Philip Glenister

Acting

Philip Glenister

Born

1963-02-10 (63)

Place of birth

Harrow, Middlesex, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

70 titles

Philip Haywood Glenister is an English actor, known for his role as DCI Gene Hunt in British television series Life On Mars and its sequel Ashes To Ashes. He also played DCI William Bell in State of Play (2003) and Reverend Anderson in Outcast (2016–2018). Glenister was born on 10 February 1963 in Harrow, Middlesex, and grew up in Hatch End. He is the son of director John Glenister and Joan Fry Lewis, and the younger brother of fellow actor Robert Glenister. He attended Hatch End High School. In his early career, he worked as a runner for the Robert Stigwood Organisation. Following this, he worked until the age of 23 as a film publicist, but developed an interest in acting after watching…

Known for

Film credits

2010s · 8 titles

Bel Ami poster
5.3

Georges Duroy travels through 1890s Paris, from cockroach ridden garrets to opulent salons, using his wits and powers of seduction to rise from poverty to wealth, from a prostitute’s embrace to passionate trysts with wealthy beauties, in a world where politics and media jostle for influence, where sex is power and celebrity an obsession.

Bel Ami

2012

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger poster
5.9

Two married couples find only trouble and heartache as their complicated lives unfold. After 40 years of marriage, Alfie leaves his wife to pursue what he thinks is happiness with a call girl. His wife, Helena, reeling from abandonment, decides to follow the advice of a psychic. Sally, the daughter of Alfie and Helena, is unhappy in her marriage and develops a crush on her boss, while her husband, Roy, falls for a woman engaged to be married.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

2010

Treasure Island poster
NR

In 1765, young English boy Jim Hawkins gets involved with buccaneers during his quest to find pirate Captain Flint's treasure buried on a secret island.

Treasure Island

2012

Tales of Television Centre poster
8.0

Various actors, presenters, directors and other staff who have worked at the iconic BBC Television Centre at Shepherd's Bush in London reminisce about their time there.

Tales of Television Centre

2012

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Yet Again poster
7.6

Jennifer Saunders and a host of famous faces star in this hilarious Comic Relief reimagining of the hit movie featuring some of ABBA's biggest hits as well as a peek behind the scenes.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Yet Again

2019

Jumbo: The Plane That Changed the World poster
6.0

Documentary about the development of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet. The 747 was a game changer, the airliner that revolutionised mass, cheap air travel. But the first wide-bodied plane was originally intended as a stopgap to Boeing's now-abandoned supersonic jet. This is the remarkable untold story of the jumbo, a billion-dollar gamble that pushed 1960s technology to the limits to create one of the world's most recognisable planes.

Jumbo: The Plane That Changed the World

2014

Spying on Hitler’s Army: The Secret Recordings poster
9.5

British intelligence undertook an audacious operation to listen in on the private conversations of 10,000 German prisoners of war without their ever knowing they were being overheard. The prisoners' unguarded reminiscences and unintentional confessions have only just come to light, and prove how closely the German army were involved in the atrocities of the Holocaust. British intelligence requisitioned three stately homes for this epic task, and converted each into an elaborate trap. The 100,000 hours of conversation they captured provided crucial intelligence that changed the course of the war, and revealed some of its worst horrors, from rape to mass executions to one of the earliest bulletins from the concentration camps. But when the fighting ended, the recordings were destroyed and the transcripts locked away for half a century. Only now have they been declassified, researched and cross-referenced.

Spying on Hitler’s Army: The Secret Recordings

2013

Pavlopetri: The City Beneath the Waves poster
6.7

Just off the southern coast of mainland Greece lies the oldest submerged city in the world. It thrived for 2,000 years during the time that saw the birth of western civilisation. An international team of experts is using cutting-edge technology to prise age-old secrets from the complex of streets and stone buildings that lie less than five metres below the surface of the ocean. State-of-the-art CGI helps to raise the city from the seabed, revealing for the first time in 3,500 years how Pavlopetri would once have looked and operated.

Pavlopetri: The City Beneath the Waves

2011

2000s · 12 titles

Kingdom of Heaven poster
7.1

After his wife dies, a blacksmith named Balian is thrust into royalty, political intrigue and bloody holy wars during the Crusades.

