Honoring Patrick Murray: The Man Behind the Trilby-Wearing Mickey Pearce

Patrick Murray, who has died at the age of 68, rose to prominence for his performance as the character Mickey Pearce, the spiv with a trilby hat who enters a short-lived partnership with his childhood friend Rodney Trotter in the iconic British sitcom Only Fools and Horses.

Initial Appearance

He was introduced in season three in the 1983 installment named Healthy Competition, in which Rodney's ambition to escape his role as a lookout for Del Boy was quickly dashed when Mickey deceived him. Del and Rodney were reunited, and Mickey continued as a regular presence throughout the last holiday special in 2003.

Character Background

The character had been mentioned several times after the show began in 1981, like in episodes where Mickey stole Rodney's girlfriend, but wasn't seen on screen at first. Once the show's creator wanted to expand the supporting cast, the producer thought of Murray's role in a Pizza Hut ad, in which he failed to pick up two women, and proposed him for the part. Murray was auditioned on a Friday and began work just three days later.

The character was envisioned as “Del Boy lite”, less shrewd but, in the same vein as Del, often seeing his business ventures fall apart. “Mickey will try anything, but he's unreliable,” Murray once explained. “He’s always stitching Rodney up, and Del is always threatening to thump him for it.” The spiv consistently mocks Rodney about his lack of girlfriends while fabricating his supposed love life and flitting between jobs.

Behind the Scenes

A plot in 1989 was hastily altered after an accident in which the actor stumbled over his dog at home and smashed into a window, injuring a tendon in his right arm and suffering major blood loss. With the actor’s arm in a plaster cast, John Sullivan modified the upcoming installment to include Mickey being roughed up by neighborhood thugs.

Later Career and Life

The sitcom’s final episode was screened in 1991, but Murray joined the actors who returned for Christmas specials for a dozen more years – and continued to be loved at fan events.

He was born in Greenwich in London, with a mother named Juana, a dancer, and Patrick, a public transport inspector. He attended St Thomas the Apostle college in Nunhead. Aged 15, he noticed a notice for a talent agency in the Daily Mirror and shortly after landed a role in a stage play. He promptly secured TV parts, debuting in 1973, aged 16, in Places Where They Sing, a BBC play based on a novel about campus protests. Shortly after, he had a leading role in the youthful adventure show The Terracotta Horse, produced in those countries.

He appeared in a brief play Hanging Around (1978), focusing on troubled teens, and the movie The Class of Miss MacMichael (1978), starring Glenda Jackson as a passionate instructor, ahead of his breakthrough arrived.

In Scum, a story centered on the oppressive reform school environment, he portrayed Dougan, a kind-hearted prisoner whose skill with numbers meant he was trusted to deal with cash smuggled in by visitors, which he collected on his tea trolley round. He successfully to lower the “daddy’s” percentage when Ray Winstone's Carlin assumed that role.

The drama, made for Play for Today in 1977, was banned by the BBC for its brutal content, although it was eventually broadcast in 1991. In the interim, the director turned it into a movie in 1979, with Murray part of a group from the original cast reprising their roles.

Subsequently, he played small parts in the films Quadrophenia (1979) and Breaking Glass (1980), and took the role of a bellboy in Curse of the Pink Panther (1983).

Fame in Only Fools and Horses led to a string of guest appearances in the 1980s and 90s in programs such as Dempsey and Makepeace, Lovejoy, The Return of Shelley and The Upper Hand. He appeared in two roles in The Bill.

However, his life spiralled downhill after he became a Kent pub manager in 1998, struggling with drink and finally seeking assistance from a support group. He relocated to Thailand, where he wed Anong in 2016. Soon after, he moved back to Britain and drove a taxi. He briefly returned to acting in 2019 as a London criminal named Frank Bridges in the show Conditions, not yet broadcast.

Health Struggles

Doctors found with the lung disease COPD in 2018 and, three years later, lung cancer and a growth on his liver. Despite being cleared in 2022 after an operation and chemo, the illness came back soon after.

Private Affairs

Back in 1981, Murray married Shelley Wilkinson; the marriage ended in divorce. His survivors include Anong, daughter Josie, Josie, and the three sons of his first marriage, Lee, Ricky and Robert, as well as sisters and male siblings.