Everyone’s favourite straight-talking copper is back! In Ashes to Ashes, the much-anticipated follow up to Life on Mars, 21st Century detective Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) finds herself transported back to 1981 where she soon runs into the inimitable Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister). But are Hunt’s unorthodox methods less acceptable in the 80s? "He’s out of his safety zone now," Glenister tells Matt McAllister.

What are your own abiding memories of the 1980s?

Dallas! No, I wasn’t that keen on the 80s. I mean, growing up was alright. But it was hedonistic, I suppose, as a period in history – self-obsessed. I can’t actually remember very much!

What’s it like being back in Gene Hunt’s boots?

It’s great! I mean it’s such a lovely part – he’s a joy to play. It’s nice to move him on and find different elements to his character. He’s a more melancholic character in this I think. He’s sort of out of his time, out of his safety zone now, and trying to play catch-up. He finds it very hard to go with the flow in many respects.

So how does he react to Alex Drake?

Well, I mean obviously there’s a certain dynamic there, a sexual tension, a chemistry. I think by this time, by the 1980s, there were more women coming into the police service. But it was still a nest of vipers for women to come into that situation. We have a scene where we have to stamp her bum – which actually happened. Back then that was the ritual for women coming into the Met. They got their bum stamped. ‘Property of the Metropolitan Police’. That was the initiation. So there was still a hell of a lot of sexism back then.

Are you surprised that Gene Hunt has become such an icon?

Yes, I never imagined he’d take on this kind of status. It’s fascinating why this character has become so popular with such a broad range of people. I’ve always said it’s not so much about what he says about the past, it’s about what he says about where and how we’re living now. That’s the reason for his popularity.

On paper he’s unlikeable. Yet we do like him…

It’s down to the skill of the writing, and how Matthew [Graham] and Ashley [Pharoah] developed the character. And, yes, it would have been very easy to make him completely unlikeable. But when your character’s on TV you have to find a likeability about him. Even if you’re playing a bad person you have to find some key to why they’re like they are.

I think one of the reasons Gene works is his complete lack of self-awareness. We’re very image conscious now. It’s sort of shoved down people’s throats that 'you have to look like this', particularly for women and children. And then a character like this comes along and sort of throws these things out of the window, and just says 'This is how I am'.

Also, the thing about this series is that he never actually patronises Alex as a character. He does see her absolutely as an equal. There’s a moment when he refers to her as “D.I. Lady” – which is very clever. Because if he’d referred to her just as “lady” that would be derogatory and a bit of a put-down. But he refers to her title in there. And he’s always prepared to listen. He did that in Life on Mars as well. He doesn’t necessarily act on it, but he does listen to people’s arguments.

Do we learn much more about your character in Ashes to Ashes?

There are hints…He’s clinging on to the past and finding it very difficult. I think in a way that Alex is there to help him and that draws some emotions out of him, so you are quite surprised. There are scenes where they have a drink together, and after a few he opens up to her – which he never did to Tyler.

Do you think some people take to Gene because they believe we need that kind of policeman in our supposedly crime-riddled society?

Yeah. But there was a thing on Five Live the other week after [Steve] McClaren got sacked, where someone rang up and said Gene Hunt should be England manager! The idea behind that -it’s like having James Bond heading MI5 because he’s indestructible. Of course Gene is not Daniel Craig!

I suppose it’s an easy thing to pick someone out like that who’s tough on crime. The papers do that in particular – they like to think it’s all a bit wishy-washy, and that someone like Gene Hunt should just step in and change the world. But that’s not exactly real life.

Do you think that Gene Hunt would be a force of good in the 21st Century?

Oh, I don’t know. I think anything that’s institutionalised like the police force you’ve got your good cops and bad cops…The thing about police in the 1980s, it was a time when it was beginning to get quite politicised. Now it’s completely politicised, and everything has to go through the Home Office and Home Secretary...Where would Gene Hunt fit in? I don’t think he’d quite make it to superintendent. I don’t think the uniform would fit.

Have you got any favourite moments from the series?

It’s one of those things – because the workload was so intense, you’re working six days a week, you’re working long hours. And the scenes in the police station are very wordy, there’s lots of dialogue. So you’re constantly learning these lines, and you shoot the scene and it’s amazing how you train your short term memory. You go back and it’s gone – you can’t remember what you’ve just done! People ask me if I have any good one-liners. I’m like, “Uh, I can’t remember!”

How does the Audi Quattro in Ashes to Ashes compare to the Ford Cortina in Life on Mars?

Oh, it’s much nicer to drive. It’s power steering and it’s a four-wheel-drive. Which didn’t help actually in doing the handbrake turns – it didn’t look as good on screen. So they changed it over and got a new handbrake fitted and changed it to a two-wheel-drive.

I did less of the driving this time. In the first series of Life on Mars I did a hell of a lot of it. Then the show was doing okay, and I did less of it. And by the time it got to Ashes they were like, “We’ve got to drive from there to there, get the stunt player.” I could have done it!

Are there many references to Sam Tyler throughout the series?

The only thing I’d say about that is that taking Gene into the series now, I thought it would be quite interesting if he takes some of the energy that Sam has - so he’s acknowledged in that respect...It was just something I felt would be quite interesting as an actor.

Ashes to Ashes begins on BBC1 on Thursday 7th February 2008.