Kingdom of Heaven

2005

Calendar Girls poster
6.5

Members of a Yorkshire branch of the Women's Institute cause controversy when they pose nude for a charity calendar.

Calendar Girls

2003

The Other Boleyn Girl poster
7.1

Based on the controversial novel by Philippa Gregory, "The Other Boleyn Girl" is a fictionalised account of the life of Lady Mary Boleyn who becomes mistress to England's king, Henry VIII, before being ousted by her younger sister, Anne. Mary leaves the Court to marry a commoner, but returns when Anne embarks on a reckless policy to save herself from ruin.

The Other Boleyn Girl

2003

Hornblower: Retribution poster
7.4

Hornblower and the other officers of the Renown must return to Jamaica to face a court-martial and possible execution for their actions in relieving their unstable captain.

Hornblower: Retribution

2001

No artwork available
5.5

Charity walkers raising funds for cancer research by crossing the Sahara Desert argue and squabble over their relationships in the past. However when one of their number gets lost each walker begins to put their life in perspective and make decisions on where their real priorities lie.

The Walk

2005

Hornblower: Mutiny poster
7.4

Hornblower and his comrades come under the command of a revered but mentally unstable captain and are forced to mutiny in order to save their ship, the HMS Renown.

Hornblower: Mutiny

2001

No artwork available
NR

A story of love, sex, seduction and violent death, set against the backdrop of a battle amongst the hunting fraternity. Sarah Campbell is a woman ostracised by the village she moves to after she bans the local hunt from using her land.

The Hunt

2001

The Making of... Ashes to Ashes poster
NR

The documentary about the making of the critically acclaimed British TV sequel series to the show Life on Mars, featuring behind the scenes interviews with the cast and crew, ahead of the final season.

The Making of... Ashes to Ashes

2009

No artwork available
7.0

A documentary about the conclusion of Life on Mars

The End of 'Life on Mars'

2007

Byron poster
4.8

Life and adventures of lord George Gordon Byron. BBC dramatization of the poet's final thirteen years

Byron

2003

Tu£sday poster
5.5

Four career criminals, two glamorous bank workers and one over-the-hill has-been all happen to be planning a robbery on a London bank on the same day, by sheer coincidence. The two investigating detectives must try and deduce how these seemingly unrelated people came to be in the area and which were responsible for the lifting a priceless emerald.

Tu£sday

2008

Lloyd & Hill poster
7.7

Just transferring into a squad run by her ex-Lover, DI Judy Hill is assigned to the case of a strangled schoolgirl.

Lloyd & Hill

2003

1990s · 8 titles

London Kills Me poster
5.9

For want of a nail a shoe was lost, for want of a shoe... a young man's life is almost lost, which is exactly what this film is all about: a man barely twenty who wants desperately to pull out of London's drug world by taking a job as a waiter in a 'normal' restaurant. But to do this he must come up with a "sensible" pair of shoes, an item that his homeless meanderings hasn't provided him.

London Kills Me

1991

I.D. poster
6.6

Four policemen go undercover and infiltrate a gang of football hooligans hoping to route out their leaders. For one of the four, the line between 'job' and 'yob' becomes more unclear as time passes . . .

I.D.

1995

Sharpe: The Legend poster
6.1

Several years after the battle of Waterloo, a former soldier from Shoreditch sits in a London inn reminiscing about the brave and determined officer who took him to hell and back. The narrator is Rifleman Cooper, and the officer whose fame he recalls is the legendary Richard Sharpe.

Sharpe: The Legend

1997

Sharpe's Justice poster
7.1

England, Summer 1814. Sharpe returns to England, with his reputation fully restored. He is soon ordered to the North of England to take command of a local militia force in his home town as it is troubled with unrest and machine-breakers. Sharpe finds that he is torn between two sides - that of the corrupt gentry and that of his own people, the rough, tough and spirited masses who are kept down by their superiors. He finds himself faced with one of the hardest decisions of his life.

