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" Americans have a long tradition of taking what the British do and doing it worse. Soccer. Colonialism. Political debate. And television. Lord, do we fuck that up. American Idol is played with kid gloves compared to the UK original, Pop Idol. Our Office is a very good show; theirs is freaking brilliant. Our Life on Mars was a one-trick pony. Theirs \u2014 which just came out on DVD stateside \u2014 is a whole carnival. (Hell, even British reviewers top ours: one called the Brit Mars &amp;quot;thumpingly enjoyable,&amp;quot; which gives &amp;quot;two thumbs up&amp;quot; a thumping of its own.) Anyhow, you probably remember the basic storyline: a modern-day cop is knocked out in a freak accident and appears to wake up in 1973. On the face of it, it&amp;#039;s a cartoonish premise. But as the cop begins to question whether he&amp;#039;s insane, in a coma, or really has traveled back in time, it sets the stage for some terrific, thought-provoking drama. And some damn good &amp;#039;70s-style car chases, too. Or it does in the English version, anyway. The reason is simple: the writers don&amp;#039;t dumb it down. Language and plot are the stars of British television. Our stars are, well, stars. And there&amp;#039;s nothing necessarily wrong with that. But what was the point of handing the great Harvey Keitel a leading part in the American Mars, only to give him boilerplate cop-talk for a script? The British cast, on the other hand, has no big names (though it would be good for men&amp;#039;s souls if the delightful Liz White became one), just great actors. They put the story first and tell it well, and as a result you remember them long after the show is over. Funny how that works. MORE FROM ESCAPE WEEK:  EARLIER: The Next Great, Slightly Awkward British Comic  THE ANGRY GERMAN: On Englishmen in America "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a6146/british-life-on-mars-072909/>