Bradley Secures Deal with Kudos for 'Life on Mars' Novels

 

 

by Life On Mars on Friday, 20 July 2012 at 14:03 ·

London, 12th March 2012

Kate Bradley, Commissioning Editor at HarperCollins has secured a deal with Kudos Film and Television to publish four brand new Life on Mars novels featuring the iconic characters of Gene Hunt and Sam Tyler, played by actors, Phillip Glenister and John Simm. Life on Mars told the fictional story of 21st century DI Sam Tyler who awakes from a car accident to find himself back in 1973. His modern policing techniques set him up for frequent clashes with his ‘Guv’, Gene Hunt and the series finale saw Sam Tyler throwing himself off the roof of his 21st century police station and finding himself back, permanently, in 1973.

Written by Tom Graham, brother of the series writer Matthew Graham, the books will pick up where the series left off and will again feature all of Manchester CID’s finest. The seminal TV series, produced by Kudos in association with Monastic Productions, featured the unapologetically unreconstructed and un-PC DCI, Gene Hunt, who became the focus for fans and a cult hero for both men and women. The 30,000 members of the Life on Mars Forum, The Railway Arms (domeofstars.com), and the 50,000 likes for the Gene Hunt Appreciation Society page on Facebook are testament to the series enduring popularity. The four new novels are completely original. The first, Blood, Bullets and Blue Stratos, to be published in September 2012, starts with a supposed bombing campaign which bears all the hallmarks of the IRA, but when Sam suspects something else is at play, he has a hard time convincing Gene. The three further novels will be A Fistful of Knuckles, Borstal Slags and Get Cartwright.

Kate Bradley said:

“Like many of the very best home produced TV series, it is the characters that live on in the minds of the fans and Tom has done a brilliant job of channelling them all into these novels. He has completely captured the atmosphere, from the wing collars and slip-ons, to Gene’s beloved Cortina and the Test Card Girl and, of course, all of the crackling dialogue that so defined the series. Tom has also added some more depth to the characters - the joy of the novels is that they have allowed him to delve into the psyche of the characters in a way that a weekly hour-long programme can’t. Fans will definitely have some of their lingering questions answered by the books and they certainly won’t be disappointed.” Martin Haines, Head of Legal and Business Affairs at Kudos said: “We are delighted to have HarperCollins on board and see this publishing programme as a great way to continue the adventures of Gene and Sam and to give fans of the show new stories to engage with.” Matthew Graham commented: “The 8 year gap between Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes is a period that still fascinates fans. How did Sam integrate into his new life in A-Division? Did his love affair with Annie work out or was it thwarted? How exactly did he learn the truth about Gene Hunt and take that final step into The Railway Arms forever?

These books are a chance to revisit old friends and breathe in the giddy aroma of Old Spice, Embassy 6 and Cortina leather once more. They're going to be great fun and will enrich and deepen the Geniverse." The books will be published exclusively as eBooks at roughly three-monthly intervals. Bradley adds: “eBooks are the perfect format for the Life on Mars novels, the core fans are all likely to be heavy eBook consumers already and the fast pace of the novels fits really well with the digital reading experience.”

Issued by: Laura Mell
Publicity Manager, HarperFiction
028 307 4319 / laura.mell@harpercollins.co.uk