| Gene Hunt | |
|---|---|
| Life on MarsandAshes to Ashes character | |
 Philip Glenister as Gene Hunt inAshes to Ashes | |
| First appearance | Life on Mars: Episode 1, series 1 |
| Last appearance | Ashes to Ashes: Episode 8, series 3 |
| Portrayed by | Philip Glenister (older) Mason Kayne (younger) Colm Meaney (US pilot) Harvey Keitel (US version) |
| Books | The Rules of Modern Policing The Future of Modern Policing |
| In-universe information | |
| Title | Detective Chief Inspector |
| Occupation | Police Officer Greater Lancaster Constabulary (1953) Greater Manchester Police (1953-1980) Metropolitan Police (1980-1983) |
| Family | Stuart Hunt (brother; deceased) |
| Spouse | Unnamed wife (divorced before events ofAshes to Ashes in 1981) |
| Nationality | British |
DCIGene Hunt is a fictional character inBBC One'sscience fiction/police proceduraldramaLife on Mars and itssequel,Ashes to Ashes. The character is portrayed byPhilip Glenister in both shows. His younger self, also known as the ghost of Gene Hunt, is portrayed byMason Kayne. In theAmerican adaption, he is portrayed byHarvey Keitel.
The character is portrayed aspolitically incorrect, brutal, and corrupt, but fundamentally good. Hunt is often depicted to maintain alove–hate relationship with bothSam Tyler (John Simm) andAlex Drake (Keeley Hawes), the protagonists ofLife on Mars andAshes to Ashes, respectively.
The character received critical and public acclaim for his role inLife on Mars, being dubbed a "national hero", an unlikelysex symbol and a "top cop".[1] A third and final series ofAshes to Ashes was said to "reveal all about Gene Hunt and what his alternative world really means in a stunning finale" and that the "truth [would] out".[2] The character isultimately revealed to be an integral part of the strange world that both Sam Tyler and Alex Drake inhabit.
DuringLife on Mars, Hunt is in command ofManchester and Salford Police's A-DivisionCID.
Throughout the programme Hunt is respected by the characters under his command, mainlyChris Skelton (Marshall Lancaster) andRay Carling (Dean Andrews). During the two series, Hunt often uses unnecessary force while making arrests and conducting interviews, along with practising "noble-causecorruption" demonstrated by his fabrication and falsifying of evidence in order to secure convictions but never for personal gain. In response to this, he has been referred to as an "old-style cop" and "maverick". Hunt also believes that there is a "very fine line between a criminal and a copper".[3]
Hunt often clashes withSam Tyler (John Simm), the protagonist of the series. Eventually, during the second series their relationship improves and they become friends.
DuringAshes to Ashes, Hunt is in command of theMetropolitan Police's Fenchurch EastCID.
During thefirst episode, it is revealed that followingLife on Mars, Hunt worked with Sam Tyler for a further seven years until Tyler crashed his car into a river. Shortly after in February 1980, Hunt transferred from theGreater Manchester Police (whichManchester and Salford Police by then had become) to theLondon Metropolitan Police, along withChris Skelton andRay Carling.[4]
The first series, set in 1981, reveals Hunt to have divorced and replaced hisFord Cortina, as seen inLife on Mars, with an importedAudi Quattro. He is also displayed to be more professional, less aggressive and calmer than when last seen inLife on Mars, set in 1973. Hunt first meetsAlex Drake (Keeley Hawes), theprotagonist, during a police drugs raid at a party. Initially, he mistakenly believes that she is a prostitute and is unaware that like Sam Tyler, she has travelled back in time from the future.
During the series, the main storyline follows Alex Drake in her struggle to return to the present day. In order to do this, she believes that preventing the death of her parents,Tim (Andrew Clover) andCaroline Price (Amelia Bullmore), will enable her to return. While watching the death of her parents in the finale of the first series, she discovers that the person she remembers taking her hand as a child was Gene Hunt and notEvan White (Stephen Campbell Moore) as she previously thought. This leads her to question if Hunt is real and not a figment of her imagination as she thought.
