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. in Breaking Glass (1980), and as the bellboy in Curse of the Pink Panther (1983). 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. 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. The Return of Shelley, The Bill (in two different roles) and Dempsey and Makepeace, as well as in the 1989 film The Firm, 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. They later managed to obtain a visa. The trip would have included him entertaining 70 fans while travelling from Leysdown-on-Sea in Kent to Margate. 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
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%"
|- style="text-align:center;"
!| Year
!| Title
!| Role
!|
|-
|1976
|The Moon Over the Alley
|Ronnie Gusset
|
|-
|rowspan="1"|1978
|The Class of Miss MacMichael
|Boysie
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|1979
|Scum
|Dougan
|
|-
|Quadrophenia
|Des
|
|-
|rowspan="1"|1980
|Breaking Glass
|Injured boy
|
|-
|rowspan="1"|1983
|Curse of the Pink Panther
|Bellboy
|
|-
|1984
|Haunters of the Deep
|Jack
|
|-
|rowspan="1"|1989
|The Firm
|Nunk
|
|-
|rowspan="1"|2013
|Vikingdom
|Alcuin
|
|-
|1973|| New Scotland Yard || Jimmy Lampard || Series 32 Episode 6: "Property, Dogs & Women" ||
|-
|1977
|Scum || Dougan || Television play ||
|-
|1977, 1980 || ITV Playhouse || Bobby / Telephone man || Two episodes: S9 E9 & S12 E12 ||
|-
|1978|| Premiere || Mul || ||
|-
|1979|| Turning Year Tales || College || "Big Jim and the Figaro Club" ||
|-
|1980|| Keep It in the Family || Blackie|| S2.E3 "Games People Play"||
|-
|1983–1996, 2001–2003 || Only Fools and Horses || Mickey Pearce || 20 episodes ||
|-
|1983|| Bergerac || Barman || S3.E2 "A Hole in the Bucket" ||
|-
|1987|| Pulaski || Reporter || S1 E2 "The Price of Fame" ||
|-
|1993|| Lovejoy || Dave the Dealer || Episode: "They Call Me Midas" ||
|-
|1994, 1997 || The Bill || Barry Eaton / Harvey Cook || "Big Eagle Day" S10 E51; "Hunt" S13 E99 ||