Sharpe's Justice

1997

A Fatal Inversion poster
5.0

Adaptation of the Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell) novel. After Adam inherits a country house from his great uncle, he and his friend Rufus decide to spend the summer there instead of abroad. An odd assortment of 'house guests' turns up through different means and it's an uneasy mix at best. A decade afterwards, the bodies of a young woman and an infant are discovered in the woods behind the house. As the police investigate, they naturally look to Adam as former owner of the house, and what happened all those years before starts to catch up with him.

A Fatal Inversion

1992

Loved Up poster
5.4

Tells the story of a girl who, while working in a London cafe, meets a "raver" who introduces her to the drug Ecstasy and the whole British drugs scene. The girl falls in love with the raver, played splendidly by Ian Hart, but - when fired from her cafe job - she becomes involved with the seedier world of dealing.

Loved Up

1995

No artwork available
7.1

When Sunny and Tom are reunited shortly before their respective weddings, the former lovers realize how much they still love each other. The pair must decide whether to turn their backs on the safe and sensible futures they had planned for themselves.

The Perfect Blue

1998

No artwork available
NR

Comedy drama about Donna (Emma Wray) who tells her philandering husband Phil (Philip Glenister) to leave, and struggles to raise her two children on her nurse's wages. She unexpectedly meets James (Douglas Hodge), who runs a smallholding in the country, but the course of true love does not run smoothly.

True Love

1996

Series credits

Agatha Christie's Poirot poster
8.2

From England to Egypt, accompanied by his elegant and trustworthy sidekicks, the intelligent yet eccentrically-refined Belgian detective Hercule Poirot pits his wits against a collection of first class deceptions.

Agatha Christie's Poirot

1989

The One Show poster
4.3

A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One.

The One Show

2006

Top Gear poster
7.6

This fast-paced and stunt-filled motor show tests whether cars, both mundane and extraordinary, live up to their manufacturers' claims. The long-running show travels to locations around the world, performing extreme stunts and challenges to see what the featured cars are capable of doing. The current hosts are Paddy McGuinness, Chris Harris and Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff.

Top Gear

2002

Silent Witness poster
7.6

A team of exceptional forensic pathologists and scientists investigate heinous crimes and use their skills to catch the people responsible.

Silent Witness

1996

Foundation poster
7.7

Follow a band of exiles on their monumental journey to save humanity and rebuild civilization amid the fall of the Galactic Empire.

Foundation

2021

GMTV poster
5.8

GMTV is the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end. The final edition of GMTV was broadcast on 3 September 2010.

GMTV

1993

Heartbeat poster
7.1

Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.

Heartbeat

1992

Minder poster
7.2

Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.

Minder

1979

Inside No. 9 poster
8.1

An anthology of darkly comic twisted tales, each one taking place behind a door marked 'number 9'.

Inside No. 9

2014

DNA Journey poster
6.0

Celebrities are given a unique insight into their lives using innovative DNA science and technology to trace their ancestors.

DNA Journey

2019

Soccer AM poster
6.3

Soccer AM is a British Saturday-morning football-based comedy/talk show, predominantly based around the Premier League. Originally presented by Jane Hoffen, Gary Stevens and Russ Williams, they lasted just a year before Helen Chamberlain and Tim Lovejoy replaced them, where Lovejoy served for over a decade. He has since been replaced by Andy Goldstein and, more recently, Max Rushden. The show has been aired on Sky Sports 2 each Saturday morning of the football season since 1995 from 7:00am or 9:00am to noon originally and currently between 10:00am and 12:00pm. In early 2009, the 500th episode was broadcast. Although the show is filmed live from 2010 it has been broadcast on a momentary delay due to bad language and/or inappropriate content from certain guests. The show's current sponsor is Procter & Gamble through their Head & Shoulders brand. The show was previously sponsored by Frijj, a brand of milkshake, after Dairy Crest signed a £2 million sponsorship deal. Parts of the show have remained since the beginning, whilst new items have been introduced each season. In that respect, it is almost the same every week, the difference being new football footage and comedy skits. Every week sees a new group of celebrity guests, generally featuring at least one footballer who is free on the Saturday, and a mix of musicians, TV personalities, and other sportsmen.

