Philip Glenister 'fine' with axing of Life on Mars sequel

Philip Glenister has opened up on the decision to cancel Lazarus, telling us he had concerns about the Life On Mars sequel.

The original BBC One drama, which was part police procedural drama, part science-fiction fantasy, followed John Simm’s Sam Tyler, a Manchester police officer from 2006 who time-traveled back to 1973 after a mysterious accident (one of our best 100 TV shows of all-time).

Stuck in the 1970s, he began working alongside the brash and abrasive DCI Gene Hunt, played by Philip Glenister, with the pair often clashing over their very different attitudes towards policing.

Lazarus had been due to pick up the story, with Simm and Glenister set to return to their original roles, but the show's creators Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah revealed it had been cancelled due to "financing issues" this summer.

Fans were heartbroken at the news, yet when we spoke to Glenister at a press event for his new ITV drama After The Flood, he said he thought it might be time to move on.

"I'm fine with (Lazarus being canceled)" he said. "To be honest, I just think we've done it really. I mean, it's that thing of would do you want to go back and it's not going to be as good? And then you get remembered for that, as opposed to an iconic sort of show.

"In that respect, I was never as enthusiastic about it as others. From my point of view, it was a career-changer playing that character, but it also became a little bit of a noose around one's neck. You knew you weren't going to get seen to play any other detective, because you're so entwined with that character.

"You start getting frustrated, thinking 'I could play that part' but they still see you as Gene Hunt. I did Steeltown Murders last year and that was the first detective I played since him, which goes to show you."

In a twitter statement that confirmed the show's cancellation in the summer of 2023, Lazarus co-creator Matthew Graham said: "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."

However, despite the completion of a pilot, Glenister hinted that he had reservations about the script and how an un-PC character like Gene Hunt would be received these days.

"I was still concerned," he explained. "Because I had read the script and there was still something and I just thought... am I prepared to become the spokesperson for that, for that sort of... in this day and age? As much as I really enjoy playing (Hunt) it was very much set in the 1970s and about that period."

After The Flood begins on ITV in January 2024