Detective Chief Inspector Gene Hunt is a fictional character in the BBC One Sci-Fi police procedural drama Life on Mars, and its spin-off, Ashes to Ashes. He is played by Philip Glenister.
Fictional character history
Early life
It is revealed that Gene's father was an abusive drinker and the series does not reveal much about his mother (although dialogue suggests that she is still alive and living in Manchester during the events of Life on Mars). His brother was addicted to drugs, and ran away after Gene attempted to reform him. Gene tracked him down but discovered that he was too late and his brother had died.
Gene did his national service, before joining the police force at the age of 19 and rising through the ranks. As a young Manchester beat cop he soon discovered that his mentor Harry Outhwaite, a decorated war hero and local legend, was in fact corrupt. Hunt turned him in and unable to bear the humiliation, Outhwaite committed suicide; this event greatly shaped Hunt's outlook on policing and loyalty, and a month later Hunt took his first backhander.
Gene became the Detective Inspector under DCI Harry Woolfe, a man whom he greatly respected although when revealed to be corrupt like his former mentor Gene shot him. Gene married prior to the events of the series, but Mrs. Hunt – the only name by which we know her – is never seen on-screen (although she is occasionally referred to) and they are not shown to have any children.
Life at CID
Gene Hunt as he appears in Life on Mars
Gene became the Detective Chief Inspector at CID and is respected by the other members of his team. When Sam Tyler first arrives at the CID, in the first episode (under the mistaken impression that he was the DCI) Gene makes it quickly clear that Sam is his subordinate and that he should never (in Hunt's words): "waltz into my kingdom acting king of the jungle."
Unlike Sam, Gene is convinced that a good policeman sometimes takes money from criminals in order for both them and the police to "co-exist" once stating the situation with Stephen Warren and the police saying: "He's a necessary evil". It is a practice that comes to haunt him when he wakes up after a night drinking in a man's apartment with him dead (Series 2: Episode 7). Gene stops this practice when helping Sam Tyler taking down Stephen Warren, a major criminal who had often tipped the police to his own benefit, after a girl was murdered by Warren for helping Sam (Series 1: Episode 4). However, in Series 2: Episode 2, when it's discovered that his mentor Harry Woolfe is corrupt and was the mastermind behind several robberies, Gene, despite his fierce loyalty, brings Harry down.
Gene's major rival in the police force is DCI Litton of the Regional Crime Squad (RCS), who likes to brag about the achievements of his department. Although Hunt's method of policing tends to be rather brutal at times, he is very clear as to how far the police can go. In Series 1: Episode 7, when a man dies in police custody during Gene and Sam's absence, Gene is determined to keep the matter behind closed doors and brush it off as an accident, much to the chagrin of Sam. Knowing that Sam won't let the matter rest, Gene sets him up to resolve the matter because "I can hardly go and investigate my own team, can I? Bad for morale." Although in the end it is revealed that Detective Sergeant Ray Carling forced the suspect to eat un-cut cocaine confusing it for a "truth drug" when forcibly questioned about this by Gene, Ray replies "I was just doing what I thought you would have done".
Gene does not seem happy about having women on his team. When Annie Cartwright approaches him because she's uncomfortable holding a gun without having had any firearms training, he sneers, "Y'see, this is why birds and CID don't mix. Give a bloke a gun, it's a dream come true. Give a girl one, and she moans it doesn't go with her dress! Now start behaving like a detective and show some balls!"(She, in turn, "threatened" to shoot him) However, in Series 2: Episode 1", he does give Cartwright the opportunity to join CID as the first woman on the team and later learns to value her input.
It is revealed in Ashes to Ashes that following the events of Life on Mars, Gene worked with Sam for another seven years before his apparent death during a high-speed pursuit. Gene appears to have been greatly affected by Sam's death.
At the Metropolitan Police
In 1981 Gene is divorced, and has replaced his Ford Cortina with an imported Audi Quattro. He has transferred to London's Metropolitan Police Service along with his loyal colleagues Ray Carling and Chris Skelton.
Gene is as determined as ever to crack down on crime in his patch, but appears to have become somewhat more professional in his behaviour, secure in his authority and organised in his approach since the 1970s. He has embraced some aspects of modern policing but is convinced that the knives are out for old-school coppers and has been somewhat scared by Operation Countryman realising that the 70s are gone and his behaviour with it.[1]
He meets Alex Drake during a police drugs raid on a party. Believing her to be a prostitute, he takes her in for questioning, only to discover that she is his new Detective Inspector.
Gene finds it hard during the 1980s as the service changed dramatically, the Metropolitan Police set up an operation to weed out corrupt police officers.
It was revealed in the series finale that it was Gene who took young Alex Drake's hand after her parents were killed in a bomb set off by her father. He carried her into the police station in a way that mirrored when Gene carried in adult Alex after meeting her in episode 1. This revelation caused Alex to speculate as to whether Gene may in fact be real.
Characteristics
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 assaults 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, Gene is also depicted as being intensely loyal, something of which he asks of his officers in turn. Affectionate, highly intelligent, and a team player, he often gives credit when it's due and is willing to follow Sam's methods if sufficiently convinced of their validity and Gene's own methods have failed. 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. By the time of Ashes to Ashes, Gene seems to be generally a better person than in Life on Mars.
Hunt follows boxing, supports Manchester City and bets recreationally. In 1973 he drives a then-current bronze Ford Cortina 2000GXL and by 1981 he drives an Audi Quattro.
Leadership Skills
Hunt exemplifies the following qualities of leadership, among others:
- Technical/specific skill at some task at hand
- "Copper's nouse" gleaned from decades of experience and rising up through the ranks
- Charismatic inspiration - attractiveness to others and the ability to leverage this esteem to motivate others
- "Look, Tyler didn't listen to the gov, and look what happened to him. If you're smart, you'll learn that being where the gov is the right place to be." - Ray to Alex, Ashes S01E01.
