Patrick Murray

Patrick Noel Murray (17 December 1956 – 29 September 2025) was a British actor. He was best known for playing Mickey Pearce in the British sitcom television series Only Fools and Horses from 1983 to 2003. He also had roles in ITV Playhouse (1977), Scum and Quadrophenia (1979), Breaking Glass (1980), Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), Bergerac (1983), Dempsey and Makepeace (1986), and The Firm (1989...

Patrick Noel Murray (17 December 1956 – 29 September 2025) was a British actor. He was best known for playing Mickey Pearce in the British sitcom television series Only Fools and Horses from 1983 to 2003. He also had roles in ITV Playhouse (1977), Scum and Quadrophenia (1979), Breaking Glass (1980), Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), Bergerac (1983), Dempsey and Makepeace (1986), and The Firm (1989). Early life and career Patrick Noel Murray was born in Greenwich on 17 December 1956, the son of Juana Romero, a Spanish dancer and Patrick Murray, an Irish tunnel miner. He attended St Thomas the Apostle College. He started acting in stage plays when he turned 15 after seeing a theatrical agency advert. One of his first roles was in the television series The Terracotta Horse, playing the character David Jackson, which earned him some initial recognition. In 1977, he appeared in the television play Scum, playing the character Dougan alongside Ray Winstone's Carlin. Following the BBC's banning of the broadcast due to excessive violence, its director, Alan Clarke, remade the play into a feature film of the same name in 1979, where Murray was one of the six original cast members to reprise their roles. Following this, Murray would continue to make small appearances in films, such as in Quadrophenia (1979) alongside Sting, Toyah Willcox, Michael Elphick and Timothy Spall, in Breaking Glass (1980), and as the bellboy in Curse of the Pink Panther (1983). Murray's longest role was as Mickey Pearce in 20 episodes of Only Fools and Horses between 1983–2003, starring alongside David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst. First mentioned in episodes starting in 1981 before making a physical appearance in the 1983 Healthy Competition, according to Murray, the character was conceived as a "Del Boy-lite". Murray was auditioned for the role after producer Ray Butt had noticed him in a television advertisement for Pizza Hut. He started working on the show three days after his audition. His role as Mickey has since been described as a fan-favourite of the series, and would regularly appear at Only Fools fan conventions; his popularity caused him to make regular appearances in the show up to its finale in Christmas 2003. This role led to him being offered a variety of guest appearances in television series such as The Upper Hand, The Return of Shelley, The Bill (in two different roles) and Dempsey and Makepeace, as well as in the 1989 film The Firm, alongside Gary Oldman. In 2013, Murray appeared Vikingdom as Alcuin, a wizard saved by the characters Sven (Craig Fairbrass); Brynna (Natassia Malthe); and Yang (Jon Foo). In 2015, he made a brief return to acting, featuring in the television series Endeavour, and in the short film The Profession of Violence. His final role was as the cockney gangster Frank Bridges in the television series Conditions, co-starring along with Fenella Fielding. Originally filmed in 2019 during his brief return to acting, the appearance is set to air posthumously as the series has yet to have a release date. Personal life and death In 1981, Murray married Shelley Wilkinson; the couple had three sons before divorcing in 1996. In 2016, he married Anong in Thailand, and they later had one daughter. In 2017, returning to England, Murray gave up acting and became a taxi driver in order to comply with minimum income rules for citizens who wished to bring non-European spouses to England, to allow his wife and daughter to settle in England with him. They later managed to obtain a visa. In 2018, Murray was planning to take part in a bus trip that would raise money for Demelza, a children's hospice. However, the trip was called off at the last minute as Murray revealed he was receiving treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The trip would have included him entertaining 70 fans while travelling from Leysdown-on-Sea in Kent to Margate. Murray wanted to complete the trip at a later date. In January 2021, Murray revealed that he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Subsequent scans also found a tumour in his liver, for which he had surgery to remove half of his liver. In May 2022, after a transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE), he announced that he had been given the all-clear on his lung cancer and treatment had been successful. However, in April 2023, he revealed the lung cancer had returned and spread. Murray died on 29 September 2025 from lung cancer in Rochester, Kent, at the age of 68. Filmography Film Television References External links Patrick Murray at IMDb