Murphy's Law

I'm a huge fan of UK/Irish crime dramas and mysteries, but this one did not work for me. The Murphy character is a cartoon Irishman, shallowly- drawn and made of cardboard. The plots are pretty unrealistic. Murphy is like a character in an Irish joke, a jerk who can out-drink, out-seduce, out-daredevil anybody.

This series is one step above reality TV. I found myself wondering why I should care about whether Murphy gets killed or not. He didn't seem much more likable than the thugs he was out to get.

In every episode, he should, by all rights, be killed, but of course, he squeaks by every time. This series is all bravado and no brains. If you want something with a tiny amount of intelligence and plausibility, look elsewhere. For an Irish drama that's worth watching, I recommend "Single-Handed".

Interesting, so 7 as a drama, but maybe a 3 for reality. James Nesbitt is compelling. Murphy is an undercover policeman- gets assignments that take 6 months, always dangerous deep cover. He uses his name, the same, in all his undercover- we;l, if he is recognized, at least he isn't changing names. It's cold and stalk gray, not any nice buildings or locations. BBC England produced for Northern Ireland where it takes place. "Murphy has a dark past and fails a psychiatric assessment...and is given 1 more chance". He'd have to be dark with problesm, to go undercover play a criminal and risk his life daily for years on end. But the crime syndicates, criminal enterprises, can't be that insular, that he wouldn't become known. He can't keep reinventing himself. So any truth would have to be a composite of many UCs.

It is impossible that he would work the same area- city, and that no one from before would recognize him, or not know someone who knew him in one of his other capers. He couldn't work a city, without being known as UC. Or suspected police informant. Or known from some previous incarnation. They all went to jail, why are you out? Sometimes they never know who he is. But he testifies in court. Do they say UC whose ID needs to protect his identity. They dont say. But this strains credulity.

Surely the crime world is not that big, and he would have to be found out after one caper to another. .

He complains in one that he has no one and nothing. Is it possible for anyone to live so long in so many deep covers. No wonder he drinks.

He is a rough guy with a big heart for protecting woman, including fellow officers, a drinker (my Scottish friend says, this is not just a stereotype), scrappy. Who believes in justice and law.

Often I don't like the extraneous family stuff, but he is very touhing with his mother and father.

I've only recently watched all five series of Murphy's Law - series 1 started off well but soon became mediocre. Series 2 was better but still not brilliant. All that was to change with series 3 when it all became much darker, grittier and with far superior story lines and scripts. Don't get me wrong, series 1 and 2 are still worth watching, but they are very inferior to series 3, 4 and 5.

James Nesbitt is utterly superb in the role of Murphy - he's totally believable and never lets the viewer down.

Fantastic. If I was only marking series 3 to 5 then I'd give this a 10/10, but it's only fair to judge all five series so far, in which case I reluctantly knock off one mark, so it's 9/10 overall.

Very highly recommended.

And if you want to see James Nesbitt in another excellent series, do give 'Jekyll' a go. It too is fantastic.

This show is gripping. In the first season, Murphy is flirting, cracking jokes, and catching bad guys. Then it goes dark, way dark, but thrilling. He's a man who has nothing left to lose and doesn't shy away from the most dangerous situations. Nesbitt here is a far cry from the sad dad of Missing. Very attractive. No wonder all the women in the show are drawn to his extreme masculinity!

It shines when it stays local. When it tries to dive into international waters like with the Yakuza or the Russian mob, it fails spectacularly. It's easy enough to skip any episode that's not to your liking without missing much of the throughline. The most difficult suspension of disbelief is accepting Murphy undercover as a lounge singer. He's terrible. The show mostly holds up even almost 20 years after its debut. Worth the 2atch if you're not expecting too much from it.