'I've finally exorcised Gene Hunt'
(The darker, italicised portions of this article only appeared on the website, not in the print edition)
As a shady reverend in his new US-set horror series, Philip Glenister tells Craig McLean he’s put Life on Mars behind him
Philip Glenister has been thinking a lot about exorcism recently. For his new role as an evangelist in the US drama Outcast, he has had to inhabit a world of ungodly possessions in a rural South Carolina community. Then there’s the exorcising of career ghosts. For years, Glenister was synonymous with Gene Hunt, the oldschool copper who was at the heart of the BBC’s successful Life on Mars and its sequel Ashes to Ashes.
“Oh God, I loved playing him. It changed my life,” says the 53-year-old. “So I’m always indebted to that role. But it has taken a lot longer than I thought to shake off people’s perceptions of me as an actor.”
Glenister thinks the Hunt hangover is one reason his first dramatic foray into the world of demon-hunting – playing an American vampire hunter in the London-set series Demons – was as chilling as Rentaghost.
“Looking back on that experience – and I’m to blame for some of it – I didn’t realise how strong a character Gene Hunt had become in people’s psyche. And in the media’s psyche. This guy really existed – there would be headlines with his name in them. So to go from that to playing a demon-basher with an American accent in Bermondsey, people just went: ‘Yeah, but that’s Gene Hunt.’”
Many found that American accent grating. Indeed, he was one of them.
“It’s much harder to play an American when you’re surrounded by people going, ‘awright, geezer?’ You can’t stay in the accent because you just feel like a berk.” He has no such worries over Outcast, in which he adopts a dialect even more backwoods than that used by fellow Englishman Andrew Lincoln in the hit zombie drama The Walking Dead.
Perhaps fearful of not getting it right, he has taken his research to extremes and even used his family, actress wife Beth Goddard and daughters Millie, 14, and 11-year-old Charlotte, when they visited him in Charleston. “Charlotte is very good at accents and we were in a store and I said to her, 'let’s be American for today…’ And we saw Beth and Millie buying something and Charlotte shouted: 'Mom! Mom! The cookies are over here, dammit!’ “This woman looked round in horror and I said, 'excuse me ma’am, she’s badly trained.’”
Glenister is very authentic as the evangelist Rev Anderson in this chillingly convincing series, based on the comics by Robert Kirkman (who also wrote The Walking Dead). We see a startling portrait of an isolated community and a frank use of horror as Anderson and his troubled young sidekick (Patrick Fugit) conquer dark forces. Demon children bite off their own fingers, mortals are propelled through the air by angry devils.
Glenister admits he was drawn to this gruesome edginess. He says that there is a crucial difference between UK and US drama, particularly on cable shows that don’t rely on advertisers or mainstream audiences.
“It’s exciting in America. On cable, you can take risks, so you don’t feel as many restraints as you do in the UK with television drama. They’re not too worried about offending people there. And that’s what is great about Outcast: you’ll know within the first five minutes whether you’re going to stay with this show or not.”
Outcast is very different from the dramas directed by the actor’s father. John Glenister was a jobbing director of the Seventies and Eighties and mostly avoided the kind of enforced separation endured by his son in the last 12 months. One exception was Casanova, Dennis Potter’s famous account of the Renaissance lothario which aired on the BBC in 1971. While his father went off to Venice, Philip and his older brother (Hustle actor Robert) were forced to stay at home – clearly on grounds of decency.
“The cast were all bloody starkers! Dad told me that he had to interview glamour models to be the extras. And he was asking one of them, 'how do you feel about taking your clothes off?’ 'Oh absolutely fine,’ she said, 'but I’m sorry I’ve got to dash, I’ve got a 4.30 topless in Aldershot.’”
However, the Glenister boys were allowed on location of another classic costume drama - The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970) - which was filming near Canterbury. “I remember seeing Keith Michell on a horse in all his regalia on a scorching hot day in July and they were filming a wild boar hunt scene. I remember looking at him thinking, 'Henry VIII must be boiling…’ That was quite surreal.”
Besides mastering the accent, shooting in America creates other challenges. US shows typically run for many more episodes than their UK counterparts, and the weekly hours are punishing. Glenister sought the counsel of fellow British actors-in-exile on how best to cope. He spoke to Lincoln who, six seasons into The Walking Dead, is now one of the biggest stars on American TV.
“Andy was very helpful. He said that the first series is the hardest because you’re going in unaware, and nobody knows who you are. But that anonymity is nice – and you’ll be very protected. But make sure you put your foot down. If you don’t, people can take advantage. But if you get a second season, you’ll be more comfortable, because you know where everything is and what to expect.”
Outcast does in fact have a second season – it was renewed even before the first one began broadcasting – and Glenister will soon head back to South Carolina with the prospect of becoming American TV’s next big British action hero.
It’s hard to imagine this going to Glenister’s head. He’s easy-going, funny and cynical – in a light-hearted way – and an anecdote about filming illustrates this perfectly. “We were doing some levitation stuff the other day, and I said to Patrick: ‘If it all goes tits up with this, you can get a job with Cirque du Soleil in Vegas’.”
Next up, Glenister will be seen in an ITV thriller called The Level, which, he acknowledges, with a wince, casts him in a role not a million miles away from Gene Hunt. “Gene was a shady cop; in Outcast, I am a shady reverend; and in this, I am a shady businessman. But,” he smiles, “I just go where the accent takes me.”
