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24 September 2014
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Life on Mars
Philip Glenister is DCI Gene Hunt

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Philip Glenister plays DCI Gene Hunt

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"Gene Hunt. Your DCI. And it's 1973, almost dinner time, and I'm having hoops."

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What would you say Gene was like?

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"I would say he was a maverick, the sheriff. In his head, he lives in a western and sees himself as the sheriff at high noon, the way he goes around policing, which is probably quite true to the way it was back then.

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"It's all black and white with Gene, there is no grey area with him. With that style of policing it was much more intuitive and not as scientific as it is nowadays; back then they had to be more instinctive with their approach.

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He's not scared of throwing a few punches...

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"He's dealing with crooks; he doesn't go around punching members of the public! There is a very fine line between the criminal and the copper and I think he sometimes gets very close to crossing that line but he does always ensure he stays on the side of the law."

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Did you base him on anyone you knew?

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"I saw him as a football manager - there is definitely an element of Brian Clough in Gene.

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"There is a very famous clip from the Seventies of Clough being interviewed and he was asked 'what happens when somebody disagrees with you or has a different opinion?' and he said: 'I like to sit there, listen to what they have to say, then half an hour later they realise that I was right'.

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"I thought that was so Gene. He is a cross between a Seventies football manager like Clough, and a current manager, someone with an arrogance, maybe Jose Mourinho.

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"Gene dresses like a football manager - his big camel coat and slip on shoes - and his relationship with Sam is kind of like that of manager and star player - like Ferguson and Beckham - when there can be friction but there is also a lot of respect."

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Gene and Sam’s policing methods, although completely different, do seem to complement each other.

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"Absolutely, there is respect on both sides; a grudging respect from Gene but he realises that he sees a lot of Sam in himself. He sees Sam as both his prodigy but also his nemesis.

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"They make a good team. Sam has the scientific capacity and Gene has the instinctive capacity and if you marry the two, you end up with the best detectives money can buy.

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"I think that's the key to their relationship; meeting in the middle and combining the skills they have; when that works they get spectacular results."

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Did you enjoy all the Seventies clothes and the cars?

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"What was interesting was working out how old Gene was in 1973. He talks about the war and he would have done national service and stuff like that.

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"I loved the Seventies, growing up in that period of time with the music, cars, TV and all that cultural stuff.

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"I was in London, in the suburbs, and we went on holidays to France which was so exciting. Going on the ferry and two weeks seemed like two years because it was so far away.

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"I was very lucky because I grew up near a farm and we would build fantastic tree houses and go-carts. It seems like such an ancient thing now but it was cutting edge then; you used your hands to create.

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"I must sound like a fuddy-duddy but it's all computer games nowadays."

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Did you enjoy driving the Cortina?

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"It was very difficult to handle without power steering; I was rather shocked by it. It was a rust bucket really so when it's not your car you can throw it around a bit.

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"It was great fun, quite a flash motor for the time, although I always wanted Tony Curtis' Ferrari Dino, that was the car, or Roger Moore's DB7."

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You filmed a lot of car chases, screeching around the corners – did you do a lot of the stunts?

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"I did as much as I could. Peter, our stunt co-ordinator, was keen to let me do as much as possible but obviously for insurance purposes it didn't allow for certain things.

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"I was putting my foot down, slamming on the brakes and trying to hit certain marks which meant I had to do several rehearsals to get it right.

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"But I'd hate to get back into my car on the weekends because I'd be driving with my missus and she'd say 'your driving awfully fast dear, can you slow down - you can do it at work but this is Richmond!'"

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Your father was a director and your brother, Robert, is an actor. Do you think that influenced you in wanting to be an actor?

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"Not so much when I was younger, I wanted to be a milkman. One of my earliest memories is going up to my milkman and asking what time he finished and thinking that it was such a good job because you'd finish by lunchtime and so got the rest of the day off to play with your toys!"


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