Season 5 • Episode 3
LatestNow that Baker knows Murphy is a cop, he must race against the clock to find Kim before her secret is revealed too. However, local Chief Superintendent Bowry cares less about Kim's life and more about his own reputation and funding, and Murphy is forced to take desperate measures in his hunt for his missing friend.
Detective Sergeant Tommy Murphy is a maverick cop with a dark past. After failing a psychiatric assessment, he's given one last chance by his boss and given a dangerous undercover assignment. A loner with little to lose and dealing with everything on his own terms, this time around, however, Murphy has an ally in Detective Inspector Annie Guthrie.
Acting
Nesbitt's barely-contained rage masquerading as charm.
Writing
Colin Bateman's dialogue: profane poetry disguised as cop banter.
Production
Pre-gentrification London looking properly grimy and expensive.
Creator
Colin Bateman
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Colin Bateman created Murphy after his novel series was rejected, then reclaimed him after the show ended. The character's name? A bitter joke about everything going wrong.
This was BBC's answer to gritty US procedurals like The Shield, but with distinctly Northern Irish black humor that American networks wouldn't touch. The finale's ambiguous ending? Pure Bateman refusing tidy closure.
GB
