Life on Mars writer says he is working on a sequel

Screenwriter and producer Matthew Graham has announced he is working on a follow-up to acclaimed BBC cop drama Life on Mars.

The revival will potentially bring back John Simm as Sam Tyler, the police detective who comes unstuck in time and is sent back to the 1970s.

In an interview with Den of Geek, Graham said that he was working on “something else for Sam Tyler, another journey for Sam Tyler to go on".

Simm has not yet agreed to do the project, but Graham is optimistic: “John has since talked to people about being open to coming back to do something, some kind of final iteration, so I’m hoping he still feels that.

“I think we’ll be unpacking the world-building in even a bit more of a strange way," he said.

Life on Mars aired on BBC One for two series in 2006 and 2007, and focused on Sam Tyler’s experiences as a contemporary Greater Manchester Police officer, who is mysteriously transported back to the 1970s and has to adapt to the violent, outdated policing methods of the era.

A spin-off series called Ashes to Ashes, focusing on Simm’s co-star Philip Glenister, was set in the early 1980s.

Graham said that the as-yet-uncommissioned Life on Mars reboot would not return to the 1970s, adding: “I think we need to do something a little even more surprising and more shocking.”