Thesecond series, set in 1982, introduces a new storyline of both Hunt and Alex Drake working together in order to exposecorruption within Fenchurch East CID. As well as the corruption storyline, Drake is stalked byMartin Summers (Gwilym Lee andAdrian Dunbar) who also claims to be from the future. After several discoveries and unofficial investigations led by Hunt and Drake, it is revealed that the newly introduced character,Charlie Mackintosh (Roger Allam) is heavily involved in the corruption. During episode four, after finding out that Hunt and Drake know about his corruption, Mackintosh shoots himself and with his dying words warns Hunt and Drake of "Operation Rose", but dies before he can reveal more details. Summers, also involved in Operation Rose, plants a tape stolen from Drake on Hunt's desk on which she had questioned his existence and motives. After playing the tape, Hunt furiously demands an explanation from Drake, who is forced to explain that she is from the future, which enrages Hunt leading him to think that she has taken him for a fool.
During the series, Hunt and Drake begin to notice that files and evidence have gone missing. Eventually it is revealed that Chris Skelton had been paid large sums of money to undermine the investigation into Operation Rose, and had done so in order to pay for his wedding toShaz Granger (Montserrat Lombard). Without informing those involved in Rose that Skelton has been discovered, Hunt uses him to gain information. It is revealed that Rose is the codename for an upcoming robbery of a van carryinggold bullion masterminded by corrupt officers. After a heated argument with Drake, Hunt suspends her and confiscates herwarrant card, threatening to kill her if he finds her involved in the following day's events.
During the finale, Hunt shoots Martin Summers dead in order to save Drake's life and accidentally shoots her afterward. With no witnesses, Hunt is accused of attempted murder. After being shot, Drake wakes up in the present day to be greeted by her surgeon and her daughter Molly, but observes Hunt screaming at her through hospital screens to wake up. She realises that she is now in a comatose state in 1982, and that the 2008 world she has woken into is illusory.
Thefirst episode begins with Hunt emerging from hiding after shootingAlex Drake, as he was accused of attempted murder and fled to theCosta Brava andIsle of Wight for three months. After waking Drake from her comatose state, Hunt is suspended byJim Keats (Daniel Mays), from the Discipline and Complaints Department (D&C), sent to assess Fenchurch East CID in the wake of Drake's shooting and as part ofOperation Countryman. Keats unofficially assures Hunt's team that he will file a good report about them, before privately telling Hunt he intends to destroy him.
Hunt becomes frustrated with Drake over her renewed interest inSam Tyler's death. Encouraged by Keats, Drake conducts an unofficial investigation into the events, requesting old witness statements and reports of the supposed car accident, along with the leather jacket Tyler was seen wearing duringLife on Mars. Hunt soon burns the files and jacket, cryptically warning Drake to forget her search for certainty and take a leap of faith. Hunt remains unaware Drake is being haunted by a uniformed police officer with a mutilated face, and she later becomes alarmed when she finds a picture of the officer taken earlier without injuries in Hunt's desk, along with an undeveloped roll of film.
During Episode 6, Sergeant Viv James is taken hostage during a riot at HM Prison Fenchurch, having attempted to cut a deal with the riot leader to protect his incarcerated nephew. Viv is shot during the final rescue attempt and is discovered by Keats, before dying just as Gene reaches them. Hunt is devastated by the death, which casts a shadow over the team. As Drake senses their time is running out, she asks Hunt on a dinner date, in which she asks him whether he killed Sam Tyler. Hunt explains he helped Sam fake his death, but refuses to elaborate about what happened afterwards, again offering a veiled warning about faith.
The date is later interrupted by Keats, who hands Drake the photos he developed from the roll of film. Amongst several pictures of Tyler and various scenes fromLife on Mars is a picture of the grave where the dead police officer haunting Drake is buried. Believing this grave to be Tyler's, an mistrustful Drake walks out on Hunt. At the same time, Shaz, Ray and Chris are confronted with visions of stars, as if looking up at the sky, and hear strange voices as described by Chris asNelson (Tony Marshall), the publican fromLife on Mars, asking him what he would like to drink.
