Chapter 3: Playgroup Coppers (Takes place in 1975 with a 12 year old Gene Hunt and 6 year old Sam Tyler)
'Ehm…' DCI Stephen Hunt hesitated, traced Sammy's signature on his crayon drawing, bobby electric-blue. 'Likes coppers, does your lad?'
More than my Eugene does thought the Guv. 'Wants to be one. Someday.' said Ruth Tyler.
A proud smile or a grimace touched that pock-marked face.
Annie holds the file up to Big Sam. There's an illustration of Tufty Fluffytail and friends on the top. It was the local playgroup's police visit today; DCI Stephen Hunt obviously was asked by his son the little Gene Gene to dress up as Tufty the squirrel even though his Guv dad would complain bitterly.
"Road bloody safety? With a bunch of screaming toddlers?" the WDC's face dropped at the thought of trying to teach road safety to children under junior school age.
Big Sammy takes a wide berth around Tufty's swinging tail and goes to the file cabinet. Tufty looks around and then takes his head off. It is, of course, Stephen Hunt!
"I'm bloody dying in there!" moaned DCI Hunt wearing the squirrel costume "How bloody dare me Eugene! Little pillock's tidied my whole department! You seen the state of this place? Ridiculously neat!" Gene's dad had an excellent pair of lungs whenever he ordered CID in Greater Manchester Police and his own family around.
Big Sammy watches Annie's road safety lesson from a window of the playgroup. There is a young girl riding a bike around the room while a load of kids chorus the lesson. In the middle of it all is Tufty the Squirrel, a performer in a squirrel costume that has huge eyes, yellow trousers and a blue jacket. The under sevens were chanting a road safety drill with the playgroup leader. Some were on scooters, trikes, Raleigh Budgie bikes and pedal cars in opposite sides of the pretend zebra crossing to role play the traffic and vehicles waiting for the lined up kids to cross safely.
# At the kerb, halt
Look right, look left
Look right again
And if all clear, quick march! #
The kids all bundle onto Tufty who falls to the floor.
"Aren't you supposed to stop people from getting knocked over?" asked 12 year old Gene Hunt who sees the kids pull the Tufty head off and a very dishevelled Annie, inside the costume. "If you've just come here to have a laugh, you can— buzz off Eugene!"
"No, I haven't, I haven't!" remarked the little Gene Genie "I've come to watch the police visit to the babies playgroup with me old man!" sitting down on a little wooden chair sulking as his father DCI Hunt sets up the small parade of Austin Allegro panda cars and his own glorious bronze Ford Cortina Mk3 2000 GXL for the children to sit in and there would be photographs with some of Uniform involved. Little Sam Tyler had his photo taken with a Police Constable when he was four, 2 years ago in 1973 in front of a black Austin 1100 or Maxi Landcrab car.
Tufty Club membership was at it's peek with thousands of branches scattered around the UK in the seventies; Little Gene Hunt didn't like the younger children getting to sit 'behind the wheel' of his old man's Cortina and got very jealous indeed. The Tiverton Playgroup children also got to press the sirens in some of the marked panda cars.
"Get out of me Dad's Cortina, you little fairy queer!" The 12 year old little boy that was the double of the Guv screeched at the toddler as the little Gene Genie pushed him off the chequered pattern trim from the driving seat of the 2000 GXL Cortina with that twin headlight look. A tall figure loomed over the driver's door noticing just what his son had done, trying to claim possession of his Dad's Cortina from the little kids who only wanted to pretend to be the Guv catching criminal scum on the mean streets of Manchester.
"Apologise to Marshall Skelton, now Eugene." growled the tall man in the beige camel coat sounding awfully mad with his little boy when he hears the two year old floppy haired boy wailing loudly in tears on the floor of the carpark "You dare push DC Chris Skelton's nephew out of my Cortina!"
"No!" challenged the little Gene Genie who was promptly carted by the scruff of his collar straight back into the playgroup building with the Guv hauling his son to a wooden chair and making him sit there in silence until DCI Stephen Hunt decides his son can return to the fun. "Fine then, Eugene, but I'm telling you this: don't spoil the little ones fun okay? You'll stay here on Daddy's lap and mind your behaviour." holding his mischievous blue eyed and brown, blonde 12 year old boy in hand. "You play in Daddy's Cortina all the time whenever I bring you and Sammy Tyler to the police station, Eugene. But let other children have a play in the Guv's Cortina, son." explained DCI Hunt to his boy who would one day be a Guv himself.
"But, Daddy I didn't have me mate Sammy Tyler over to play today." sulked 12 year old Gene Hunt sat among the dolls house and coloured wooden bricks in Triang baby walker trolleys "And I didn't want little kids stickying up your Cortina, Dad." who looked sullenly into his Dad's eyes, the Guv just calmly stroked and cuddled his little Gene Genie to make up for not having Sammy Tyler over to play today.
This is my little twist on the BBC Life on Mars UK episode 2.07 with the Tufty costume and playgroup, if you wondered why Gene in the future doesn't let anyone drive his cars this is where it originated from in the days of his Dad's Mk3 Cortina GXL and also he hasn't got his Sammy Tyler to play with; so the little Gene Genie is missing his best mate. Awwwww, tis mean seeing a 12 year old Philip Glenister be lonely in the Tufty Club and playgroup's police visit.