GENE HUNT

' DCI Gene Hunt' is a fictional character in the BBC One sci-fi police drama ''Life on Mars'', and its forthcoming spin-off, ''Ashes to Ashes''. He is played by Philip Glenister.

Contents

Fictional character history

Personality

External links

Fictional character history

Gene Hunt was born in 1931 (as he is portrayed as being in his early 40s). The details of his life before ''Life on Mars'' are sketchy, but he apparently did his national service prior to joining the police force at the age of 19 and by 1973 was a DCI. As a young beat-cop, he soon discovered that his first mentor, a decorated war hero and local legend named Harry Outhwaite, was on the take. Gene turned him in and, unable to bear the humiliation, Outhwaite committed suicide, an event which greatly shaped Gene's outlook on policing and loyalty. A month later he took his own first backhander, a practice he maintained until Sam Tyler became his DI.
Little is known of his family, apart from brief references to an abusive alcoholic father and a speed-addicted brother who died despite Gene's efforts to rehabilitate him. Gene is married and references his "missus" on several occasions, though the exact nature of their relationship is ambiguous as Gene is largely depicted as being married to his job; Mrs. Hunt is never seen on-screen. No children have ever been mentioned, although his mother is apparently still alive and living in Manchester. He follows boxing, supports Manchester City and is an aficionado of westerns. He is famous for his sharp and sarcastic one-liners.

Personality

Gene Hunt is portrayed as being, by modern standards, extremely politically incorrect. Something of an 'old school' police officer (in a similar fashion to other fictional seventies police officers such as Jack Regan on ''The Sweeney''), he frequently beats suspects until they confess and often displays a lax approach to his job, usually being quite happy to arrest and sometimes frame any criminal he happens to believe is guilty (or at least deserving of incarceration), regardless of whether the evidence points to them or not. At least initially, he also maintains a morally ambivalent attitude to accepting bribes and other forms of institutionalised corruption (such as manufacturing or destroying evidence), reasoning that they can be justified in the pursuit of a greater good. An enthusiastic drinker, his behaviour is often uncouth and boorish, and his attitudes, whilst common for the time, are extremely homophobic and sexist. As a result, he frequently clashes with and is often vocally dismissive of DI Sam Tyler, his immediate subordinate and second-in-command, whose politically correct and methodical approach is distinctly opposed to his own and who once described him as an "overweight, over-the-hill, nicotine-stained, borderline alcoholic homophobe with a superiority complex and an unhealthy obsession with male bonding". (To this criticism, Hunt replied, "You make that sound like a bad thing.")
Despite his faults, Hunt is also depicted as being intensely loyal, affectionate and highly intelligent. A team player, he often gives credit when it's due and is willing to follow Tyler's methods if sufficiently convinced of their validity. His sexism has limits: he countenances Annie Cartwright's appointment as the first woman detective in the force, although he is initially dismissive of her chances of success and not beyond sending her to get him coffee and Garibaldis. Despite his shades-of-grey approach to his job, he nevertheless possesses a strong sense of right and wrong, especially with regards to serious crimes such as murder; a fan of westerns, he views himself as being a sheriff charged with protecting the innocent by whatever means necessary.
He drives an early 1970s bronze Ford Cortina (occasionally while drunk) and at one point locks DI Sam Tyler in its boot.

External links

★ Philip Glenister Official Website

★ Philip Glenister LJ Community

★ The Wisdom of DCI Hunt