Life on Mars (2006-07), is one of the most talked-about television drama events of the last decade. Centring on Sam Tyler, a DI 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 some of the most experienced television studies researchers, and extends the discussion to the series' follow-up, Ashes to Ashes (2008-10), set in 1981, considers the series' impact in the USA and the critical and popular response to the Spanish and American remakes.