MONDAY 16 JANUARY
Drama
Life on Mars
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC1 London & South East
VIDEO Plus+: 4887
Subtitled, Widescreen, Audio-described
Episode written by Matthew Graham
2/8
This wonderful drama series operates on so many different levels. There's the straightforward cop-show aspect, the humour, and then there's the emotional undertow that pulls everything together. John Simm and Philip Glenister are brilliant as the polar-opposite detectives - Simm as detective Sam Tyler, sent back in time after a car crash in 2006 leaves him in a coma, and Glenister as his new knuckle-dragging boss. The laughs come when two cultures clash - Simm is a touchy-feely, modern detective, while Glenister's Detective Chief Inspector Gene Hunt is very much a man of his time. Here the two men get to know each other a little better when Sam's determination to do things by the book (21st-century style) in the hunt for an armed gang brings tragedy.
RT reviewer: Alison Graham
Sam Tyler - John Simm
Gene Hunt - Philip Glenister
Annie Cartright - Liz White
Ray Carling - Dean Andrews
Chris Skelton - Marshall Lancaster
Phyllis Dobbs - Noreen Kershaw
Nelson - Tony Marshall
Kim Trent - Andrew Tiernan
June - Rae Kelly
Leonard - Timothy Platt
Mrs Trent - Sherry Ormerod
.THURSDAY 19 JANUARY
Drama
The West Wing
10:45pm - 11:40pm
RTE1
VIDEO Plus+: 84776426
The Message of the Week
Drama series about the inner workings of the Oval Office. Vinick and Santos battle it out on the campaign trail as they jostle to get higher approval ratings.
Bradley Whitford,John Spencer,Richard Schiff,Martin Sheen,Allison Janney,Alan Alda