The History
Drop your weapons! You are surrounded by armed bastards!
The History of Gene Hunt
Gene Hunt was born in 1934 in the south of the county of Lancashire. His childhood was very harsh because his father was an abusive drinker who often beat him and his older brother Stuart due to a "harsh Lancastrian upbringing". As a teenager, he discovered that his brother was a drug addict whom Hunt attempted to reform him until he ran away from his family and wasn’t seen again until Gene attempted to find him, only to find he had found him ‘too late’. At the age of seventeen, he performed his National Service until joining the police two years later. In 1953. At the age of nineteen, Hunt became a Police Constable for the Lancashire Constabulary under PC Morrison who became his mentor and superior officer.
Eventually he joined the Manchester and Salford Police where he transferred to A Division CID in 1968. As a young Manchester Constable, he discovered that his mentor Harry Outhwaite, a decorated war hero and local legend, was in fact corrupt. Hunt turned him in and, unable to bear the humiliation, Outhwaite committed suicide. This event greatly shaped Hunt's outlook on policing and loyalty, and a month later Hunt took his first backhander. Hunt was promoted to Detective Inspector under Detective Superintendent Harry Woolf, a man whom he greatly respected.
As the Detective Chief Inspector of Manchester's CID, Hunt was respected by the subordinate members of his team. When DI Sam Tyler arrived at the CID in 1973, Hunt was quick to make it clear that he was Tyler's superior. He demonstrated his willingness to accept bribes from criminals - a practice which he continued until local crime boss Stephen Warren murdered a girl for helping Tyler after falling victim of a honeytrap. It was discovered that Hunt's mentor Harry Woolfe was corrupt and was the mastermind behind several robberies. Hunt, despite his fierce loyalty, brought down Woolfe.
Although Hunt's method of policing is brutal at times, he is very clear as to how far the police can go. He was initially disdainful of female police officers, however he later accepted WPC Annie Cartwright into the CID at Tyler’s request, and learned to value her input. Hunt's major rivals in the police force are DCI Litton of the Regional Crime Squad, and DCI Frank Morgan, who replaced Hunt when he was accused of killing a man after a fit of drunken rage. Morgan went as far as to set up Hunt and his team to confront train robbers without arranging the promised backup, in the hope of eliminating Hunt by killing him.
Hunt worked with Tyler for another seven years before Tyler's apparent death during a high-speed pursuit. Shortly thereafter, Hunt transferred out of the Greater Manchester Police, to the Metropolitan Police Service, alongside Detective Sergeant Ray Carling and Detective Constable Chris Skelton. 1981 saw Hunt divorced, and his trademark Cortina replaced with an imported Audi Quattro. Hunt remained as determined as ever to crack down on crime in his area, but had become somewhat more professional in his behaviour, secure in his authority and organised in his approach since the 1970s. He has embraced some aspects of modern policing, but is convinced that old-school policing methods are on their way to being excised from the force, along with the officers who still practice them. Hunt met Alex Drake during a police drugs raid on a party, unaware that she, like Tyler, has traveled into his time line from the future. Believing her to be a prostitute, he took her in for questioning, only to discover that she was his new Detective Inspector. It later transpired that Hunt was the officer who took Drake's hand when she was a child, following her parents death from a bomb explosion, leading Drake to believe that Hunt may in fact be real, rather than a figment of her imagination.
1982, brought about Hunt and Alex Drake working together in order to expose corruption within Fenchurch East CID. After several discoveries and unofficial investigations led by Hunt and Drake, it was revealed that the Detective Chief Superintendent Charlie Mackintosh was heavily involved in the corruption. After finding out that Hunt and Drake knew about his corruption, Mackintosh shot himself and with his dying words warned Hunt and Drake of "Operation Rose", but died before he could reveal more details. Summers, also involved in Operation Rose, planted a tape stolen from Drake on Hunt's desk on which she had questioned his existence and motives. After playing the tape, Hunt furiously confronted Drake and demanded an explanation from her, who was forced to explain that she is from the future, which enraged Hunt leading him to think that she had taken him for a fool.
Hunt and Drake began to notice that files and evidence had gone missing. Eventually it was revealed that Chris Skelton had been paid large sums of money to undermine the investigation into Operation Rose, and had done so in order to pay for his wedding to Shaz Granger. Without informing those involved in Rose that Skelton has been discovered, Hunt used him to gain information. It is revealed that Rose is the codename for an upcoming robbery of a van carrying gold-bullion masterminded by corrupt officers. After a heated argument with Drake, Hunt suspended her and confiscated her warrant card, threatening to kill her if he found her involved in the following day's events.
Operation Rose was a failure after being foiled by the CID of the Fenchurch East (led by DCI Gene Hunt). DCI Carnegie who escaped in the original timeline, was hit by Gene Hunt's Audi Quattro (referred to as being "Quattroed" by Hunt) and arrested. The older Martin Summers attempted to flee the area but failed when he was followed by DI Drake shot by DCI Hunt and killed. Shortly after Summers' death, Drake was accidently shot by Hunt whilst aiming for Jenette, which sent Drake into a coma that lasted for three months. At the exact same time, Alex woke up from her coma in 2008. With no witnesses, Hunt was accused of attempted murder. After being shot, Drake awoke in the present day to see Hunt screaming at her through hospital screens to wake up; realizing that she was now in a comatose state in 1982.
Following Hunt's accidental shooting of Alex Drake, he fled to the Costa Brava and Isle of Wight for three months. After waking Drake from her comatose state, Hunt was suspended by Jim Keats, from the Discipline and Complaints Department (D&C), sent to assess Fenchurch East CID in the wake of Drake's shooting and as part of Operation Countryman. Keats unofficially assured Hunt's team that he would file a good report about them, before privately telling Hunt that he "hates him", "knows what he did three years ago" and will "dismantle the station around him".
Also, the nature of Sam Tyler's death was brought up by Drake and Keats. Drake conducted an unofficial investigation into the events and requests old witness statements and reports on Tyler's death along with the leather jacket Tyler was often seen wearing. Drake later found Hunt burning the files and jacket. As well as this, Drake was haunted by a police officer with injuries to his face and finds a picture of the officer taken earlier without injuries in Hunt's desk.
When, during a date, Drake asked Hunt if he killed Sam Tyler, Hunt explained that Tyler had been acting "weird" and asked for his help in faking his own death.
The revelation that shocked the team and left Gene by himself*
* spoilers for the finale.
With his team gone, Gene is left to pick up the pieces and carry on, taking new recruits under his wing.