During the last episode, Hunt is revealed to be part of a supernatural world, a form oflimbo, populated by dead police officers. His role has been described as an "angel", helping the souls in a place between "earth and heaven"to get where they wanted to be. His role is to take them "to the pub" - moving on to a "heaven" beyond. It transpires that Hunt has done this for many officers before, including Sam Tyler and Annie Cartwright.[5]
During the course of the episode, each of the main characters of the show discovers they are dead. While Alex Drake recalls her past, Shaz, Ray and Chris have forgotten theirs due to the time they have spent in limbo. The uniformed officer haunting Drake is revealed to be Hunt, killed as a young constable after a week in the force by an armed man onCoronation Day in 1953. His body is buried where Drake expects to find Tyler's body, only to discover Hunt's original warrant card. According to a news broadcast Drake sees after waking from her gunshot wound operation in 2008, Hunt's undiscovered grave was recently found by a group of travellers.
Hunt confesses that he had completely forgotten about his past. The team are then confronted by Keats, who destroys their office to reveal the universe outside and accuses Hunt of entrapping the souls of Shaz, Chris, Ray and Alex in his fantasy. He then offers everyone a "transfer" to his own department, which is implied to be Hell, with Keats either being the Devil or a demon. Though Shaz, Ray and Chris initially accept, Alex assists Hunt in persuading the trio to return.
Afterward, Hunt takes the team "to the pub", The Railway Arms, a favoured hangout inLife on Mars, where they are greeted outside by Nelson. Ray, Chris and Shaz enter, but Keats reappears and tries to persuade Alex he can return her to 2008 to see her daughter. This attempt fails when Alex realises that, upon observing Keats' wristwatch frozen at 09:06, she has also died in the real world. Hunt is able to persuade Alex to accept her death and enter the pub, but not before they share a kiss.
In the closing moments, the series comes full circle back toLife on Mars as another officer from the future appears wondering, like Alex and Sam, who has changed his office and where hisiPhone is. Gene Hunt ventures out to greet him in his usual fashion, using the same words he used to greet Sam Tyler in his first scene inLife on Mars.
Gene Hunt was intended to return alongside Sam Tyler in a continuation seriesLazarus, which would have taken place in modern day 2021, and also the 1970s and 1980s. Gene was originally going to appear living in the modern day and elderly, and ended up being sent back in time alongside Sam (in which Gene would have gone back to his younger age). But the project ended up being cancelled due to funding issues.
The character of Gene Hunt ispolitically incorrect, having been described as an old-school copper. It is said that the character thinks of himself as thesheriff in thewestern movieHigh Noon. He can be intimidating and is often violent, while also having a bullying streak. However, he is fiercely protective of his team and "his city". This in turn inspires strong loyalty from his team members.
Philip Glenister, the actor who plays Hunt has described his character as "intuitive" and "instinctive". Glenister has also drawn similarities between Hunt and football managersJosé Mourinho andBrian Clough on account of his "arrogance" and way of thinking.[3]
DuringLife on Mars, Hunt is described by theprotagonist,Sam Tyler, as an ""overweight, over-the-hill, nicotine-stained, borderline alcoholic homophobe with a superiority complex and an unhealthy obsession with male bonding"[6] (to which Hunt responds "You make that sound like a bad thing."[7]) The BBC explains that inAshes to Ashes, Hunt's personality remains unchanged, apart from him "losing grip on the power he had as a police officer".[8]
When having just joined the police at the age of 19, Hunt is shown to be a fresh-faced young man with a slim build, and wearing a blue police tunic, a three-quarter length police trench coat, with the epaulette identity number 6620. This version of Hunt is portrayed byMason Kayne.
The middle-aged version of Hunt that we see inLife on Mars andAshes to Ashes is tall and strong, larger and more physically dominant than those around him, in contrast to his younger self. He is practically fearless, as shown by his dangerous driving style and his willingness (or even eagerness) to get involved in fights.
DuringLife on Mars, Hunt often wore a beige camel coat with a white shirt and tie, grey suit and trousers with white slip-on shoes, typical of the period. His top shirt button is always undone and his tie always hangs halfway down his chest in an untidy, dishevelled fashion. InAshes to Ashes, he is often seen wearing a black suit, striped tie,Crombie coat and snakeskin boots. Hunt gives the impression that he wears his coat almost like a suit of armour or superhero cape.
