th 2007 the show fianlly came to an end. But what an end it turned out to be. Both answering long-running questions whilst leaving others hanging and shot through with a sense of ambiguity the final episode, for me, was pretty much perfect in every aspect. Still taking time to mess with the viewers head it finally ended in a manner both tragic and hopeful, both definitive and open-ended and put me in no doubt that `Life on Mars' was classic, unbeatable entertainment the like of which we haven't seen in a long time and which, I fear, we may never see again. I send my deepest congratulations and thanks to everyone who made this wonderful show possible. I'd quite forgotten what television was capable of, but this is a show that continues to resonate in my mind with pure brilliance, a show that affected me in ways I'd forgotten possible, both exciting, thought-provoking, poignant and affecting and quite, quite brilliant. Thank you Gene. Thank you Sam. You will be sorely missed...
