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DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister)

Also known as the 'Gene Genie', the boozing, womanizing, rough-housing, politically incorrect DCI. He's not the freewheeling Big Dog that he was in Manchester; London is too big for him to take on the "sheriff" role he had Oop North. DI Sam Tyler (see Life On Mars 2006) must have been a good influence, as Gene is now on a mission to clean up the corrupt police force.

• Angel Unaware: One day in 1953, a young PC named Gene Hunt died after surprising a burglar with a shotgun. He woke up in Dead Copper Purgatory and remade it - and himself - into what he most wanted to be; a Cowboy Cop, old-school John Wayne or Gary Cooper type, where there's always bad guys to catch, but they're all afraid of the Gene Genie. Except he doesn't remember any of this until someone like Sam or Alex comes along and asks too many questions about the world.
• Asskicking Equals Authority
• Badass
• Billing Displacement
• Cowboy Cop
• Dead to Begin With
• Fan of the Past: specifically, the Old West , and trying to live-up to Gary Cooper roles, specially High Noon
• Gene Hunt Interrogation Technique: Trope Namer, for his creative and deeply horrifying-yet-hilarious ways of extracting information from suspects.
• Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Less often than in Life on Mars.
• Licensed Sexist
• Noble Bigot with a Badge
• No Indoor Voice
• Psychopomp: He's the one who created this entire world, in order to help coppers like himself who die under tragic circumstances deal with their issues and move on to where they're supposed to go.
• Refuge in Audacity: The stunt with the naked suspects, the pool table, and the phrase "God save the Queen" in 1x02.
• Wife Husbandry: With Alex. Though justified, what with the time travel.

DI Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes)

The time traveler this time around. She's a psychologist and an expert in profiling, and was writing a book about Sam Tyler. Alex is divorced from her former husband, Peter, and they have a daughter named Molly.

• Dead All Along: Well, only in season three. The first two seasons, she was in a coma (like Sam) from the bullet she was shot with in the pilot. She actually dies in 3.01 when she "wakes up" in 1983 to Gene slapping her.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Dirty Harriet: A few times, including the pilot, where half of Fenchurch mistakes her for a prostitute.
• Fish Out of Temporal Water
• Genre Savvy and Wrong Genre Savvy - Alex initially thought she knew exactly what was happening to her - specifically, that she was in Life on Mars - but she and the audience are increasingly certain that she doesn't have complete information.
• Heroic BSOD: Alex is kind of prone to these, though they are understandable.
• I'm Ms. Future Pop Culture Reference
• Lady Drunk: "Signorina Drake, you drink so much."
• Ms. Fanservice: Oh boy howdy is she ever. Shall we list? Hooker Dress #1 in the pilot, bare bum-stamping in 1.02, Catwoman costume in 1.03, strips to her bra in 1.04, Hooker Dress #2 in 1.05, down to her bra again in 1.06, the many, many off-the-shoulder, bra-strap-baring tops, her various high-heeled boots . . . and this is just season one.
• Tsundere
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Ray in Season 3.
• Woman in White: Her leather jacket, most notably, though she wears white dresses a number of times.

DC Chris Skelton (Marshall Lancaster)

A slightly nervous, slightly bumbling member of the team. He's developed an affinity for technology, which he says he picked up from none other than Sam Tyler.

• Beware the Nice Ones
• Butt Monkey: At least until his CMOA in 3.07.
• Dead to Begin With
• "Failure to Save" Murder: Why Chris' arc revolved around learning to stand up to Gene--he died when his "real" guv ordered him into the line of fire.
• Gadgeteer Genius: "Genius" is probably overstating things a tad, but Chris is more comfortable with technology than anyone, except possibly Alex.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Ray.
• Insistent Terminology: Chris is cautious, not nervous.
• The Mole: Revealed in 2.07.
• The So-Called Coward: Cautious, remember. Not nervous. Not incapable of badassery.
• Took a Level in Badass: Chris gets a lot darker and a lot more serious between seasons 2 and 3.
• Those Two Guys (with Ray)
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: In the beginning, though not after season 2.
• You Can Leave Your Hat On: Chris gets "attractively postmodern" to Shaz in 2.01.

DS (later DI) Ray Carling (Dean Andrews)

A rough character who seems to live most of his life with little to no control over his impulses. Has nothing but contempt for minorities, women, and anyone who isn't a 'man's man'. But Ray is not without redeeming qualities, having a crooked streak of chivalry running through him.

