After being involved in a car accident in 2006, DCI Sam Tyler wakes up to find himself in 1973, the era of 'Sweeney' type policing, Mark III Cortinas, and flared trousers.
Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah, the writers of Life on Mars, took the original script to the BBC who initially rejected it. Then it nearly got made by Channel Four. By the time the BBC made it, the show had taken 8 years to reach the screen.
Sam Tyler:
My name is Sam Tyler. I had an accident, and I woke up in 1973. Am I mad, in a coma, or back in time? Whatever's happened, it's like I've landed on a different planet. Now, maybe if I can work out the reason, I can get home.
The bar scene: No beers cost 22p in 1973. Also, as the UK were still changing the money over, use and handing over of decimals would have been a lot slower than as shown in the film. Beer in Manchester would have been between 10np and 15np (or 2-3 shillings).
It was revealed in Ashes to Ashes that this era inhabited is a kind of police purgatory: Heavy artistic license can be used with these details, as it's not the real living world/ reality being portrayed.
The DVD sets of the series have much of the 1970s music replaced with public domain music due to rights issues.
English