LIFE on Mars is the title of the new hit TV show on ABC that follows NYPD Detective Sam Tyler, a 2008 policeman who finds himself trapped in 1973 in New York City during the tumultuous times of the Vietnam War, Watergate, women's liberation and the civil and gay rights movements - and all without a cell phone or computer to help him out.

Mysteriously ripped from 2008, Tyler - played by Dublin native Jason O'Mara - is hurtled back in time to the early seventies after being hit by a car while chasing down a criminal. From that moment he tries to understand what's just happened to him and how he can get back home.

Irish leading man O'Mara, who was born in Dublin's Rotunda Hospital just steps away from the legendary Gate Theatre (where he has starred in several plays) still has a clear Dublin accent, but you'd never guess he was Irish from his performance in the TV show. A dialect coach is on set at all times to ensure that Dublin doesn't make an unscheduled appearance in his voice.

"The Jason O'Mara drinking game would be to have a shot every time my accent falters," O'Mara told the Irish Voice during a recent interview.

But as regulars who watch the new show realize they'd be sober at the end - his work is flawless. But anyone who thinks that an actor's life must be non-stop glamour should hear how O'Mara, 36, spends each day.

"I have to memorize the lines, but I also have to figure out how to say them," says O'Mara. "It adds another layer to the preparation. We have to work pretty fast and hard to nail the dialect as well as the scenes. I get home after a 15 hour day on the set, and I rehearse lines for another couple of hours before I get to sleep."

O'Mara is pleased to discover how many people never realized he's an Irishman through and through.

"It's nice in a way. As an actor I really didn't want to play clichd Irish roles like the priest, the embittered emigrant, the typecasting that can go on with Irish actors. I tried to embrace many accents and backgrounds. I was lucky that the stuff the people saw me in I was always using different accents. It's opened up a whole new realm of possibility for me," he says.

O'Mara's costar on Life on Mars is Jonathan Michael Murphy, 27, the Irish American actor who was born and raised in Arlington, Texas. Like O'Mara, Murphy began his career early acting in his high school drama department and then going on to perform at community theatres after graduation.

Says Murphy, "I don't really know a lot about the Irish side of the family, but my dad was named Murphy and had ties to Irish roots, but I grew up in Texas and it was never really discussed. My father's grandparents came over from Ireland and that was how we ended up on this side of the ocean. But the country itself is so beautiful and I'd love to visit it."

Murphy loves the show and it's premise and finds the opportunity to work in a period setting creatively stimulating.

"It's a very tumultuous time socially and politically, with the Vietnam war going on and the women's movement and the gay rights movement and all of these issues coming to the boil for the first time here. We're a cop show first and foremost and yet there's a really interesting science fiction element to it too - like how did Tyler get here, and what will happen to him - there are so many interesting avenues to explore and that's what going to separate us from all the other shows on TV."

Like O'Mara, Murphy has been reveling in the long hours and the opportunity to work with highly respected actors like Harvey Keitel.

"I'm knocked out by O'Mara's talent. He has to be authentic to 1973 and the American character he plays and he always is," says Murphy. "It's a difficult role to play but he is always in good spirits, he's here every day from the beginning to the end. That a true pro."

Life on Mars is broadcast on Thursdays at 10 p.m. on ABC.