Soccer AM

1995

House of Games poster
6.1

Each week a group of four famous faces go toe to toe in testing their general knowledge skills in a variety of entertaining games.

House of Games

2017

Drop the Dead Donkey poster
7.0

A sitcom set in the offices of "GlobeLink News" after its acquisition by media mogul Sir Roysten Merchant. Led by editor George Dent, the staff of GlobeLink battle to maintain the company as a serious news organization against Sir Roysten's right-hand man, Gus Hedges, who wants to make the show more sensationalist and suppress stories that might harm Roysten's business empire.

Drop the Dead Donkey

1990

Hornblower poster
7.8

Set during the 18th century Napoleonic Wars, Horatio Hornblower, a young and shy midshipman, rises through the ranks to become an admiral.

Hornblower

1998

The Hollow Crown poster
7.4

A series of British television films featuring William Shakespeare's History Plays.

The Hollow Crown

2012

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries poster
6.6

The Ruth Rendell mysteries is a British television series made by TVS and Meridian Television for ITV between 2 August 1987 and 11 October 2000.

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries

1987

The Chief poster
7.0

The Chief is a British crime drama transmitted on ITV from 20 April 1990 to 16 June 1995. Produced by Anglia Television, it centred on the politics at the top of a typical English police force in its continual battle to solve the problems the times, in this case the fictional Eastland of East Anglia.

The Chief

1990

The Vice poster
5.6

The Vice is an ITV police drama about the Metropolitan Police Vice Unit. Spanning five short series from 1999 and 2003, it follows the London Metropolitan police force's vice squad, where prostitution, underage sex, and such organised crime are regular occurrences. Most episodes end where the main villain is caught but often not in a 'naturally' concluded way expected from other TV dramas, and often ending with more unanswered questions than answered. Leader DI Pat Chappel struggles to manage the balance between his private and professional lives — as do the rest of the team. Working in the seedy underworld leads to a continual dilemma — the tension between the Vice Squad and vice-related crimes runs throughout the series and gives the show a rich viewing experience. The line of the team staying on the right side of the law is often blurred, as almost every member at different points submits briefly or permanently to the dubious temptations, sometimes with drastic consequences.

The Vice

1999

Outcast poster
7.1

Kyle Barnes has been plagued by possession since he was a child. Now an adult, he embarks on a spiritual journey to find answers, but what he uncovers could mean the end of life on Earth as we know it.

Outcast

2016

Life on Mars poster
7.7

A detective chief inspector from 2006 is investigating a serial killer when he is knocked over by a speeding car. Waking up, he finds himself mysteriously transported back in time to 1973. Initially struggling to come to terms with his situation, he has to come to terms with the old-fashioned technology and attitude of the day, while figuring out how he came to be trapped in the past.

Life on Mars

2006

Remembers… poster
7.0

What are the secrets of our favourite TV shows? Famous names from both sides of the camera reflect on making some of the most popular and influential programs of all time.

Remembers…

2022

Cranford poster
8.1

A rich and comic drama about the people of Cranford, a small Cheshire town on the cusp of change in the 1840s. Adapted from the novels by Elizabeth Gaskell.

Cranford

2007

Ashes to Ashes poster
7.7

Crime drama series featuring Life On Mars' DCI Gene Hunt. After being shot in 2008, DI Alex Drake lands in 1981, where she finds herself in familiar company.

Ashes to Ashes

2008

Legends poster
5.0

The story of the big names that have shaped the musical genres, plus an occasional stopgap for the new rock 'n' roll - comedy.

Legends

2006

The Detectives poster
6.9

The absurd adventures of two defective detectives, who - despite unbelievable incompetence - somehow manage to solve their cases (or be nearby when the cases are solved) and retain their jobs.

The Detectives

1993

Urban Myths poster
7.3

Our Urban Myths are stories that have been passed down over time and have now become part of urban folklore. But are they true? We take a slightly tongue in cheek, mischievous – and deliberately ambiguous – look at what might have happened...

