Philip Glenister

Philip Haywood Glenister is an English actor known for his role as DCI Gene Hunt in British television series Life On Mars and its sequel Ashes To Ashes He also played DCI William Bell in State of Play 2003 and Reverend Anderson in Outcast 20162018 Glenister was born on 10 February 1963 in Harrow Middlesex and grew up in Hatch End He is the son of director John Glenister and Joan Fry Lewis and the younger brother of fellow actor Robert Glenister He attended Hatch End High School In his early career he worked as a runner for the Robert Stigwood Organisation Following this he worked until the age of 23 as a film publicist but developed an interest in acting after watching his brother perform in a student play about the Sex Pistols With the encouragement of his thensisterinlaw Amanda Redman he pursued acting and attended the Central School of Speech and Drama In the early 1990s Glenister appeared in various TV series including Minder The Ruth Rendell Mysteries Heartbeat The Chief Dressing for Breakfast and Silent Witness In 1997 he appeared in Sharpes Justice as Richard Sharpes halfbrother Matt Truman He played William Dobbin in the 1998 miniseries Vanity Fair From 1998 to 1999 Glenister costarred as a minicab driver who aspires to be a rock star in the series Roger Roger He also played factory boss Mack Mackintosh in the first three series of Clocking Off from 2000 to 2002 In 2001 he appeared in two of the Hornblower TV films as Horatios antagonist Gunner Hobbs Glenister played the photographer who took nude photos for a Womens Institute fundraising calendar in the 2003 feature film Calendar Girls Also in 2003 he appeared in the miniseries State of Play Glenister played the German commandant Baron Heinrich von Rheingarten in the 2004 miniseries Island at War about the Occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II In April 2006 Glenister read the Bedtime Story for the BBCs childrens channel CBeebies He returned to the slot in FebruaryMarch 2007 Glenister played social reformer and estate manager Mr Carter in the 2007 BBC costume drama Cranford as part of a cast including Judi Dench and Francesca Annis Glenister is probably best known for his role as DCI Gene Hunt in Life on Mars 200607 costarring with John Simm as Sam Tyler and its sequel Ashes to Ashes 200810 with Keeley Hawes as Alex Drake Glenister also worked with Simm on State of Play and Clocking Off and the 2008 crime film Tuesday Upon announcement of the film Glenister joked that he and Simm were contractually obliged to work with each other once a year Glenister starred as demon hunter Rupert Galvin in the 2009 ITV drama Demons He used an American accent for the role which received some criticism from reviewers After the series was cancelled he said he had problems with the role and felt that he may have been miscast In 2010 Glenister had a small role credited as Poker Friend in Woody Allens You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger and he played Charles Forestier in a 2011 feature film of Guy de Maupassants Bel Ami He starred in the 2011 conspiracy thriller Hidden on BBC One