TVSquad

(S02E08) "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."

Well, did Sam Tyler get back home?

Warning: spoilers after the jump.

There's nothing I hate more in film and television than 'X' marking the spot.

You know what I mean.

The plot unravels like an episode of Scooby-Doo and Old Man Smithers turns out to be the bad guy dressed up as a lizard.

Well, for once, the wrung-out old plot cliches didn't bear fruit in the very last ever episode of Life on Mars.

Sam Tyler finally managed to get home -- but not in the way you would have expected.

After discovering that he was working undercover to expose DCI Gene Hunt and his so-called corrupt department, Sam learned that he was a brilliant police officer who suffered from amnesia due to a bus crash accident when he was seven.

The persona of Sam Tyler was invented as a cover, and all he needed to do was set up Gene Hunt and his team in a dangerous train robbery sting, and everything would return to normal.

Of course, all good science-fiction is rarely so simple, and when Sam betrayed his colleagues and left them to die, he woke up back in 2006, like Peggy Sue waking up to find her new life waiting for her with Charlie Bodell.

But his life just wasn't the same. He felt empty. Out of place -- and out of time.

So he leapt from the roof of the Manchester and Salford Police department, and woke up once more in 1973, just in time to save his friends from certain death -- and back where he truly belonged.

And so, Life on Mars not only left a gaping hole in the BBC schedule, but placed a marker firmly in the annals of television history as one of the most inventive and entertaining cop shows of all time.

Life on Mars worked because of its lack of artifice; the only special effects in the show were the simple sets and costumes designed to make the viewer feel as though they were watching a 70s drama.

The script was where the show excelled, with witty one-liners ("He's got more fingers in more pies than a leper at a cookery course"), superb acting and crafty mysteries -- all of which combined to give us 16 episodes of damn good television.

For me, one of the main reasons the ending succeeded (where other overly-predictable time-travelling escapades have failed), was in the ambiguity of the ending; was Sam still in a coma, was he back in time, or was he mad?

My wife commented that the ending was simply brilliant, but ultimately sad; for her, Sam's make-believe life was more exciting than his real life, which was why he went back.

But I prefer to think of it like this: Sam Tyler is us, the viewer, harking back with nostalgia to a bygone era. He only really exists in the brilliant minds of Matthew Graham, Tony Jordan and Ashley Pharoah.

But fear not, it's never truly over in the world of television, and the BBC confirmed this morning that a sequel series will start filming in the summer, with a 2008 air date, entitled Ashes to Ashes in keeping with the David Bowie theme.

It will once again star Phillip Glenister as DCI Gene Hunt -- but will be set in London of 1981 and will feature a female detective called DCI Alex Drake from the 21st Century who ends up stuck in the past after an accident when she and her daughter are kidnapped. (DCI Alex Drake was the psych-evaluation officer Sam sent the report on Gene and his team to near the end).

Music on this week's show: "My Coo Ca Choo" by Alvin Stardust, "Funeral For A Friend" by Elton John, "Decision/Indecision" by Atomic Rooster, "I Hope I Don't Fall In Love With You" by Tom Waits, "Over The Rainbow" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, "One Of The Boys" by Mott The Hoople, "Changes" by David Bowie.

And, of course, "Life On Mars" by The Thin White Duke himself.

On a scale of 1 to 7 (worst to best), I'll give this episode a 7.