Did you know that “Life on Mars” was written eight years before it was commissioned? Co-creator Ashley Pharoah told the Western Daily Press, “Nobody wanted it for ages. We were knocked back by the BBC the first time we offered it to them. It came close to being made by Channel 4, but then they chickened out.”
Probably it was ahead of its time. He says, “Things changed a lot in those eight years.”
He had lots of initial success during his university years and shortly thereafter, but he observes, “It is possible to have too much success too early. At that age I knew that rejection letters existed in theory, but it was only after I graduated and found myself living in London and struggling to get work that I first started to realise just how tough a career I’d chosen.”
“Life on Mars” and their follow-up, “Ashes to Ashes,” have been huge successes, but their next one, “Bonekickers, ” was a failure with critics and audiences, partly, Pharoah believes, because it was meant to be a family programme but was scheduled too late in the evening.
Ups and downs come with the territory--and so does the need for patience!
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