Cork born scriptwriter John Murphy has been writing scripts for quiz shows, reality shows and soaps since his unlikely big break as a detective with a sense of humour. He spoke to IFTN about an elaborate police investigation to find Bob Monkhouse’s jokes, his ‘Perfect Match’ with Twink and how ‘Bilko’ is essentially the same as ‘Frasier’.
Scriptwriter John Murphy’s story is not what you might call straightforward. At the age of 16 he moved to the UK to join the London Metropolitan Police force, primarily as a member of their football team. When his playing days came to an end he turned his attention to the crime-fighting aspect of the force (“I’d to start doing the actual job which wasn’t half as much fun”). His promotion to detective led to his involvement with a case centring around the theft of Bob Monkhouse’s jokebook.
The theft of 50 year’s worth of the talk show host’s handwritten jokes landed on John’s desk and he immediately (and possibly somewhat overzealously) applied himself to their return. “I set up this ridiculously huge operation to get them back,” he tells us. “I used electronic surveillance and everything I could lay my hands on and eventually undercover policeman were sent with money to buy back the books.” His involvement with the case meant that John was regularly in and out of Monkouse’s offices and what he saw gave him a taste for television production. This, added to a lack of interest in the policing of England, prompted a career - and life – overhaul for Murphy.
He plunged himself into the deep end of the stand up comedy circuit. Yet another unexpected move but one undertaken for varying reasons, as John explains: “I had to know it wasn’t a fad,” he says, “that I could look the industry in the face.” From here he moved on to running the comedy warm-ups for various TV shows including BBC productions.
About this time an Irish producer in the BBC called Philip Kampff was making a show with Vanessa Feltz called ‘The Love Detectives’. He had specific requirements – namely a scriptwriter with detective knowledge. . . “He called me up and said I was a ‘Uniquely comic cop’,” John tells us. Thus John immersed himself in the scripting of the reality dating show combined with various other daytime jobs to ensure there was bread on the table.
Following production of ‘The Love Detectives’ John submitted his own story, entitled ‘The Happybag’ to Philip who forwarded it to Mal Young, the Head of Drama Series at the BBC. He called John and confirmed it was going to be made and asked him to send in the script. This was slightly problematic in that John had the story ready but not a line of a script done. “So then I came out and I was thinking ‘What am I going to do? WHAT am I going to do?!” He recalls. “But then I realised that everything must have a format and rules and so I got a bus to Oxford Street and found a book with the (priceless) title of - Teach Yourself Script Writing!” With the further aid of sample scripts and general tips from other scriptwriters ‘The Happybag’ was complete – an experience John looks back on as being naively delightful. “It was lunacy because back then I thought that was how it worked – that people walked into the BBC and came out with their work commissioned!”
John’s call back to Ireland came in the form of ‘Perfect Match’, a dating show he fondly refers to as “Highly commercial” presented by Twink, in which John oversaw the script. Whilst he was home he became involved with the Irish version of ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ which was just starting off and also introduced the Irish version of ‘Call my Bluff’, ‘Aon Scéal’. Asked what kind of scripting a quiz show needs - a knowing smile appears before the explanation: “The writing that goes on for shows like ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ is never apparent. It’s a question of speed because the writers have all the biogs and information about the participants but the Fastest Finger First qualifying round is rapid so you have to get all the information relevant to the chosen contestant into the arena on the spot virtually.”
So, what is it that draws John to projects such as reality shows and TV quizzes? “I love commercial television,” he explains. “I love the workings of sitcoms because it’s so formulaic. The formula for ‘Bilko’ is exactly the same for ‘Frasier’ for example, and I trust that. The challenge is coming up with something instantly that the presenters are comfortable saying that sounds natural.” And the show he has most enjoyed working on so far? “‘Operation Transformation’, we grew it from a half hour lifestyle show into a massive hour last year which got great ratings. Working with Gerry Ryan is the kind of job writers love because he was a tremendous voice over artist in that he made the simplest line sound bigger and better. He got it so completely.”
John also cites RTÉ soap opera ‘Fair City’, where he worked as one of the script writers for two years, as a highlight: “I liked working with Kevin McGee on ‘Fair City’. He’s a Trinity scholar who has tremendous commercial sensibilities. He’s done over 150 episodes of ‘Fair City’ and then, on the other hand, he writes plays in Greek. He’s an amazingly intelligent guy who absolutely understands the essence and mechanics of stories.”
John is kept busy and is currently writing a new series of ‘Operation Transformation’, ‘Do the Right Thing’ with Baz Ashmawy (How Low Can You Go?) and Lucy Kennedy (Livin’ with Lucy). He has also just started work on ‘One Night Stand’ – a new dating show fronted by ‘The Apprentice’ star Jennifer Maguire, with Toto Productions who he recently worked with for ‘Style Wars’. And thus, something of a full circle seems to have occurred? “I know,” he says, “after all these years I’ve gone back to a dating show which I absolutely love! I’m just delighted there’s a place in schedules again for fun shows.”
A final question about scripts that he himself is a fan of and ‘The Wire’ is mentioned almost instantly, “it’s astonishing. In the absence of schooling it is essentially my Shakespeare.”
