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The actor Patrick Murray, who died aged 68, rose to prominence for his performance as Mickey Pearce, the spiv with a trilby hat who enters a short-lived partnership with his former schoolmate Rodney Trotter in the classic television comedy Only Fools and Horses.

First Episode

He first appeared in season three in an episode from 1983 called Healthy Competition, during which Rodney's ambition to move beyond serving as a lookout for Del Boy was instantly thwarted when Mickey cheated him. Del and Rodney were reunited, and Mickey remained a regular presence throughout the programme's final Christmas special in 2003.

Origin of the Role

Mickey Pearce had been mentioned on multiple occasions following the program's launch in 1981, like in episodes where he took Rodney's girlfriend, but did not initially appear. As the writer sought to enlarge the secondary roles, the show's producer remembered Murray's role in a Pizza Hut ad, trying to flirt with two women, and recommended him for the part. Murray was auditioned on a Friday and commenced his role a few days after.

The character was envisioned as a less savvy Del Boy, less shrewd but, like Del, usually having his business ventures go wrong. He's willing to attempt anything, but he's unreliable,” Murray once explained. “He’s always stitching Rodney up, and Del is always threatening to hit him for it.” Mickey persistently ridicules Rodney about his romantic failures while lying about his supposed love life and changing occupations often.

On-Set Incidents

An episode from 1989 was hastily altered due to a mishap in which the actor stumbled over his dog at home and smashed into a window, injuring a tendon in his right arm and losing five pints of blood. With the actor’s arm in a plaster cast, the creator adjusted the following episode to incorporate Mickey facing violence by neighborhood thugs.

Post-Fame Journey

The sitcom’s final episode was broadcast in 1991, but he was one of the performers who came back for holiday episodes for a dozen more years – and continued to be loved at fan conventions.

Murray was born in south London's Greenwich, his mother Juana, a dancer, and Patrick, a transport official. He went to St Thomas the Apostle college in Nunhead. When he was 15, he noticed a notice for an acting agency in the Daily Mirror and shortly after was given a part in a stage play. He promptly secured roles on TV, beginning in 1973, aged 16, in Places Where They Sing, a BBC play inspired by a novel about campus protests. Shortly after, he had a leading role in the kids' adventure series The Terracotta Horse, shot in Spain and Morocco.

He appeared in a television drama Hanging Around (1978), focusing on troubled teens, and the feature The Class of Miss MacMichael (1978), starring Glenda Jackson as a dedicated educator, before his big break arrived.

In the drama Scum, a story centered on the oppressive reform school environment, he portrayed Dougan, a kind-hearted prisoner whose head for figures allowed him to be trusted to handle money smuggled in by visitors, which he collected on his tea trolley round. He successfully to negotiate down the “daddy’s” percentage when the character Carlin became the leader.

This play, made for Play for Today in 1977, was prohibited by the BBC for its brutal content, yet it was later shown in 1991. Meanwhile, Alan Clarke remade it as a feature film in 1979, with Murray among six from the original cast reprising their roles.

Subsequently, he played small parts in features like Quadrophenia (1979) and Breaking Glass (1980), and appeared as a bellboy in Curse of the Pink Panther (1983).

Fame in Only Fools and Horses led to multiple guest spots 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 characters in The Bill.

But his life spiralled downhill after he managed a pub in Kent in 1998, overindulging in alcohol and finally seeking assistance from a support group. He later moved to Thailand, where he wed Anong in 2016. Soon after, he returned to Britain and drove a taxi. He briefly returned to acting in 2019 as a cockney gangster named Frank Bridges in the program Conditions, still to be screened.

Medical Challenges

He was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2018 and, three years later, lung cancer and a growth on his liver. Even though he was declared cancer-free in 2022 post-treatment, it recurred soon after.

Family and Relationships

Back in 1981, he wed Shelley Wilkinson; they later divorced. He leaves behind Anong, daughter Josie, Josie, and his three boys from his first marriage, Lee, Ricky and Robert, as well as three sisters and two brothers.