The series tells the fictional story of Alex Drake (played by Keeley Hawes), a female police officer in service with London's Metropolitan Police who is shot in 2008, and inexplicably regains consciousness in 1981.[3] ...展开
The first episode of the series reveals that, in the present day, Drake has been studying records of the events seen in Life on Mars. Upon waking in the past, she is shocked to meet returning character Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), of whom she has learned from her research. Throughout the series, it is ambiguous to both Drake and the audience whether the character is dead or alive in the present day.