Urban Myths

2017

The Rubbish World of Dave Spud poster
9.0

Dave, Grimsby's own magnet for disaster, is a fighter against the odds and our unlikely hero. He knows that no matter how rubbish things get, there is always room for them to get worse. But bring it on! For Dave and his Spud family are united--together they will prevail and do so with gusto! Side note: And be back in time for tea.

The Rubbish World of Dave Spud

2019

In Suspicious Circumstances poster
6.5

Introduced by renowned English actor Edward Woodward, In Suspicious Circumstances is an anthology of reenactments depicting real-life murder mysteries, some famous and some obscure, exploring cases with elements of miscarriage of justice, unsolved mysteries, and unusual circumstances, often spanning different historical periods.

In Suspicious Circumstances

1991

Duck Quacks Don't Echo poster
6.0

Lee Mack wrangles a team of scientists and celebrity guests to find the truth behind the trivia on this bizarrely educational panel show.

Duck Quacks Don't Echo

2014

Chris Moyles' Quiz Night poster
5.3

Chris Moyles' Quiz Night is a British television comedy panel game show, presented by Chris Moyles. The show was originally shown on Channel 4 at 10 p.m. on Sundays and repeated on Mondays at 11 p.m. It included three rounds in which he took on three celebrity contestants in a quiz where the prize was an item from his own home. As he was also competing, the questions were asked by a celebrity quiz master. The series has an all-female house band present in the studio who played the title music.

Chris Moyles' Quiz Night

2009

Bergerac poster
5.8

Ex-cop Jim Bergerac is forced to confront a troubling past case when a wealthy woman is murdered, pushing him to overcome personal demons and reignite his investigative prowess to navigate family tensions and law enforcement scrutiny.

Bergerac

2025

State of Play poster
7.5

The murder of Sonia Baker, a young political researcher, leads journalist Cal McCaffrey to uncover complex links between government and big business.

State of Play

2003

Clocking Off poster
7.6

Clocking Off is a British television drama series broadcast on BBC One for four series from 2000 to 2003. It was produced by Red Production Company, and created by Paul Abbott. Effectively an anthology programme that followed the lives of a group of workers at a Manchester textile factory, with each episode focusing on the private life of a different character. How much do you know about the person working next to you? From the outside, life at Mackintosh Textiles appears to run smoothly, but in a community with so many secrets to hide, things are far from straightforward. In six powerful, self-contained dramas, everyday life is fractured by tumultuous marriages, snatched passions, disappearing spouses, and gang harassment.

Clocking Off

2000

The Lady poster
6.5

Jane Andrews' life changes overnight when she lands a dream job in Buckingham Palace and bonds with the Duchess of York.

The Lady

2026

After the Flood poster
7.0

Joanna finds an unidentified man dead in a lift in a underground car park after a devastating flood, police assumes that he became trapped as the waters rose, but she is obsessed with discovering what happened to him.

After the Flood

2024

Vanity Fair poster
7.6

In early 19th-century England, ambitious and ruthless orphan Rebecca Sharp advances from the position of governess to the heights of British society.

Vanity Fair

1998

Big School poster
6.7

A comedy about a dysfunctional staff room, unrequited love and interactive whiteboards set in an urban secondary school. Chemistry teacher Mr. Church is hopelessly in love with the school's new French teacher, who in turn is being chased by a lothario gym teacher.

Big School

2013

Prey poster
6.8

Three-part crime thriller. When detective Marcus Farrow looks into a seemingly forgotten case, he has no idea of the chaos and heartache that will soon follow. He is found at the scene of a murder, and with all the evidence pointing towards him, he is arrested and charged.

Prey

2014

This Morning poster
5.2

This Morning features a variety of news, as well as show business, fashion, beauty, lifestyle, home and garden, food, tech, live phone-ins, and competitions.

This Morning

1988

Steeltown Murders poster
6.8

The hunt to catch the killer of three young women in the Port Talbot area in 1973 and the remarkable story of how - in the first case of its kind - the mystery was solved almost 30 years later using pioneering DNA evidence. Contrasting the policing methods of the 1970s with the forensic breakthroughs of the early 2000s, the series portrays a town dealing with the repercussions of an unsolved case three decades on, and asks if justice can ever truly be found.

Steeltown Murders

2023