Gene Hunt is a fictional detective chief inspector who serves as a central figure in the BBC One science fiction and police procedural drama Life on Mars and its sequel series, Ashes to Ashes. Portrayed primarily by Philip Glenister—and by Harvey Keitel in the American adaptation of the show—Hunt is depicted as a politically incorrect, brutal, and corrupt officer who remains, at his core, a fundamentally good man. Throughout both series, he maintains complex, love-hate relationships with the main protagonists, Sam Tyler and Alex Drake, as they struggle to understand the strange environments they find themselves in.
The character of Gene Hunt achieved significant critical and public acclaim during his television run, being celebrated by viewers and critics alike as an unlikely sex symbol, a 'top cop,' and a 'national hero.' His younger self, representing the ghost of Gene Hunt, is also portrayed by Mason Kayne within the series. Over the course of the franchise, Hunt is revealed to be an integral, guiding force within the mysterious, alternative world inhabited by the displaced protagonists. The ultimate truth of his character and the reality of his world serve as a central mystery that is fully resolved in the dramatic finale of Ashes to Ashes.