Outcast starts on Tuesday June 7 at 10pm on Fox
As a shady reverend in his new US-set horror series, Philip Glenister tells Craig McLean he’s put Life on Mars behind him
Philip Glenister has been thinking a lot about exorcism recently. For his new role as an evangelist in the US drama Outcast, he has had to inhabit a world of ungodly possessions in a rural South Carolina community. Then there’s the exorcising of career ghosts. For years, Glenister was synonymous with Gene Hunt, the oldschool copper who was at the heart of the BBC’s successful Life on Mars and its sequel Ashes to Ashes.
“Oh God, I loved playing him. It changed my life,” says the 53-year-old. “So I’m always indebted to that role. But it has taken a lot longer than I thought to shake off people’s perceptions of me as an actor.”
Glenister thinks the Hunt hangover is one reason his first dramatic foray into the world of demon-hunting – playing an American vampire hunter in the London-set series Demons – was as chilling as Rentaghost.
“Looking back on that experience – and I’m to blame for some of it – I didn’t realise how strong a character Gene Hunt had become in people’s psyche. And in the media’s psyche. This guy really existed – there would be headlines with his name in them. So to go from that to playing a demon-basher with an American accent in Bermondsey, people just went: ‘Yeah, but that’s Gene Hunt.’”
Many found that American accent grating. Indeed, he was one of them.
“It’s much harder to play an American when you’re surrounded by people going, ‘awright, geezer?’ You can’t stay in the accent because you just feel like a berk.” He has no such worries over Outcast, in which he adopts a dialect even more backwoods than that used by fellow Englishman Andrew Lincoln in the hit zombie drama The Walking Dead.
Perhaps fearful of not getting it right, he has taken his research to extremes and even used his family, actress wife Beth Goddard and daughters Millie, 14, and 11-year-old Charlotte, when they visited him in Charleston. “Charlotte is very good at accents and we were in a store and I said to her, 'let’s be American for today…’ And we saw Beth and Millie buying something and Charlotte shouted: 'Mom! Mom! The cookies are over here, dammit!’ “This woman looked round in horror and I said, 'excuse me ma’am, she’s badly trained.’”
Glenister is very authentic as the evangelist Rev Anderson in this chillingly convincing series, based on the comics by Robert Kirkman (who also wrote The Walking Dead). We see a startling portrait of an isolated community and a frank use of horror as Anderson and his troubled young sidekick (Patrick Fugit) conquer dark forces. Demon children bite off their own fingers, mortals are propelled through the air by angry devils.
Glenister admits he was drawn to this gruesome edginess. He says that there is a crucial difference between UK and US drama, particularly on cable shows that don’t rely on advertisers or mainstream audiences.
“It’s exciting in America. On cable, you can take risks, so you don’t feel as many restraints as you do in the UK with television drama. They’re not too worried about offending people there. And that’s what is great about Outcast: you’ll know within the first five minutes whether you’re going to stay with this show or not.”
Outcast is very different from the dramas directed by the actor’s father. John Glenister was a jobbing director of the Seventies and Eighties and mostly avoided the kind of enforced separation endured by his son in the last 12 months. One exception was Casanova, Dennis Potter’s famous account of the Renaissance lothario which aired on the BBC in 1971. While his father went off to Venice, Philip and his older brother (Hustle actor Robert) were forced to stay at home – clearly on grounds of decency.
“The cast were all bloody starkers! Dad told me that he had to interview glamour models to be the extras. And he was asking one of them, 'how do you feel about taking your clothes off?’ 'Oh absolutely fine,’ she said, 'but I’m sorry I’ve got to dash, I’ve got a 4.30 topless in Aldershot.’”
However, the Glenister boys were allowed on location of another classic costume drama - The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970) - which was filming near Canterbury. “I remember seeing Keith Michell on a horse in all his regalia on a scorching hot day in July and they were filming a wild boar hunt scene. I remember looking at him thinking, 'Henry VIII must be boiling…’ That was quite surreal.”
Besides mastering the accent, shooting in America creates other challenges. US shows typically run for many more episodes than their UK counterparts, and the weekly hours are punishing. Glenister sought the counsel of fellow British actors-in-exile on how best to cope. He spoke to Lincoln who, six seasons into The Walking Dead, is now one of the biggest stars on American TV.
“Andy was very helpful. He said that the first series is the hardest because you’re going in unaware, and nobody knows who you are. But that anonymity is nice – and you’ll be very protected. But make sure you put your foot down. If you don’t, people can take advantage. But if you get a second season, you’ll be more comfortable, because you know where everything is and what to expect.”
Outcast does in fact have a second season – it was renewed even before the first one began broadcasting – and Glenister will soon head back to South Carolina with the prospect of becoming American TV’s next big British action hero.
It’s hard to imagine this going to Glenister’s head. He’s easy-going, funny and cynical – in a light-hearted way – and an anecdote about filming illustrates this perfectly. “We were doing some levitation stuff the other day, and I said to Patrick: ‘If it all goes tits up with this, you can get a job with Cirque du Soleil in Vegas’.”
Next up, Glenister will be seen in an ITV thriller called The Level, which, he acknowledges, with a wince, casts him in a role not a million miles away from Gene Hunt. “Gene was a shady cop; in Outcast, I am a shady reverend; and in this, I am a shady businessman. But,” he smiles, “I just go where the accent takes me.”
Outcast starts on Tuesday June 7 at 10pm on Fox
