Critics panned his co-star’s performances but DCI Hunt’s not having it
FOR the most part, Phil Glenister is as polite and mild-mannered as his famous TV character is rude and aggressive.
But as a new series of Ashes To Ashes reaches our screens and Phil’s alter-ego, DCI Gene Hunt, once again fires up the Quattro in pursuit of villains, watch out for a snarl or two from the nice-guy actor.
The cause? A less than enthusiastic reception from the critics for his Ashes to Ashes co-star Keeley Hawes and her performance in the show.
Phil, 46, says he was “utterly appalled” by some of the criticism levelled at Keeley — DI Alex Drake, the character transported from the present day back to the Eighties when series one aired early last year. And he will be keeping a look out for more of the same this time round.
“What I objected to most was the personal nature of some of the attacks and the utter lack of appreciation of what a fine actress Keeley is, a woman with this incredibly impressive range of emotions and almost uncanny ability to cry on cue,” said Phil, getting a little hot under the collar.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I actually thought some of the remarks made about Keeley, and her acting, were utterly inexcusable. What I objected to most was this idea, this totally bogus idea, that she was somehow lightweight, that she wasn’t a key part of the show.”
“She was central to it. There wouldn’t have been an Ashes to Ashes without her.”
“So, this time round, I hope that the comments about Keeley’s contribution are a little more considered.” It is certainly true that Keeley took some flak during series one.”
One critic claimed that she “did emotion by breathing hard”, another that she “disappeared completely” when she shared screen time with Gene Hunt.
In the light of that latter criticism, in particular, it is perhaps unfortunate that the new series kicks off in the present day with a shot of The Weakest Link playing on a TV in the background.
It is one of the few moments in the opening episode of this new series that is set in 2009.
We quickly switch back to 1982, with the music of Adam and the Ants and Duran Duran playing on the soundtrack, and the sight of soldiers on their way to the Falklands conflict to remind us of where we are.
Aside from the change of year — series one of Ashes to Ashes was set in 1981 — not a lot else has changed about the show. At least not on the surface.
“It’s still about Alex Drake trying to find her way back to the present day, and a reunion with her daughter.”
“And it’s still about Gene Hunt being like a fish out of water, a northern cop in London, and out of his depth,” explained Phil, a jobbing actor until he was cast as Gene Hunt in Life on Mars in 2006.
“Gene is a Seventies cop struggling to cope with the kind of restrictions that are being placed on him in the new, more accountable police force of the Eighties.”
“That’s not to say he isn’t still a decent copper, but he is more hamstrung.”
“He still gets away with being politically incorrect — we wouldn’t have a series if Gene suddenly started to play it by the book — but he’s aware that his golden years are probably behind him.”
“I think what has changed about Ashes to Ashes is the tone of the piece. I did think, last time around, that we became a bit too comedic on occasions.”
“Ashes to Ashes isn’t, and was never intended to be, a comedy drama, yet it moved a bit that way during series one.”
“This time round it’s darker, primarily because of the underlying themes. Gene may bend the rules, on occasions, but he always does so in the interests of justice.”
“Other coppers in this series are bending and breaking the rules for their own ends, something that, for all his many faults, Gene finds totally unacceptable.” London-based Phil, married to actress Beth Goddard and dad to daughters, Millie, eight, and Charlotte, four, says there is a possibility of a third series of Ashes to Ashes.
But he virtually rules out any chance of the character rolling on into the Nineties, even though it would be the next logical step for a policeman who started life in two series of Seventies-set drama Life on Mars, before moving on a decade for two series of Ashes to Ashes.
“I’m sure there will be people who would want that to happen. But I just don’t see Gene, with his policing methods stuck solidly in the Seventies, hacking it in the Nineties.”
“For one thing, he would be getting on a bit by the time the Nineties came round.”
“For another, he is starting to look out of his depth in the early Eighties. Imagine what an anachronism he would look 10 years on. I’m all for making the most of a popular character, but there are limits. I could paper the walls of my spare bedroom with scripts featuring Gene Hunt-type characters that I’ve been sent. But why make dramas with substandard versions of such a great character? “What some scriptwriters don’t seem to get about Gene Hunt — and thankfully those who write Ashes to Ashes do — is that he is a fundamentally decent man who looks after the police officers around him and does his job to the best of his abilities.”
“Reading some of the scripts I’ve been sent over the past couple of years has actually been quite depressing.”
“There are writers out there who clearly think Gene Hunt is a nasty, arrogant, charmless individual with no redeeming features. Is that the way people perceive Gene when I play him? I sincerely hope not.” As for Phil’s own future, he is currently “reading scripts and waiting for something to really grab me”.
What he almost certainly won’t be doing is another series of Demons, the ITV drama shown earlier this year in which he played an American vampire hunter.
That appears to have received the television equivalent of a stake through the heart after just one series. ITV has no plans to film series two.
It seems inconceivable that Phil might suddenly find himself struggling for work, after the success he has enjoyed in the past few years, but he’s aware of the fickle nature of acting.
“I’m also aware of the credit crunch and that not nearly as much TV drama is being shot now as five or 10 years ago,” he said.
“What would I do if the acting work dried up? Well, I could run a pub, very badly, or I could revisit some of the jobs I did in the past, hopefully with a little more success than I enjoyed first time round.”
“I once worked as a draughtsman for a surveying company in Harrow, Middlesex, and the boss got me chopping bits of wood to make stakes to put in the ground.”
“I got very cross about this — I thought the work was beneath me — and had a right bitch about him to my colleagues in the main office, unaware that he was sitting in the room next door.”
“It was the kind of rant that makes Gene Hunt popular with the viewers. It got me the sack on the spot.”
Ashes to Ashes starts on BBC1 on Monday, April 20.
By Tim Oglethorpe for The Daily Record.
(Source: higbeam.com)