Life on Mars

Gene Hunt: I think you've forgotten who you're talking to.
Sam Tyler: An overweight, over-the-hill, nicotine-stained, borderline-alcoholic homophobe with a superiority complex and an unhealthy obsession with male bonding?
Gene Hunt: You make that sound like a bad thing.

That's a keynote quote from the police series that has, sadly, just finished. It set a modern day approach to policing to confront the CID of the early '70s. I knew many of these men. Hard working and dedicated. Loyal to their team. A culture of hard drinking - often alongside the very arch criminals that were their quarry. Unfortunately, their dedication towards getting results in the face of very devious (and often invented) defence barristers was what led to their downfall.

Life on Mars - a result

I wrote that I had not discovered who achieved the very realistic police routines and argot.

Now have a result

Tyler's politically correct approach to policing is in stark contrast to the attitudes of his new colleagues, in particular the tough talking Det Ch Insp Gene Hunt, played by Philip Glenister.

Tyler is horrified as he watches officers plant evidence on witnesses, beat up suspects and brawl with colleagues. His attempts to come to terms with the different attitudes of police officers in 1973, however, provide a rich source of humour. In one scene he asks colleagues where he can get access to a PC terminal. A bemused receptionist replies that they don't have an officer by that name.

The series is particularly popular with police officers. DCI Steve Crimmins, of Greater Manchester Police, who acts as script adviser, said that while the show's portrayal of 1970s officers was "a bit like a caricature" most of what is shown on screen was "pretty honest".

Getting it right

"Life on Mars" is a TV show based on the premise that a 2006 generation detective is transported back to a CID office in 1970. This article sets out to reason why this format is so popular and I think he hits the nail on the head. His starting point that the 'old' CID officer got results that would not be achieved by today's copper is very valid. It was the way in which this success rate was achieved that led to the old rules governing questioning of suspects was changed to something where any suspect has all the best cards.

The series has an added attraction for me in that I lived as a detective in those times and thoroughly enjoyed them. We worked hard - very damned hard at times - and played hard. Gallows humour was a major feature and must have reduced any threat of work-induced stress. The especial detectives argot of those days was like the origins of Cockney rhyming slang designed to exclude those not part of the team. There is no mention in the cast list to show who was the police advisor; I can understand his reticence.