Friday , March 29 2024
Merry Old England, Me Think’eth Not!

DVD Series Review: Murphy’s Law, The Complete Collection

Acorn Media presents the BBC gritty London underworld crime drama serial Murphy’s Law in its entirety. Murphy’s Law, The Complete Collection is about a Northern Irish police officer with a dark secret and possible a darker desire for self-destruction.

The DVD set includes the pilot episode of Murphy’s Law and the following season’s one through five.

Each of the episodes are 90-minutes each, except for Series Four and Five, which run 50 min each. Each series has a primary plot that carries throughout with a few main characters, but brilliantly tie together through each season of episodes which make it more complex. Murphy’s Law, The Complete Collection is action filled, finish with a twist and are very unpredictable. And a number of times you’ll belly-laugh at one-liners, usually spit by Murphy when he should have been silent.

The main character, Detective Sargent Tommy Murphy (James Nesbitt) is an undercover cop with a haunting past, a rugged body that gets abuse, a mind a step ahead of people around him (both criminals he is undercover to investigate or other police officials). His smart mouth, quick wit with a biting comment at the wrong time often gets him either physical or mental injury.

All of the episodes have subtitles and the complete collection has 23 unedited and suspense filled episodes. These episodes are not lighthearted. Even though there are very funny and often comedic moments, you get death, brutal graphic scenes, upper-frontal views, nasty language, maiming, blackmail, smuggling, drugs, nightclubs, robbery, kidnapping, hangings, fighting, and vivid gritty violence that makes American episodes look tame.

Series Four and Five are really two separate, three-episode miniseries, and the longer Murphy’s Law runs, the nastier the crime. Series four involves Belfast brothers Johnston as they prepare to engage with even more ruthless criminals in Leicester. One brother plans to marry into the Paki family to access money and team up for a major deal. Murphy goes undercover to investigate and stop them, only to get in a bit deeper than he expected to. Series Five is about sex traffic, porn, and a Serbian illegals smuggling ring which goes very bad for Murphy’s undercover team. He must try to safely recover colleagues while not blowing his cover.

I could go on and on about how crazy this police officer’s life is and the deeper he gets into it, the more he seems to loose himself to the point of real madness, but I would spoil it for you. This is not a “Keep Calm and carry On” type of England, but the dark side of life that nobody talks about and it seems all too real for Detective Sargent Tommy Murphy, who is the reluctant hero.

About Joseph Timmons

Writer, Artist and Musician living in California. I like Music, all Music and I have a fondness for the arts. I will write about anything, but I am most prolific when it comes to Music and the Entertainment Arts. I consider myself an admirer of Fashion and Social Events. When out and about, look around, I may be there - I travel around and get in to every party !

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