The Footie

"The Footie" is an episode of the British time travel police procedural television series, Life on Mars, that was first broadcast on 6 February 2006.

Synopsis
A football fan is killed, and Sam fears further violence in the run up to an important local derby. He and DCI Hunt mount an undercover operation in a pub to catch the suspects. Sam realises that the match is the last one he attended with his father.

Cast
*Sam Tyler — John Simm
*Gene Hunt — Philip Glenister
*Chris Skelton — Marshall Lancaster
*Ray Carling — Dean Andrews
*Annie Cartwright — Liz White
*Nelson — Tony Marshall
*Phyllis Dobbs — Noreen Kershaw
*Test Card Girl — Rafaella Hutchinson
*Ryan — Michael Lawrence
*Stanley Cooper — Ian Barritt
*Pete Bond — Anthony Flanagan
*Malcolm Cox — Joe Duttine

Cultural References
*Gene says "There will never be a woman Prime Minister as long as I have a hole in my arse." Margaret Thatcher would become the county's first female Prime Minister on 4 May, 1979.
*Sam says "We have to put up perimeter fences, herding people like animals. Then how long before something happens, how long before something terrible happens and we are dragging bodies out?" Sam is likely to be referring to the Hillsborough Disaster on April 15, 1989. There was a massive influx of Liverpool supporters into the already crowded central bays just before kick-off, which resulted in the fans at the front being crushed into the perimeter fencing that had been installed to help prevent hooliganism. Whilst the situation was not immediately recognised and the game started, within 10 minutes of play fans had forced a small gate and were streaming onto the pitch to escape the crush, police initially believed it was a pitch invasion and sent in reinforcements to stop the escaping fans. By the time the truth was known many fans had being crushed to death whilst still standing. A total of 96 people lost their lives at the scene or as a result of their injuries.
*Gene tells Sam "You do that, Sherlock, and if that doesn’t work try the butler." Gene is drawing a comparison between Sam and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's world-famous fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, and to the classic mystery cliché that whenever an unexplained murder occurs in a rarefied setting the suspicion always falls on the butler.

Production
Music
*Call the Police - Thin Lizzy
*Good Thinking - Status Quo
*The Rocker - Thin Lizzy
*White Room - Cream
*Jeepster - T.Rex
*Would You Believe - Roxy Music
*Urban Guerrilla - Hawkwind
*Ejection - Hawkwind
*I Can’t Live Without You - Colosseum
*Mother of Pearl - Roxy Music
*I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free - Nina Simone
 
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