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The actor, who plays tough-talking DCI Gene Hunt in the BBC retro cop drama, said critics of Hawes's turn as DI Alex Drake should "hang their heads in shame".
He told BBC News: "I think some of the criticism that Keeley has got from some of the press has been disgraceful, quite frankly. I think they've been completely misogynistic about it and they should hang their heads in shame. And they're just wrong.
"I think a lot of people somehow thought that Life On Mars was some kind of a blokes' show. It's a hellishly difficult thing to come into and I've seen how hard she works and how brilliant she is. To all those detractors, they're just plain wrong."
He urged viewers to give Hawes's character a chance to find her feet in the programme, saying: "It takes time to get to know a new character like that. Also, because she's middle class, I think some people have a problem with that.
"You've just got to allow these things to develop. You can't get it all right and try to follow up something like Life On Mars and expect it to be an amazing thing."
Talking about criticism of the show in general, he added: "We all have to learn from it and find out where we went wrong, what we need to improve on and come up with some great storylines."
Series two will begin filming in August.
> Click here for our review of last night's episode
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