Life on Mars re-watch: Series 1, Episode 5

Contains spoilers up to and including the episode discussed, but is spoiler free for subsequent episodes of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes.

Episode 4 post

“This doesn’t belong to you. This belongs to decent people. People who work all week and take their kids to the football on a Saturday. People like Colin Clay.”

It’s appropriate, I suppose, that an episode about football should be an episode of two halves. One half is the funny one. Written by Tony Jordan, creator of the uber-suave Hustle, this is by far the most laugh-out-loud funny episode of Life on Mars so far. Even before they go undercover in the pub, there are some great exchanges, my favourite being: “If this was about football, he would have had serious injuries.” “He’s dead, that’s quite serious.”

But it’s the scenes in the pub that really produce the laughs. In particular, Gene’s attempt to smooth over his slightly heavy-handed undercover approach (“This shirt and jumper, it’s a nice combination. Well done.”) made me laugh and laugh. I could just fill this article with quotes and moments that made me roar with laughter. In lesser hands, this material could have felt forced, but the three regular actors manage to make it sound natural.

And what about the other side of the episode? Well, that’s something entirely different. In the last ten minutes, it ends up being a bit of a love letter to football and its ability to unite people, as well as a condemnation of the hooligans who ruin it. Tellingly, what Pete (who is revealed to be the murderer, willing to kill one of his own to get a good riot before the match) says to Sam in the pub seems to be about football fans, but we later see it was actually about hooliganism.

While this community so entrenched in football isn’t something I can really recognize, the writing and delivery of Sam’s speech are skilfully enough done that I can feel something of what it meant. When Sam says that it eventually becomes so full of hate that it stopped being about football a long time ago, I realised that it wasn’t just about football, but anything that can both strongly unite but also deeply divide a society.

• Funniest 70s vs 2000s moment: The kitchen facilities at the pub leave much to be desired and Sam’s desire for olive oil and coriander (“It’s a herb.”) are met with scorn from Gene, causing Sam to come up with the novel idea of chicken in a basket.
• Loveliest Chris moment: The way he proudly said “I found out that bit” and pointed to himself when Sam was explaining his theory and evidence to Gene was the epitome of lovely.
• Best song: Nina Simone’s “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” playing at the very end of the episode and over the credits was just a perfect choice
• Moment of the episode: Sam is passed by his four year-old self, going to the match for the last time with his dad, leaving him with tears in his eyes. A beautiful and unexpected ending.

Next time: Sam’s two worlds collide as a 2pm deadline in both could result in him dying. At least once.

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