Actress, Lisa Bonet has joined the cast of the American remake of Life On Mars.

Lisa is better known as Denises Huxtable from The Cosby Show and will reprise the role of Maya Daniels, the present-day girlfriend of lead character Sam Tyler (Jason O’Mara).

Since leaving the Huxtables Bonet has appeared in several films, the most notable of which include Enemy of the State, High Fidelity and Biker Boyz.

Also starring on the show will be Hollywood actor Harvey Keitel.

The Hollywood reporter has revealed that Hollywood actor, Harvey Keitel, has been signed up to pay Gene Hunt for the American version of BBC drama, Life On Mars.

Keitel was Brooklyn born-and-raised and is expected to bring an authentic New York feel to the show.

Colm Meaney had been cast in the role, but studio execs obviously wanted a bigger name to launch the show on and have recently recast the role.

You can see a trailer of the show here, with Meaney playing Hunt.

We recently told you that BBC drama, Life On Mars was being remade for America. Well check out a clip of the show above.

The show is about to debut on US TV network ABC, it stars Irish actor Colm Meaney as Gene Hunt, and fellow Irishman Jason O’Mara (Monarch of the Glen) plays the time-travelling detective Sam Tyler.

In my opinion its all a bit cheesy and Hill Street Blues, and I just don’t see anyone as charasmatic as Gene Hunt. So what do you think?

Life On Mars has become the latest in a line of British TV shows to get an American makeover.

A pilot episode was recently written by Ally McBeal creator David E Kelley, who had bought the rights to the show.

The Hollywood Reporter said ABC had now ordered an extended run, with Irish actor Jason O’Mara in the lead role. Read more & comment »

So, before Life On Mars ended, DCI Sam Tyler sent a recording of his experiences to “this officer, she’s collecting stuff from colleagues who’ve suffered trauma”. Before pitching himself off a roof in order to prolong the coma that transported him to 1973.

It turns out this officer is DI Alex Drake, a psychological profiling expert in London’s Metropolitan Police. The first episode of Ashes To Ashes opens with her daughter reading Sam’s words from a transcript.

Unfortunately, Alex Drake’s time in 2008 is about to end. She is called to a crime scene, where a desperate criminal is holding a gun to a busker’s head. During the fracas, Drake attempts to calm the situation down, but the man points the gun at her instead. Drake’s daughter, who was in the car, witnesses this and jumps out to protect her mother. The gunman, Arthur Layton, grabs the girl and takes her down a flight of steps. A gunshot is heard and Drake runs down in pursuit - her daughter is fine, but the gunman has disappeared.

Read more & comment »

The BBC know they are onto a winner with Ashes To Ashes, the sequel to hit series Life On Mars.

They are currently recruiting for the female lead role on the show and it is rumoured that actresses all over the UK are fighting to get the role.

Hotly tipped for the part is Mission Impossible and ER star, Thandie Newton. Now that would be a great move by the BBC, if they could bring someone of that caliber on board, they would certainly win a lot more male viewers!

The phone lines at Kudos Productions have been jammed all week with people wanting to know if Sam Tyler was actually dead. The last episode of Life On Mars saw Sam jump of a building and return to the 70s, but it left a lot of confused people who didn’t know what had actually happened.

The Mirror asked writer Matthew Graham to explain and he stated:

“What I was trying to say is that he’s died, and that for however long that last second of life is going to be, it will stretch out for an age, as an eternity for Sam. When he drives off in that car, he’s really driving off into the afterlife.”

Awwww, no chance of a new series then….

Life On Mars ended on a high last night, with 7 million viewers watching the final show. It looks like it will be leaving on another sort of high also, after being nominated for 3 BAFTA awards.

The X Factor has once again been nominated for the Enetrtainment categoiry, but this year faces stiff competition from Dancing on Icer and BBC’s, How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria.

Full List Of Nominations:

ACTOR
JIM BROADBENT (Longford)
ANDY SERKIS (Longford)
MICHAEL SHEEN (Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!)
JOHN SIMM (Life On Mars) Read more & comment »

The finale of time-travelling detective show Life on Mars was seen by more than seven million people, unofficial overnight figures show.

Around 6.6 million watched the first half hour, with the audience growing to 7.7 million once Manchester United’s Champions League clash ended on ITV1.

Fans of the drama finally found out how modern-day policeman Sam Tyler, played by John Simm, ended up in the 1970s.

A sequel has already been announced, with the action moving to the 1980s.

The average audience for Tuesday’s show was seven million - the highest figure for the entire second series.

“We’re delighted so many people tuned in to see how Sam Tyler turned out,” said a BBC spokeswoman.

Producers had promised a “natural and explosive climax”, but filmed two separate endings “to keep everyone guessing”.

When CID hears that the dead body of a miner has been found, they are quick to arrive on the scene in the last episode of the award-winning series following time-travelling detective Sam Tyler. They soon discover that a notorious cop killer, Leslie Johns, is behind the murder.

Knowing how big this “collar” could be, Gene Hunt is determined to lead the investigation and beat his new rival, Frank Morgan, to the punch – and he learns that the killing resulted from a fall-out over a planned heist. By going undercover on the heist, CID plan to catch Leslie Johns red-handed but, as usual, A Division are hurried and rash and, inevitably, problems start to arise.

As Sam questions the dubious ethics behind their methods and motives, he meets Morgan in private and what Sam hears turns his world upside down. Suddenly, his reasons for being in A Division are cast in a totally new light – all at once it is unbelievable, yet somehow it makes perfect sense. All Sam has to do, Morgan promises, is one job, then he can “come home” – words that Sam has wanted to hear for so long.

Tuesday 10 April
9.00-10.00pm BBC ONE