''Murphy's Law'' is a

BBC television drama BBC television dramas have been produced and broadcast since even before the public service company had an officially established television broadcasting network in the United Kingdom. As with any major broadcast network, drama forms an importan ...

, produced by

Tiger Aspect Productions Tiger Aspect Productions (formerly known as Tiger Television from 1988 until 1993 and also known as Tiger Aspect Films for theatrical films) is a British television and film production company, particularly noted for its situation comedy, situa ...

for

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland ( ga, BBC Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ''BBC Norlin Airlan'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ire ...

, starring

James Nesbitt William James Nesbitt (born 15 January 1965) is an actor from Northern Ireland. From 1987, Nesbitt spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical '' Up on the Roof'' (1987, 1989) to the political drama ''Paddywack'' (1994) ...

as an

undercover To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an indi ...

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

, Tommy Murphy. There were five series of the drama, shown on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

. The first two were composed of individual stories. Series three, four and five were each single stories composed over multiple episodes.

Colin Bateman Colin Bateman (known Mononymous person, mononymously as Bateman) is a novelist, screenwriter and former journalist from Bangor, County Down, Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. Biography Born on 13 June 1962, Bateman attended Bangor Grammar ...

adapted the pilot for a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

. A sixth series has not been commissioned. In a 2008 interview, Nesbitt attributed this to the fifth series' ratings being damaged after it was scheduled opposite

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

's popular drama ''

Doc Martin ''Doc Martin'' is a British medical comedy drama television series starring Martin Clunes as Doctor Martin Ellingham. It was created by Dominic Minghella after the character of Dr Martin Bamford in the 2000 comedy film '' Saving Grace''. The ...

''. All 23 episodes have since been released on DVD. All episodes from series two onwards were released as edited 50-minute masters instead of the 60-minute versions that were broadcast, except series 3 which was released uncut in the US. The first, second and third series were all released on 28 August 2006. The fourth and fifth series were released in a joint box-set on 15 October 2007.

Plot

Detective Sergeant Tommy Murphy (

) is an uncompromising, sometimes tough talking cop. He has no issues with using his charm and sense of humour to attempt to impress any woman, especially Annie, his colleague and later boss. Murphy was previously married with a young daughter, in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. There, his family were taken hostage and he was forced to make a choice; either carry a

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

and blow himself up in a local barracks, or have his daughter killed. He originally chose the first option but when he got to the barracks he couldn't go through with detonating a bomb that would kill a hundred people. When he got back to the house, he found that they had slit his daughter's throat and that his wife had been forced to watch. His decision affected almost everything he does in life. He reflects at intervals, and remarks that he received 'a nice medal' for 'saving' so many lives, by making such a sacrifice. Yet, he still feels responsible for his daughter's death.

Cast

* D.S. Tommy Murphy -

* D.C.S. Edward Rees -

Michael Feast Michael Feast (born 25 November 1946) is an English actor of stage and screen. He was born in Brighton, and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He performed in the original 1968 London production of ''Hair''. He worked several ti ...

(Series 3) * D.C.S. John Atwood -

Robbie Gee Robbie Gee (born 24 March 1970) is a British actor, best known for his ''Desmond's'' character "Lee Stanley", for appearing in Guy Ritchie's crime caper '' Snatch'', and for his comedy roles in TV series like ''The Real McCoy'' and ''The Crouc ...

(Series 5) * C.S. Ken Bowry -

Ian Redford Ian Petrie Redford (5 April 1960 – 10 January 2014) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a midfielder or forward. He played for Dundee before joining Rangers for a then Scottish record transfer fee. At Rangers he won in three d ...

(Series 5) * D.C.I. Derek Warren -

Francis Magee Francis Magee (born 7 June 1959) is an Irish actor. He portrayed Liam Tyler in British soap opera ''EastEnders'' from 1993 to 1995. He has also appeared in numerous television shows and feature films, including ''Sahara'' (2005), ''Layer Cake'' ...

(Series 4) * D.I. Annie Guthrie - Claudia Harrison (Series 1) * D.I. Hilary Clark - Sarah Berger (Series 2) * D.S. Paul Allison -

Owen Teale Owen Teale (born 20 May 1961) is a Welsh character actor known for his role as Ser Alliser Thorne in the HBO fantasy TV series ''Game of Thrones''. Early life Owen Teale was born on 20 May 1961, in North Cornelly, south Wales, son of Roy and ...

(Series 3) * D.S. Mitch Kershaw -

Tim Dantay Tim Dantay (born 1963) is a British actor who was born in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, ...

(Series 5) * D.C. Alan Carter - Del Synott (Series 1-2) * D.C. Michael Ollington -

Shaun Dooley Shaun Dooley (born 29 March 1974) is an English actor, narrator and voice-over artist. Early life Dooley was born in Barnsley in Yorkshire. He studied at the Arden School of Theatre in Manchester between 1992 and 1995. Career Dooley's fir ...

(Series 3) * D.C. Kim Goodall -

Andrea Lowe Andrea Lowe (born 1 May 1975 in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, Arnold, Nottinghamshire) is an English actress. Career She started her theatre career at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre in the play ''The Birthday Party (play), The Birthday Party'' by Ha ...

(Series 5)Series 5
character list from '' www.bbc.co.uk'' * D.C. Jackie Cole -

Jessica Oyelowo Jessica Oyelowo (née Watson; born 1978) is a British actress and singer. Early life She was born Jessica Watson in Ipswich and spent her childhood in Suffolk, England. She attended Woodbridge School as a child and was a member of the National ...

(Series 5) * Father McBride -

Mark Benton Mark Benton (born 16 November 1965) is an English actor and television presenter known for his roles as Eddie in ''Early Doors'', Howard in '' Northern Lights'' and Martin Pond in '' Barbara''. Benton has also starred in the BBC One school-based ...

(Series 1-2)

Episode list

Series 1 (2001-2003)

Series 2 (2004)

Series 3 (2005)

Series 4 (2006)

Series 5 (2007)

References

External links

* * * * {{Colin Bateman, state=collapsed 2001 British television series debuts 2007 British television series endings 2000s British crime drama television series BBC television dramas Television series by Endemol Television series by Tiger Aspect Productions British crime drama television series British detective television series English-language television shows Television shows set in Northern Ireland Television shows based on British novels