Gene Hunt often maintains a "love–hate relationship" withSam Tyler andAlex Drake, the protagonists ofLife on Mars andAshes to Ashes respectively.[9] ThroughoutLife on Mars, the source of disagreements between Hunt and Sam Tyler are their differing policing methods. Hunt has been described as "not being scared of throwing a few punches to get a result", whereas both Tyler and Alex Drake are present day detectives who value forensic evidence and thorough investigative techniques over pursuing hunches.
John Simm, the actor who plays Sam Tyler, has stated that both his character and Hunt have a grudging respect for the other's approach to policing, as well as Hunt seeing much of his younger self in Tyler.[10] Hunt and Tyler's relationship eventually improves after Tyler returns to the present day only to kill himself so that he can return to save Hunt and the team, however, Hunt does not know this. DuringAshes to Ashes, information about Sam Tyler can be seen on the walls of Hunt's office in Fenchurch East Police Station.
During the first series ofAshes to Ashes, Hunt's relationship with Alex Drake is much of the same as with Tyler. However, their relationship develops during the second series as they come to trust and respect each other, and they share a distinct sexual tension.
In the third series ofAshes to Ashes, Hunt and Alex's relationship becomes strained when DCI Jim Keats begins to plant seeds of doubt in Alex's mind about the nature of Sam Tyler's death, but Alex's faith and love for Gene makes her unwilling to believe that he would murder Tyler. At the end of the third series, Alex and Gene share a kiss.
Throughout bothLife on Mars andAshes to Ashes,Ray Carling andChris Skelton are described as being "ever-faithful" to Hunt. Carling is described as Hunt's "right-hand man when it comes to fighting, shooting, gambling and the ladies". However, inLife on Mars, Carling feels threatened by Hunt and Tyler's relationship feeling "mortified that he's lost his mate and drinking partner", whereas Chris Skelton finds his loyalty "torn between Gene and Sam".[11][12][13]
Gene Hunt has been described as a "national hero" byThe Independentnewspaper and as a character "taken to the nation's hearts" byThe Guardian.[14][15] The character was voted theUnited Kingdom's favourite television hero in 2008, receiving over 25% of the popular vote, ahead of both24'sJack Bauer andThe Doctor.[1]Nancy Banks-Smith stated that Hunt had been a "roaring success" inLife on Mars, with it also being said that it was because of Hunt thatLife on Mars's spin-off,Ashes to Ashes, was commissioned, quoting executive producer Jane Featherstone as saying: "WhenLife on Mars came to end through natural causes, I think we all thought: 'Hang on, this character, Gene Hunt, is a fairly extraordinary man and we're not quite done with him yet".[16][17]
Glenda Cooper, fromThe Daily Telegraph, called it a "crime" thatJohn Simm received aBAFTA nomination for his portrayal ofSam Tyler, but that Glenister did not receive similar recognition for his role as Hunt.[7] Cooper goes on to write: As far as I - and millions of British women - were concerned, the only riddle [ofLife on Mars] was why the hell did anyone think this was Tyler's show when a brief psychological profile, cursory examination of the evidence and old-fashioned gut instinct showed that there was only one man in the frame and that was DCI Gene Hunt."[7]
Ashes to Ashes reviews witnessed the character receive more negative press than those seen inLife on Mars.Caitlin Moran, reviewing the spin-off show forThe Times, stated that: "We love Gene Hunt. That’s just a fact. Hunt become that rare thing, in these creatively timid and threadbare days for British drama: [However] in 200 miles, eight years and one sequel – Gene has gone from being a complex antihero to a cartoon hero."[18]
With regards to the character's performance inAshes to Ashes, Andrew Billen states that "much is secondhand and when Hunt, played as gleefully as ever by Philip Glenister, shouts an insult as lame as “hoity-toity poofter” you wonder if the writers should have thought again."[19]
