Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40752 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-08-28
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 308 minutes

DVD Description
This new series takes Murphy (James Nesbitt, Cold Feet) deeper and deeper undercover. The stakes are high and the risks enormous as Murphy finds himself embroiled in a complex network of criminality and double dealing. At the centre is David Callard (Ramon Tikarum, This Life) – head of the biggest criminal fraternity in London. Murphy must navigate his way through dangerous territory. It’s the biggest challenge of his career. Staying in one cover, Murphy becomes increasingly entangled with Callard’s world – walking the dangerous tight rope between detection and deception.

The Goodbye Look: It’s going to be a doddle. Posing as a criminal, Murphy has to sell a gun to a low level, low life, and then nick him. In a single act of lunacy or inspiration, Murphy walks out of his world leaving behind the security of back up and surveillance. He’s making it up as he goes along. Disorganised Crime: Callard recommends Murphy’s services to the McGeechans. They need some illegal assault rifles reactivated. Daniel and Gerard both have violent pasts and nasty tempers. Murphy is trapped. He needs to find out what they are planning. And he needs to stop it. Strong Box: Dave Callard is after some moody money. If Murphy can turn supplier and Callard takes the bait, it’s more evidence in the eventual charge sheet against him. If he makes one mistake his cover could be blown, along with the operation. Extra Mile: Murphy needs to run the extra mile of this operation. This should have been over long ago, and he’s starting to lose it. Rees, convinced he will uncover a criminal connection, is determined to pursue the relationship between Callard and Garvey. If he’s right, this could be the biggest collar of his career. If he’s wrong, he’s putting his team through hell. And for nothing. Boy’s Night Out: Callard ups the stakes. He wants to meet Murphy. Urgently. Rees and Murphy suspect that it’s an invitation to join Garvey’s drug importation but Callard is being evasive. Murphy must smoke him out juggling his time to serve two masters: the Court and Callard’s importunate demands. Hard Boiled Eggs and Nuts: Murphy is holed up in hiding with Callard and Miller. The atmosphere is thick with menace. Callard systematically destroys the forensic evidence against him. Murphy and Miller fear that he may want to destroy one or other of them too. Or both. Murphy is outgunned and outnumbered.

Starring: James Nesbitt, Written by: Allan Cubitt (The Goodbye Look/Boys Night Out), Simon Donald (Disorganised Crime/Hard Boiled Eggs & Nuts), Julian Perkins (Strong Box), Michael Crompton (Extra Mile), Series created by Colin Bateman, Executive Producers: Greg Brenman, Stephen Wright, Producer: Jemma Rogers, Directors: Brian Kirk (The Goodbye Look/Strong Box), Andy Goddard (Disorganised Crime/Extra Mile), Richard Standeven (Boys Night Out/Hard Boiled Eggs & Nuts)

Synopsis
James Nesbitt (COLD FEET, WAKING NED DEVINE, WILD ABOUT HARRY) stars as a loner undercover cop in this TV series that is highly praised by audiences. The series is based on novelist Colin Bateman's MURPHY's LAW about the adventures of a maverick cop who is more concerned with his work than he is in having a personal life.

Customer Reviews

Dark, Intelligent and very realistic
The first two series of Murphy's Law were pretty good little TV shows, but they weren't fantastic, they were nothing special but sometimes were worth watching. What this series did was take a reasonable show and make it one of the best things on television.
What makes this such a great series? Partly it's the sheer grittiness of the thing, it's not that it's overly gritty but that it's horrifyingly realistic, every plotline could easily happen, every scenario, every action, it's all so plausible that it is at times uncomfortable viewing due to lessening that TV-reality barrier we all put up. Partly it's the great performance from James Nesbitt, whose Murphy manages to be both hard-boiled and sympathetic without slipping into cliche. Partly it's that, unlike previous series, it all deals with the one long case instead of a new one every week. Partly it's that undercover police work is just so fundamentally dangerous that the whole series feels like it's permanently on the edge, one wrong move and all hell breaks loose.
To be honest, trying to pin down what makes Murphy's Law so great is a pretty tricky task, but the fact is that it is great, so if you've not seen it before then go rent some right away, you're in for a real treat.
By the way, starting from series three causes no problems since there isn't any overflow of plot from the last two.

Great show but....
As with all the previous series, this one was well acted with a great and interesting story line. So why did the producers allow it to be totally spoilt by distracting and continuous sounds effects? Whoever did these effects went overboard and every scene has bongo drums, frenetic acoustic guitars, or some other noise that only distracts the viewer. In this case, there is no need for distraction as the programme stands on its own two feet.
The production team should remember two phrases: "subtlety" and "Suspension of disbelief": neither of these was present here. A pity because the programme was excellent apart for that. Hence the four starts rather than five which it would deserve else.

Series 3 best so far
As a Canadian who can't get enough of Brit Anything I bought series 1-3 together. Series 1&2 fell into that formulated "made in the USA" trap where things were predictable and nothing really stood out.... but it did show potential. In series 3 however the penny finally drops and the writers kicked in with gritty scripts. Nesbitt also goes more "underground" and even gets pretty scary. Granted there are some moments when you say "there is no way that could happen" but the thread tying all the episodes works very well. A definite keeper in my books.