Clonesgirl's Life on Mars fanfic & other goodies

If you haven't yet heard of Life on Mars I cannot recommend this brilliant TV series highly enough. It's about a modern day detective in Manchester, DCI Sam Tyler, who has an accident and wakes to find himself in the Manchester of 1973. If that's not disconcerting enough he's also been demoted to a DI. Is he mad? Is he in a coma? Or has he genuinely time travelled back to 1973? Or maybe he's dead and this is heaven? Who knows? At any rate 1973 is very real to him.

Then there's his boss, DCI Gene Hunt, a man of his era. In other words a real 70s detective - incredibly sexist, marvellously un PC and a complete larger than life character with the best one-liners you'll hear in an age.

As played by John Simm and Philip Glenister, together, these two characters come alive like no two television detectives I've ever seen. Forget Starsky and Hutch, forget Crockett and Tubbs, forget Bodie and Doyle, etc. They all pale into insignificance beside Tyler and Hunt. Between Sam's modern day forensic methods and Gene's boots and all 70s style they clash and they spark off one another like no two characters I've ever seen.

Did I mention the other star of this series? It's a lovely old orange bronze Mark III Ford Cortina with a vinyl roof and Phil Glenister as Gene Hunt drives it like a bat out of hell. Loads of fun!

And did I mention the music? This series has a fab rock soundtrack from the early 70s with an array of artists such as David Bowie, Elton John, The Moody Blues, Roxy Music, The Sweet, Slade, ELO, The Who, Thin Lizzy, The Hollies, T-Rex, Status Quo, Uriah Heep, etc., and some really rare album tracks too. So go find the soundtrack. However, there are lots of tracks which were in the series but not included on the soundtrack (they really need to release a second soundtrack) but you can find most of them if you look. So have fun finding them!

So enough of my raving. If you haven't yet seen this wonderful series go get it on DVD. Believe me you won't regret it.

Have questions about the Ford Cortina used in the series? For instance, are the seats vinyl or leather? How many gears has it got? Most important, do the seats recline? Read this and you won't go wrong when it comes to including the car in your fics.

Here are links to the soundtrack music - and not just the tracks which were on the official soundtrack but all the music I've been able to find online.

'Mars' car up for auction	BBC News clip on the Cortina being auctioned for Comic Relief - 348KB
Life on Mars Cortina sold	BBC News clip on the sale of the car for £10,000 - 3.04MB
Life on Mars car hits streets	The Cortina and its former owner from Express & Star - 8.74MB
Life on Mars Ford Cortina - NEC Classic Motor Show	The Life on Mars Cortina with its previous owner at the NEC 2007 Classic Motor Show - 8.89MB
Life on Mars in Lincolnshire	BBC News clip on the car with it's new owner on the Lincolnshire coast - 514KB
The Life on Mars car now in Lincolnshire	BBC feature on the Cortina and its new owner in 2008. Longer version of the above clip - 10.7MB
Cortina clip in German	Features the owner's red Cortina and LoM clips (see Gene speaking German) and history of the Ford Cortina - 17.8MB
Tribute to the Ford Cortina	Music is Elton John's "Made in England" - 3.89MB

Life on Mars Cortina Official Site

The other star of Life on Mars, the Ford Cortina, now has its own official site. So go check out the lovely pictures and you can contact the owner via the site if you wish to book the car.

Life on Mars fanfic

Here's my Life on Mars slash - be warned you need to be over 18 to read it.

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Life on Mars slash