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James Nesbitt is DS Tommy Murphy

Detective Sergeant Tommy Murphy has already suffered tragedy in his life and is about to experience another in the first episode of Murphy's Law.

"Murphy's past experiences and personal tragedies have resulted in him feeling isolated and cocooned in his own world, and his job as an undercover cop is the only thing he has left - which is why he's so good at it," says Nesbitt.

"He's been damaged by the death of his daughter and that pain never leaves him. There always something quite haunted about Murphy... like he's always chasing something that he never finds.

"Colin Bateman writes pain and love very well and he can be dark and violent but still witty.

"With Murphy he's managed to squash a lot of those things into one person and create a fascinating character for me to play," he adds.

"Murphy is a mixture of things," he continues. "Essentially I think he is complicated beyond belief due to the tragedy of his past. He used to be a cop in the RUC and his daughter was murdered by the IRA in front of his wife after Murphy called their bluff.

"They then split up and he ran away to London, trying constantly to escape from his past. He is a very disturbed loner, but also funny and cynical, quite a messed-up person."

In all six films Nesbitt adopts six different personas, which is something he enjoys about the character.

"In one episode I had to dress up as a priest which pleased my mother - she finally had a child who was part of the clergy, albeit for a short period of time and the wrong faith!" he laughs.

But it is in episode one that Murphy faces tragedy again. Just as he is about to go on holiday with good friend Fr McBride, played by Mark Benton, a call comes through telling Murphy that DI Annie Guthrie has been involved in an undercover incident.

On arrival he learns that she has been killed by a serial killer who is stalking London's homeless.

"Murphy and Annie got together at the end of series one and finally some happiness seemed to be coming his way," says Nesbitt.

"But just when he thought he'd found someone she is brutally murdered and Murphy does that classic thing of running away and wallowing in self pity and grief.

"Finally it's Carter (Del Synnott) who pulls him out of the hole he's dug for himself and he gets back on the job in an attempt to find Annie's killer."

Nesbitt explains: "Murphy is very dedicated but the life of an undercover cop is odd because you are living in constant danger.

"I think he embraces that because death holds no fear for him now that the worst thing imaginable has already happened to him.

"He is a maverick but being in the undercover world all the time is an odd existence because you are always afraid of your cover being blown.

"For Murphy, it's somewhere he can hide from his past. Being undercover is the perfect place where he can adopt different personalities to avoid having to face up to what's happened in his own life.

"But his own life does come back to haunt him when he meets his daughter's killer in the last episode."

Nesbitt reiterates the mutual respect between himself and Colin Bateman.

"I love all Colin's work and we share a real take on things which has a lot to do with that Protestant, middle-class background that we have in common, away from the troubles.

"We share a very similar sense of humour, the juxtaposition of black humour and tragedy."

Nesbitt likes the character he plays and feels honoured to have a drama written specially for him.

"Essentially I like Murphy - he's a much more detached person than Adam in Cold Feet, but he's still funny. It's just cool to have a show written specially for you."

It's difficult for James to pinpoint one particular role that he's enjoyed the most.

"The role of Ivan Cooper in Bloody Sunday was probably my most challenging to date and I've just played a brilliant character called Joe Keyes in a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ drama called Passer By, directed by David Morrissey, who is faced with a dilemma when he witnesses the beginnings of a sexual assault on a young girl on a train," he says.

"Yet the comedy is challenging too because it's not always easy to make something funny. It all depends on timing and the delivery of your lines. More often it's easier to play the psychotic roles or emotionally burdened roles."

Despite not going to Hollywood to do the rounds of the studios it seems the studios are coming to Nesbitt.

With a reputation as one of the hardest working actors in the business, 2004 is no exception. Having just finished six months on Murphy's Law, Nesbitt is now filming Quite Ugly One Morning for ITV before heading off to Newcastle and Mexico to shoot a Michael Winterbottom film called Goal.

"I play a football agent who brings a new protégée back from Mexico to play for Newcastle United and it's all about the inner workings of the football world… how jammy is that!" he laughs.

As a self-confessed football fanatic and life-long Manchester United fan, the three picture deal is a dream come true for Nesbitt.

"I am going to see the agent Paul Stretford who runs Pro-active Agency and represents Wayne Rooney. And then I'm off to Mexico and Texas and it's the first of three feature films next year where I take the kid to Madrid and Zidane is the technical advisor next year.

"We have already done a day's filming in New York and I have been to Newcastle and I had a day off and watched Newcastle play in Majorca."