Life on Mars’s Philip Glenister calls revival cancellation “mixed blessing”

The actor, who played Gene Hunt alongside John Simm's Sam Tyler, said: "It’s sort of a mixed blessing for me personally, if I'm honest, because it's always that thing when you've done a show like Life on Mars, which was critically appreciated and the public seemed to like it. It was one of those shows that comes along once in a blue moon, it’s great and a career changer.

"But obviously, it was set in the ‘70s and of its time, and things are very different in our industry and in the world now, what you can and can't do, and I'm not sure how it would have sat in this current day and age if I'm honest."

Glenister continued: "I wasn't sure that I wanted to then become, if you like, the spokesperson for that. I'm a hired actor, it was a part I played, it was great, I loved playing him, but I’m not Gene Hunt at the end of the day. And I think certainly, as much as it absolutely changed my career and took me to a next level, without doubt, the slightly negative side to it was that I was beginning to feel typecast or pigeonholed.

"As we make so many procedural dramas on television in this country, I wasn't getting a look in, they just saw me as Gene Hunt, the producers. And understandably, I’d probably do the same, 'No, we can’t have any Gene Hunt'.

"Whereas if you’re doing Doctor Who or James Bond, at least somebody else is taking over, so they’ve hopefully forgotten about you when the next one’s come along a little bit. So someone like David Tennant can go back to Doctor Who if he wants, because there's another one who's going to take over the mantle. Whereas there isn't another Gene Hunt, not at the moment anyway."

He continued: "So it's one of those things, so I thought best left alone and from a personal point of view, I think maybe it's the right thing that it didn't go ahead and hopefully will be remembered for a great show. There’s all that talk about bringing back Fawlty Towers and I don’t know, it might work, who knows. But they're going to be hard pushed, and I think we would have been hard pushed.

"Also, with everything that's going on, everybody's either woke or none [are] woke, and it's getting quite nasty, I think, on all sides because you're getting extremes on all sides. And anything that's extreme, whether it's on the right or the left, is not a good thing in my opinion. We need moderation and we need intelligence. And we need to be talking about stuff and screaming and tweeting and going on and having certain people who sort of make it their life's duty to just rant.

Read more:

• Peaky Blinders spin-offs – including Polly prequel – 'in works' at Netflix
• Mad Men’s Jon Hamm to star in new Apple TV+ drama series

"I would be uncomfortable I think, in this day and age, being made, just through the character, a spokesperson for that sort of element now, 'bring back the good old days', do you know what I mean? It’s very much set in its time, and reflected the time, and it's done."

Development on Lazarus was announced back in 2020 and it seemed to be positive news on all fronts, with the creative team revealing that the script for the pilot had been completed.

But, taking to Twitter (recently rebranded as X) in June 2023 to confirm the news of its cancellation, Life on Mars co-creator Matthew Graham wrote: "Some sad news folks. After many months of planning, we will now not be making Lazarus. I can't go into details but the hurdles were financial not creative.
He continued: "It was a cracking concept - pertinent to our times. It had a whole new round of things to say about the relationship between the public and the police. And it was bloody funny too. But that as they say is showbiz baby."

Life on Mars is available to stream on BritBox – you can sign up for a 7-day free trial here. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.