Life On Mars: The Complete Second Series

The main features of the extras are the interview sections The Return Of and The End Of, which take up 72 minutes and include almost everyone of importance, from the producers (ridiculously young and erudite) to the actors, directors and writers. These defy the norm and are, without exception, engrossing.

The writers, who had been trying to get Life On Mars (named after the David Bowie song) accepted for eight years, admit to being astonished by the success of the first series, especially in the States, where they won an Emmy (“Somehow it crossed cultures”), although the BBC had enough faith in it to commit to a second series before the first had been aired.

Coming back felt like Groundhog Day for some – same place, same crew, same cast – and for others like coming home (“Everything you could ask for in a job” – Dean Andrews). Praise for the crew was unanimous (“They worked their arses off” – Philip Glenister) and for the writers for having the courage to nail the racism and sexism of the Seventies in such acidic style.

The feedback from the public, according to Matthew Graham, was “don’t thrash it.” Of course, they could have milked it for years. Certainly the characters have staying power and huge potential. “Deciding to end it at the end of Series 2 gave it a tremendous momentum.”

No one knew how it was going to go.

“I hadn’t a clue,” Liz White says.

“I love the last episode,” John Simm says. “It’s so complicated. It’s like The Lord Of The Rings in an hour.”

The four Behind The Scenes sections concentrate on the car bomb effects from Episode 3, animation of the Camberwick Green characters from Episode 5, the courtroom scene and Glenister is the squirrel suit from Episode 7 and set design discussions with director S J Clarkson and producer Claire Parker. As with the other extras, these are intelligently presented and excellent value.

Nothing, it seems, in the filming and in the DVD extras, has been taken for granted, or flung together without thought. The LOM team deserves respect. Each and every one of them.