• Character Development: Both he and Alex start to respect each other more in Series 2; and in series 3, not only does he get an excellent day in the limelight episode, he makes DI and is generally more respected by the team.
• Cowboy Cop
• Dead to Begin With
• Driven to Suicide: How Ray found himself in Gene's world/Purgatory.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Chris
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique
• Jerkass: For the first two seasons.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: It takes a while, but we finally see a softer, empathetic, and very perceptive side to Ray in 3x03.
• Porn Stache
• Those Two Guys (with Chris)
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Ray and Alex get there in Season 3.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Ray's daddy issues drove him to suicide.

WPC (later DC) Sharon "Shaz" Granger (Montserrat Lombard)

Chris' love interest. She is a gifted cop, but no one (except Alex) takes her seriously.

• Brainy Brunette
• Disney Death: in 1.07
• Dead to Begin With
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Shaz is dismissed by everyone except Alex.
• Girl Next Door
• Fair Cop
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: To Chris for much of the series.
• Roma: As we find out in 2.02, but it's never mentioned again.
• Sempai-Kohai: with Alex.
• Took a Level in Badass: Her Crowning Moment of Awesome in 2x08 - shooting a suspect about to kill Chris. While wearing her wedding dress.

PC (later Sergeant) Vivian "Viv" James (Geoff Francis)

Uniformed Sergeant at Fenchurch East.

• Deadpan Snarker
• Fire and Brimstone Hell: If Chris's dream is true, because Viv's soul was taken by Keats, he's ended up here.
• Genius Bruiser: Solves the cryptographic clues in 1.04 and still manages to knock heads.
• Redemption Equals Death: Sneaks a gun into a prison that he knows will kick off a riot, but only does it to get his young cousin out of a vicious jail.
• Sacrificial Lion
• Token Minority

Luigi (Joseph Long)

Long-suffering owner of the restaurant all the coppers hang out in.

• Butt Monkey
• Deadpan Snarker
• Shipper on Deck: He really, really wants Alex and Gene to R their UST.

PC Martin Summers (Gwylim Lee - Young!Martin, Adrian Dunbar - Older!Martin)

Fellow time-traveller and all 'round creepy dude, Summers makes Alex's life un-fun during season 2.

• Affably Evil
• Driven to Villainy
• For the Evulz: His explanation for why he's such a creep, why he's stalking Alex, and why he's not a nice guy? It's fun.
• I'm Mr. Future Pop Culture Reference
• Never the Selves Shall Meet: Subverted, so very much.

DCI Jim Keats (Daniel Mays)

Ostensibly sent from HQ to keep an eye on Fenchurch East, he actually has a more personal vendetta against Gene Hunt. He'll stop at nothing to bring Hunt down.

• Big Bad: One of the biggest and baddest on the show.
• Cheshire Cat Grin
• Evil Counterpart: To Gene.
• Evil Is Hammy: Having spent seven episodes carefully holding back, Jimbo pulls out all the stops for the Grand Finale, Chewing the Scenery as he wrecks it.
• Face Heel Turn: One of the fastest and most surprising we've seen.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul
• Glasses Pull: He seems to wear his horn-rimmed specs mainly so he can take them off for emphasis.
• Inspector Javert
• It's Personal: He knows what Gene Hunt did three years ago. And he's taking him and his entire team down for it.
• Knight of Cerebus: Much more of a threat than the Bowie Clown, Supermac, or Martin Summers.
• Laughing Mad: Slips in and out of this in the finale.
• Manipulative Bastard: After 3x04, it becomes very clear that he's pulling the strings.
  • Magnificent Bastard: By the finale, he's evolved into one.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat
• Psychopomp: And not a very nice one, either, as we find out in 3.04 and 3.06.
• Satan: revealed in the finale (honestly, don't highlight this until you watch it).
  • Or, at the very least, one of Satan's high-ranking minions. Remember, he does have a boss that he's on the phone with in 3.08.
• The Corrupter: His main goal, besides bringing down Gene, is to get Ray, Chris, Shaz, and especially Alex to turn on Gene.
• Took A Level in Villainy: Oh my god, and how. Keats escalates from mild-mannered Obstructive Bureaucrat in 3.01 to the Devil himself in the finale.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm