Only the bravest copper would tell Detective Chief Inspector Gene Hunt to mind his language. But the BBC has admitted that the Life on Mars cult hero was given an antir-acist make-over before the series was screened.

The unashamedly sexist, homophobic and disablist Hunt became the swaggering star of the award-winning BBC One time-travel drama.

Played by Philip Glenister, the camel-coated Hunt gleefully displayed the unreconstructed chauvinist attitudes commonplace among police in the Seventies. But while viewers could laugh at Hunt’s sexism and homophobia, openly vented racism was still a taboo area, Ashley Pharoah, co-creator of Life on Mars, admitted.

The character was originally “casually homophobic, sexist and racist”, Pharoah told the Edinburgh International Television Festival. “But we couldn’t afford the risk of people not liking Gene Hunt.”

Scripts were changed to remove racist language, including one scene where Hunt called a West Indian bar-man “Chalky”. There had been an “intake of breath around the room” when the actors read some of the original language at a script meeting.

Pharoah admitted that the producers had come to the “bizarre conclusion” that Hunt could call colleagues “fairy boy” and “poof”, describe the only WPC as “Flash Knickers” and make a joke about “spastics” - but he could not reflect the racism of the era.

Teachers’ unions have claimed that the homophobic language was harmful. Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said Hunt’s use of “bender” and “poof” could be responsible for a rise in playground bullying.

Life on Mars concluded after two series, attracting seven million viewers. Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, singled out the show for praise, saying that it contained “some of the best one-liners I could hope for”.

Hunt’s blunt side

“ This case is going as fast as a bunch of spastics in a magnet factory

Suspect: I want a lawyer. Hunt: I wanna hump Britt Ekland. What are we gonna do?

They reckon you’ve got concussion, but I couldn’t give a tart’s furry cup if half your brains are falling out

He’s got fingers in more pies than a leper on a cookery course

You are surrounded by armed bastards!

She’s as nervous as a very small nun at a penguin shoot

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