''Murphy's Law'' is a BBC television drama, 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 comedies. Fo ...

for

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...

, 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). ...

undercover A cover in foreign, military or police human intelligence or counterintelligence is the ostensible identity and role or position in an infiltrated organization assumed by a covert agent during a covert operation. Official cover In espionage, a ...

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

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

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

. 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 mononymously as Bateman) is a novelist, screenwriter and former journalist from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. Biography Born on 13 June 1962, Bateman attended Bangor Grammar School leaving at 16 when he was hir ...

adapted the pilot for a

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

. 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'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 developing the character of Dr Martin Bamford from the Nigel Cole comedy film '' Saving ...

''. 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 ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

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

(Series 5) * C.S. Ken Bowry – Ian Redford (Series 5) * D.C.I. Derek Warren –

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

(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 having appeared in many films, including ''Robin Hood'' (1991), '' The Hawk'' (1993), ''King Arthur'' (2004), '' The Last Legion'' (2007), '' Tolkien'' (2019), and '' Dream Horse'' (2020) ...

(Series 3) * D.S. Mitch Kershaw – Tim Dantay (Series 5) * D.C. Alan Carter – Del Synott (Series 1–2) * D.C. Michael Ollington –

Shaun Dooley Shaun Dooley is an English actor, narrator and voice-over artist. Early life and career Dooley attended Barnsley Youth Theatre in 1989 before going on to study at the Arden School of Theatre in Manchester between 1992 and 1995. Dooley's ...

(Series 3) * D.C. Kim Goodall – Andrea Lowe (Series 5)Series 5
character list from '' www.bbc.co.uk'' * D.C. Jackie Cole –

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

(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'', Martin Pond in '' Barbara'' and the eponymous Frank Hathaway in '' Shakespeare & H ...

(Series 1–2)

Episode list

Series overview

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 Northern Ireland television shows BBC television dramas Television series by Banijay Television series by Tiger Aspect Productions British crime drama television series British detective television series British English-language television shows Television shows set in Northern Ireland Television shows based on British novels