his first professional acting work was with a "theatre in education" company in melton mowbray, leicestershire. he was then cast in willy russell plays; "breezeblock park" (at the liverpool playhouse) and "blood brothers" (at the derby playhouse). in 1985, russell commissioned him to write the bbc schools television play "teaching matthew". this is a satire on russell's own "educating rita". hunter often wrote himself parts in the scripts he produced. in "teaching mathew" he had a small role as a policeman.