00:00In between Series 1 and 2, I just did press and ADR and stuff like that.
00:07So they meld into one for me.
00:10I'm either talking to a radio or a TV, I'm freaking out about something...
00:15...or I'm fighting somebody, you know, it was all really full-on stuff.
00:19They're a fantastic company to work for, kudos.
00:23I had meetings with them, with the producers and the writers...
00:26...before we started Series 2.
00:29To, you know, talk about some ideas.
00:32And there were a few that, you know, I think were used or, you know, at least picked on.
00:38I love Ray and Chris. Chris and Ray. Ray and Chris.
00:43They're absolutely integral to life on Mars.
00:45I think without them you'd be missing a huge element of comedy and conflict.
00:53You know, Chris, comedy. Ray, conflict.
00:56Even though Ray is very funny as well sometimes just because of the way he is, you know.
01:00You know, he's...
01:01They're amazing characters, I think.
01:03I mean, they are...
01:04They encapsulate the whole show, I think.
01:06And they're wonderful characters.
01:07I mean, Gene Hunt is Gene Hunt and Sam Tyler is Sam Tyler.
01:10And Annie is the lovely, beautiful girl.
01:14But Ray and Chris, they just encapsulate the 70s to me.
01:19And I loved every scene with both of them because they're both brilliant actors and brilliant people.
01:25As far as playing Sam, I find that really easy.
01:28Because I also felt like I hadn't left him.
01:32Because all I did between series one and series two was talk about him.
01:36So it was quite easy, yeah.
01:39Because Sam Tyler, for me, after this long was, you know, I put the leather jacket on and I'm Sam
01:44Tyler.
01:45And even when he went undercover and he was playing tennis and he was dressed in his Marks and Spencer's
01:51security guard outfit at the end of episode eight,
01:55Um...
01:55It wasn't... It was hard for me to get into him because, you know, the jacket was...
02:01I'm not saying the jacket was the whole performance, but it was easier for me to become Sam as soon
02:06as I put the jacket on.
02:08And it felt great, actually. It felt great to put the jacket on.
02:11And my friend Mark Warren, who's in episode one, uh, plays Tony Crane.
02:17Um, he rang me when he went for his costume fitting before we'd actually started filming it.
02:22And he rang me from the costume truck saying,
02:24My God, I'm looking at the jacket. I'm looking at the jacket. I can see Gene Hunt's shoes.
02:29And he was really overexcited and I thought that was really sweet.
02:32The filming of Life on Mars, for me, um, personally, is...
02:38It's like an endurance test. I've got to be honest. It's...
02:42It's so full on. I don't have any time to learn lines or anything.
02:45I'm constantly on the hoof. I'm really, you know, studying lines all day.
02:50Trying to get them in my head and new people come and go and new directors come and go and...
02:54And I'm... It's me and the camera, basically.
02:57Me and the camera are on set the whole time.
02:59Ray is the unreconstructed 70s man, you know. He hasn't got...
03:03I mean, Gene Hunt kind of is, but at least Gene Hunt is kind of...
03:08I don't know. He's a...
03:09He's more professional and more, you know, Ray is just the 70s.
03:14End of story.
03:16And Dean plays it brilliantly, you know.
03:18And I love the conflict that we have.
03:21And I think it's episode three when he gets blown up.
03:24That's a great episode. That's a great scene as well.
03:27And it really sort of, you know, knocks Sam for six.
03:31It feels great being in camera. It's brilliant. I love that bit.
03:35I love that scene. It's wonderful. It makes me laugh every time I see it.
03:39And they did it to give me a break, but it ended up...
03:41I had, like, maybe an afternoon off.
03:43They did about three scenes that I wasn't in.
03:45But I really like that episode because I haven't seen everything in it.
03:48And usually when I watch an episode of Life on Mars, I'm in every scene.
03:51So I've seen it all and nothing surprises me.
03:54But when I watched that one, there was about three or four scenes, flashback...
03:58...that I'd never seen, and I was really, oh, wow, this is great, this is great.
04:02For once, I got an idea of what an audience must feel like watching it.
04:05Sitting here right now, I can't quite remember finishing...
04:11...series two, but I'm sure it was the same.
04:14I'm sure I just fell to my knees and just went, never again.
04:19I really liked the last episode.
04:20It's hugely complicated and it's like, you know, it's like Lord of the Rings in an hour.
04:30But it's great.
04:31I like the way it finishes.
04:33It was weird doing the last two because to put Sam up against him...
04:39...was kind of, I don't know, it was difficult to do...
04:43...because I think we've spent two series developing this brilliant cop partnership, me and him.
04:51And it's a great partnership and, you know, they've learned and they learn from each other...
04:56...and, you know, they take from each other and they become friends and they trust each other.
05:02I mean, I think at the end of episode two, I watched the rough cut of that with Phil...
05:08...and we had a lump in our throat at the end, you know, give each other a big hug at
05:11the end.
05:12It was really sweet.
05:13Putting that blue suit on again that we had at the beginning of episode one...
05:19...it was weird, very strange, very, very strange.
05:23Strange for everybody in the crew and the cast, everybody, you know, it was just odd.
05:27You know, obviously, if there's a winning formula and we have, like, you know, Which Life On Mars is a
05:30winning formula...
05:31...and I think it's really cool, I think it's really cool to leave it at two.
05:36Really cool, you know. How cool is that? A lot of people don't.
05:39And it's not because they didn't want it, it's just because it's a really cool thing to do, I think.
05:45You know, they want more, it's great. Leave them wanting more, you should leave them wanting more.
