Sam’s life after a car accident

My name is Sam Tyler. I had an accident and I woke up in 1973. Am I mad, in coma or back in time? Whatever's happened, it's like I've landed on a different planet. Now, maybe if I can find out the reason, I can get back home.

This questioning is the central plot throughout the series, displaying both the character's and the audience's uncertainty about what has happened. Throughout the course of "Life on Mars" seeing images from 2006 on radios, telephones, and televisions. The voices discuss his medical condition, leading him to partially believe that he is in a coma.

Other elements suggest to him that he is insane, such as his frequent and unexpected encounters with a strange little girl, who speaks directly to him. Annie Cartwright (his colleague) partially persuades Sam that he is actually in 1973, explaining to him that his mind would not force to fabricate the amount of detail and tangibility in the world in which he is, and it is evidence that he is really in 1973.

Sam's uncertain situation is not the main point for the majority of episode plots, but is rather a sub-plot. In most episodes, the main plot centres upon a particular crime or case relating to the police, such as drug trafficking, a hostage situation, murders and robberies. Most episodes follow a conventional police drama setting. As the series progresses, Sam focuses on how he will get back home.

Sam hears the voice of his mother in 2006 saying his life-support machine will be switched off at 2:00 pm. At the same time he is called to a hostage-taking, where the perpetrator has stated that he will kill his victims at the same time. What is going to happen? Sam also encounters people he knows in the future (2006) as they were younger in 1973, including suspects, friends and his own parents, what suggests he went back in time to solve something.