Life On Mars ; Season 2, Episode 3 : Bombs - Analysis

Life On Mars is a British TV police drama series. It was released in 2006 and played on BBC1 at 9pm. It is about a present-day (2006) police detective, Sam Tyler, who finds himself in 1973 after being in a car accident.
The extract we are looking at comes from an episode about bomb threats and bomb attacks, which the police believe are coming from the IRA, however we find out they're not, and the Irish who have been arrested and beaten have been for no reason.
At the beginning of our extract, the camera shows shirts hanging on a washing line, in the middle of the street. The camera moves through the shirts to show a street, which is obviously not one of the richest in the area. The shirts being hung in the street gives us an idea on what the street is like, as it must be a close-knit community for them to trust each other with their belongings. In the modern day we wouldn't hang our clothes out in public in fear of them getting stolen. The houses on the street seem small, and the coloring looks washed and sepia-toned.
There is some non-digetic music playing from a previous frame, up-beat rock music playing loudly but then quietens and stops as the police exit their vehicle.
As the detectives Tyler and Hunt pull up in the car (Hunt driving) they run over a bin on the pavement, not taking care with parking, and exit the car. This shows the audience how detectives in the 70s were more rude and arrogant than present, and they were not as formal and respectable as they now are.
As Tyler hints to Hunt to apologize to the arrested-but-being-freed Irish man (Paddy), Hunt seems distracted by the sky or anything around him as he mutters sorry and "no hard feelings". Paddy starts to explain his situation to Hunt, and complains about how he is treated, however Hunt only looks at him about 3 times during the Paddy's speech. Hunt also keeps his arms folded and has a dis-interested look on his face, a look of impatience.
The camera switches points of view during this speech, and shows various shots of Hunt, Hunt and Tyler, the Paddy, and all three at once. Even when they are not talking, Hunt and Tyler are shown, which captures their different reactions to what the Paddy is saying. This also gives the audience a platform to accuse Hunt of his un-emotional approach to policing. Before the speech, we notice how the Paddy has been severely beaten, with bruises and cuts all over his face. However this provokes no sympathy from either of the detectives, even Tyler who is listening to what he has to say, and seems genuinely sorry. During the Paddy's speech there is a close-up shot that shows the contrast between Hunt and Tyler's expression. It shows Hunt's un-interested and un-emotional face, and how Tyler seems to be hanging on every word but trying not to seem weak to Hunt, and at the same time trying to sympathize with Paddy.
This racism towards Paddy from Hunt is exchanged to another type of foreigner as Paddy disappears. An Indian man, who we see at the start of the extract carrying a table across the road to his new house, is now carrying a TV. Hunt stops him and suspiciously asks him about the TV, to which the man replies "my new house". Hunt had obviously thought he was stealing it, however it was clear he was just loading things to his house. Hunt also displays more racism when he refers to the man's wife as a "paki" because of what she is wearing. Tyler seems quite surprised by this public display of racism, but also knows that that is what its like, as he just rolls his eyes angrily and gets back in the car. This is a huge contrast to nowadays as the police force or any detectives wouldn’t be seen in public being racist and not trying to hide it.
As the scene changes to the pub, the detectives are all sitting around a table as Tyler walks in, with a light background making him almost super-hero-like. This image is enhances as the pub starts clapping him.
The care-free arrogant attitude of the police is displays in this scene as well, as they are all smoking and drinking in the pub, obviously getting hammered. Also Hunt brings out his racism again when he claims he has "never known an Irishman who has refused a drink".
Some humor is added into the extract with the past and future of Tyler coming into focus, as Annie Cartwright claims it might do the country good to have a woman running it, at which Tyler claims he bets that she'll "regret saying that one day" in reference to Margaret Thatcher. Another example of this humor is included in Hunt's racism about the Irish and their drinking, as he claims they'd never bomb a pub because they love their drink too much, which is ironic as the IRA did bomb pubs and other places.
The scene changes, though this setting is the same, it is obviously just a later part of the day. The atmosphere of the pub has changed and it is more warm and inviting, with laughter and friendly faces and general chit-chat. The juke-box is visible in the frame and the inside smoking hints towards the average 1970 pub. The digetic music of the juke box adds to this friendly and close atmosphere, with short snippets of the conversation caught in the audience's ear. Then a distinctive ringing is heard, from a red telephone that stands out visually and as sound. The ringing seems quite loud however Tyler seems to be the only one who can hear it. The red colour of the phone also stands out in the mise-en-scene as the other colours of the pub are dull or dubbed browns and grays. This shot moved over to the phone on the bar uses a good proportion of the rule of thirds. There is a long shot of Tyler's reaction to the phone, and the smoke seems to add to the tension in Tyler’s eyes as he walks over to the phone, and picks it up.
Our extract ends as Tyler picks up the phone, which is a cliff hanger point because it seems to be a link to him and maybe his present 2006 self.