DCI Gene Hunt

Always one to do things his way, Gene meets his match in new DI Alex Drake, a tough cookie who's got her own ideas on how to fight crime. As the world around him changes, Gene's desperate to cling onto what he knows - and having to work with a woman definitely throws him out of his comfort zone.

At first, Gene and Alex don't see eye to eye with Gene taking every opportunity to remind Alex that she's in a man's world. But once he realises that Alex is more than just a pretty face he starts to take her seriously and begins to think that they could actually make quite a good team.

But will his relationship with Alex remain strictly professional?

Television runs in Philip's blood. His father, John Glenister, is a director whose credits include Rumpole of the Bailey, A Touch of Frost and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. And his brother is actor Robert Glenister, who played conman Ash Morgan in the glossy BBC1 series Hustle. Philip, 44, is also married to an actress - Beth Goddard, most recently seen as Maddy McCartney in Vital Signs.

His most famous work includes Clocking Off, Vincent and State of Play, where he starred as another policeman opposite John Simm's journalist character. Most recently, he appeared on our screens in the popular period drama Cranford with Dame Judi Dench.

Philip has two daughters and lives in Richmond, Surrey, and is an enthusiastic music fan.