- "To keep this department running smoothly I need their respect which I've got. They look up to me. They should be looking up to you." - Gene to Alex, Ashes S01E03.
- Preoccupation with a role - a dedication that consumes much of leaders' life - service to a cause
- "They're sharpening the ax for coppers like me. I'll tell you this much, Bols. Up until the last second, I will be out there making a difference." - Gene to Alex, Ashes S01E01.
- A clear sense of purpose (or mission) - clear goals - focus - commitment
- Public welfare, punishing the guilty
- This will be a safe city for my mother and wife to walk around in
- Results-orientation - directing every action towards a mission - prioritizing activities to spend time where results most accrue
- Hunt is always pushing the investigation forward.
- A philosophy of "the ends justify the means" is so ingrained in Hunt as to be a liability from time to time.
- Rejection of determinism - belief in one's ability to "make a difference"
- "When the rest of humanity finds themselves in the dung heap, misery lapping at their throats, threatening to drown 'em [...], you and me, Bolly, we are police officers. We can drive fast cars. We can shout at people. We can do something. We can make a difference." Gene to Alex, Ashes S01E02.
- Empowering others - delegate in such a way as people will grow
- Hunt usually allows the DIs to follow their own instincts and methods to their natural conclusions, albeit against his advice (not leading as a Bonaparteist as Alex claimed in Ashes S01E06).
- "I went with your idea on Trixie Walsh's story; now you can go with mine." - Gene to Alex, Ashes S01E3.
- Hunt enforces a minimum level of mutual respect within the ranks (see "She might be a bird, Ray..." in Relationships below).
- Integrity - the integration of outward actions and inner values.
- Sam's internal investigation of Ray's manslaughter was purportedly silently approved of by Hunt.
- Hunt reformed himself and his department with respect to police corruption after being branded a "bent sheriff" by Warren.
- Humor, Morale & Team-building
- Nearly every line Hunt speaks is humorous.
- The group plays football as a team.
- The group eats and drinks together after hours.
- They engage in morale-building rituals such as the bum-stamping and mooning.
- The team gets to have fun on the job -- drink, make off-color jokes, beat people up, play with guns, drive fast, ride in speedboats.
- Defense of the team against external threats
- The press (Jackie Queen)
- Higher-ups (Lord Scarman)
- Professional rivals (Paco guy)
- Organized crime lords like Warren
- Small time crooks like Gill Hollis or Chas Cale who threaten his team members on duty.
Relationships
Gene and Sam Tyler have a troubled relationship - sometimes they work together, and at other times they are in opposition, only coming through for each other in the end. Despite their differences Gene had great respect and trust in Sam, even enough to call him first when he thinks he has killed a man (Series 2: Episode 7). In Ashes To Ashes, Gene's office in London has all the newspaper articles with Sam's death in them, and one of them includes the headline "Colleagues Pay Tribute to Sam Tyler". Alex Drake said "Sam died, your wife left you... no wonder you moved."
He is unsurprised when Alex knows his name thinking he has a great reputation as a DCI. He is surprised however, to discover she is his new DI. The relationship is, according to Hawes, "built on sexual chemistry as well as a grudging respect". Despite the fact she is a woman, he has to accept that she gets results. He also defends her against the sexual taunting of his workmates (not in front of her), saying to Ray Carling that "she might be a bird, Ray, but she's your superior officer -- don't you forget it!" Later in the series, he takes her on a date.
Gene often defends Ray when he is in trouble and in the second episode of Ashes to Ashes asks his opinion on the bombers. Ray also has great respect for Gene and after accidentally killing a man in Series 1: Episode 7 tells Gene he was just trying to follow his example. Chris does respect Gene but is also called by Gene for being stupid at some times and making easy mistakes.
Gene doesn't seem comfortable working with female police officers. He doesn't show much respect for Annie at first but grows to her. Despite reusing some of her ideas, Hunt doesn't seem to like WPC Sharon Granger very much, going so far as to call her "a lobotomised Essex girl". Despite this, when Sharon is stabbed by Gill Hollis, (played by Matthew Macfadyen) Gene Hunt takes a vengeful attitude and calls Hollis a 'cop killer' before allowing Chris Skelton, Ray Carling, and eventually himself to brutally attack Hollis, dismissing Viv's attempts at moderation.
In Life on Mars, Hunt was similarly defensive of June, a female cleaner at the station who had been injured in a jewelry raid, calling her "one of us".
Popularity
In the widespread commercial and critical success of Life on Mars, the character of brash DCI Gene Hunt was frequently seen as one of the main contributing factors to its immense popularity. This has often been attributed to Philip Glenister's unrestrained and skilful portrayal alongside John Simm's characterisation of the more complex Sam Tyler. [2][3]
He has also been described in many papers and magazines as 'an unusual heart-throb'.
References
- ^ Not so dusty..., BBC press pack for Ashes to Ashes, February 7, 2008
- ^ So, is there really Life on Mars? Mark Kermode, film critic: "It's like The Sweeney meets A Matter of Life and Death. John Simm and Philip Glenister are fabulous as the timewarped good cop/bad cop odd couple and the writing is as smart, witty and ultimately moving as anything I've seen in recent years - on TV or in the cinema.", The Observer, September 23, 2007
- ^ Last night's TV by Nancy Banks-Smith, "What no one expected was the roaring success of Philip Glenister's Gene Hunt, who could have gone on without rehearsal as a rhino and had a line of banter like a swung shovel.", The Guardian, April 11, 2007
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