Hunt has also been criticised for the prejudiced views he propagates. Writing forThe Times, Tim Teeman expressed concern over an episode ofAshes to Ashes which focused on overt homophobia, writing: "No doubt the justification here is that it's Gene Hunt, everyone knows he's a bigot, that's what he'd say. And he and his mates were shown to be fools. But it was said with lip-smacking relish. Gene Hunt is on the brink of becoming a kind of icon of the sniggering, unreconstructed lad."[20]Ashley Pharoah, co-creator of bothLife on Mars andAshes to Ashes, has also voiced concern on this issue, commenting: "There have been times I have wondered: have we created a pin-up boy for theDaily Mail? That wasn't our intention."[21]
In the lead up to the2010 general election campaign in the UK, the rulingLabour Party produced an advert likening oppositionConservative Party leaderDavid Cameron to Hunt, claiming that Cameron would take Britain "back to the 1980s", referencing the inequalities of that era.[22] However, the Conservative Party claimed that comparisons to Hunt were flattering to them and produced their own advert linking Cameron to Hunt with the slogan "Fire up theQuattro, it's time for change."[22] Subsequently, Kudos Productions, which owns the copyright to the Gene Hunt character, wrote to both parties requiring them to cease using the image.[23]
Philip Glenister was introduced to David Cameron, then UK Conservative leader, at the 2009 Police Bravery Awards.[24] Glenister later quipped "Six months later, he's [Cameron] onRadio 5Live saying exactly what I've just said. B*****d nicked my line!"[25] Glenister appeared in the 2012 stage playThis House playing Labour Chief Whip from the 1970s, the lateWalter Harrison.[26]
Glenda Cooper wrote inThe Daily Telegraph that "women like Hunt because he isn't a bastard - or at least not to his team. In a world of short-term contracts, job insecurity and portfolio careers, Hunt's undying loyalty to his squad (even while rabidly insulting them) make us wistful for a time gone by when you had a job (and colleagues) for life."[7]
"On paper, it should never have happened. Hunt is Seventies man writ large and we should be grateful that species is extinct. He wears a vest and his hair looks like it was styled during a power cut. He runs along towpaths in skimpy orange swimming trunks and has a torso that's closer to aParty Seven than six pack. He has no concept of innocent until proved guilty and thinks it's acceptable to turn up to a swingers' evening with a prostitute he's just busted. He'sracist,disablist andhomophobic, and he calls his only female detective Flash Knickers. (And he means it as a compliment.) In fact when you see Hunt's qualities spelled out like that, it looks appalling. [However] the fact remains: Gene Hunt is my guilty secret, and I know scores of other women feel the same."[7]
According toIndia Knight ofThe Sunday Times, the character has attained the status of an unlikely Britishsex symbol: "the combination of power and, shall we say, lack of political correctness can be a potent one - which is why everyone in Britain fell in love with Gene Hunt, the hulking great throwback in the BBC seriesLife on Mars and that men wanted to be Hunt; women wanted to be with him."[27]
Bantam Press have published two books written from the in-character perspective of Hunt, beingThe Rules of Modern Policing (1973) in 2007 andThe Future of Modern Policing (1981) in 2008.[28][29] During 2009, a third book was published by Bantam written from the in-character perspective of Chris Skelton and Ray Carling, focusing on Hunt's various insults and catchphrases as seen duringLife on Mars andAshes to Ashes, calledThe Wit and Wisdom of Gene Hunt. Anofficial website was also produced in order to market the third book.
During 2007, atelevision pilot for anAmerican version ofLife on Mars was filmed by20th Century Fox Television'sDavid E. Kelley. ActorColm Meaney was cast as Hunt, theprecinctCaptain of aLos Angeles Police Department squad. Meaney had not seen the British series but bought the DVD sets at an airport after filming had been completed.[30] The2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike delayed the start of the series until 2008. By then, theABC network wanted the pilot to be reshot without Kelley's involvement. Meaney was not hired to play Hunt again; instead,Harvey Keitel assumed the role.[31] The setting of the series was moved toNew York City, and Hunt was changed to apolice lieutenant,[15] the typical rank of aNYPD detective squad's commander.
| Life on Mars | |
|---|---|
| Ashes to Ashes | |
| Characters | |
