🔗 Share this article Remembering Patrick Murray: The Actor Who Portrayed Mickey Pearce Patrick Noel Murray, who has passed away at 68, gained fame for his role as Mickey Pearce in Only Fools and Horses, the spiv with a trilby hat who enters a short-lived partnership with his childhood friend Rodney Trotter in the beloved TV sitcom Only Fools and Horses. First Episode He first appeared in season three in an episode from 1983 called Healthy Competition, in which Rodney's desire to move beyond serving as a lookout for his brother was immediately foiled when Mickey deceived him. The Trotter brothers joined forces again, and Mickey stayed a recurring character all the way to the last holiday special in 2003. Character Background Mickey Pearce was referenced on multiple occasions after the show began in 1981, like in episodes where Mickey stole Rodney's girlfriend, but did not initially appear. Once the show's creator decided to broaden the ensemble of characters, the producer thought of Murray's appearance in an advertisement, where he unsuccessfully chatted up two women, and recommended him for the part. He auditioned on a Friday and began work a few days after. Mickey was conceived as “Del Boy lite”, less shrewd but, in the same vein as Del, usually having his entrepreneurial antics fall apart. He's willing to attempt anything, but he's unreliable,” the actor stated. He constantly deceives Rodney, and Del often threatens to hit him for it.” This character persistently ridicules Rodney about his lack of girlfriends while exaggerating his supposed love life and flitting between jobs. Behind the Scenes A plot in 1989 needed quick rewriting following an incident in which the actor stumbled over his dog at home and broke a glass pane, severing a tendon in his right arm and losing a significant amount of blood. As his arm was in a plaster cast, the writer rewrote the next episode to incorporate Mickey being roughed up by local gangsters. Later Years The sitcom’s final episode was screened in 1991, but he was one of the cast members who participated in festive specials for a dozen more years – and remained popular at fan events. Murray was born in south London's Greenwich, to Juana, a dancer, and his father Patrick, a transport official. He studied at St Thomas the Apostle college in Nunhead. Aged 15, he spotted an advert for a theatrical agency in the Daily Mirror and shortly after landed a role in a stage play. He quickly started roles on TV, starting in 1973, aged 16, in Places Where They Sing, a BBC play inspired by a novel about student unrest. It was quickly followed, he had a leading role in the youthful adventure show The Terracotta Horse, produced in those countries. He also had roles a brief play Hanging Around (1978), focusing on troubled teens, and the feature The Class of Miss MacMichael (1978), featuring Glenda Jackson as an idealistic teacher, ahead of his breakthrough arrived. For Scum, a story centered on the brutal borstal system, he was cast as Dougan, a good-natured inmate whose mathematical ability allowed him to be trusted to deal with cash smuggled in by visitors, which he collected on his rounds with a trolley. He was able to lower the “daddy’s” percentage when Carlin (Ray Winstone) became the leader. This play, created for television in 1977, was prohibited by the BBC for its brutal content, although it was eventually broadcast in 1991. In the meantime, the director remade it as a feature film in 1979, with Murray among six from the initial cast playing their characters again. He later took supporting parts in the movies 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 earned him multiple guest spots in the 80s and 90s in series such as Dempsey and Makepeace, Lovejoy, The Return of Shelley and The Upper Hand. He played two parts in The Bill. But his life declined after he managed a pub in Kent in 1998, drinking too much and later getting support from Alcoholics Anonymous. He later moved to Thailand, where he wed Anong in 2016. Soon after, he returned to Britain and became a taxi driver. He briefly returned to acting in 2019 as a tough guy Frank Bridges in the show Conditions, still to be screened. Medical Challenges He received a diagnosis with COPD in 2018 and, a few years after, pulmonary cancer and a growth on his liver. Despite being cleared in 2022 post-treatment, it recurred not long after. Personal Life In 1981, Murray married Shelley Wilkinson; the marriage ended in divorce. He leaves behind Anong, their daughter, Josie, and the three sons of his first marriage, Lee, Ricky and Robert, as well as sisters and brothers.