MIDSOMER MURDERS
THE NOBLE ART
FILMING MEMORIES
GLEN MURPHY - Frank Bishop
Glen Murphy was perfect for the role of boxing
promoter Frank Bishop because he grew up in the sport.
"My father Terence Murphy and my uncles Joe Lucy and Eddie Wright were all boxers and I was born into the game. My dad featured in the first sport event ever shown on ITV when it started in 1955 and my own first fight was at the age of nine."
Glen became British schoolboy champion and went on to fight for England.
"I'm actually a better footballer and went to play for Chelsea as a boy and then Charlton, but it didn't work out and I went back to boxing. That got me into acting, when the local theatre came to choose some boxers for authenticity in the background of a play. I ended up staying there a year and got my Equity card."
Glen used his boxing skills in the role of George in London's Burning, a role he played for 15 years. "George was supposed to be a keep fit fanatic but the producers thought I had the face of a boxer!"
Frank Bishop is an East End promoter who has brought success to Midsomer through his protégé John Kinsella (Henry Garrett).
"He is a horrible man and quite ruthless, but he has to have a slightly softer side so he is married and puts on a bit of showbiz. In real life I have known every boxing promoter for the last 40 years."
The episode gave Glen the opportunity to work with his friend Phil Daniels.
"I have known Phil since I started acting in 1981 - we are football fanatics and great mates and played together for a charity football team. I had to hang up my football boots when I hit 50, but I got into martial arts through my kids and am now a black belt."
PHIL
DANIELS - Teddy Molloy
Phil Daniels drew on his friendship with boxers to
create the character of trainer Teddy Molloy.
"Glen Murphy, who's also in the episode, and Terry Marsh are mates so I am very familiar with that world. I didn't base Teddy on anyone in particular, but I tried to look like Barry McGuigan. I have a parting in my hair and I always look like I am ready for work.
"Teddy is a boxing trainer who has been a professional boxer, but he was put in to fight too early by Glen's character, promoter Frank Bishop. He got beaten up because he wasn't ready. So now he is training a young fella and has aspirations of managing him one day."
Adds Phil: "I don't box but I am fairly fit. I do a bit of running still and I ran the London Marathon in 2008 in four hours."
Phil enjoys watching Midsomer Murders.
"I don't get to see it in the evenings, but I usually catch up with the repeats in the afternoons. I like it - it's in its own little planet."
CAMILLE
CODURI - Grace Bishop
Camille Coduri was thrilled to be asked to appear in
Midsomer Murders because she's a "total fan" of the series.
"I was so happy to do it and my mother was thrilled too because she's obsessed with it - when I told her I was doing it she screamed loudly! John Nettles is a real star and working with him was better than anything. He's a complete diamond."
Camille also enjoyed portraying boxing promoter's wife Grace Bishop.
"Apart from being totally down to earth, Grace is very warm but also quite bolshy and she says what she likes. The men in her life - husband Frank and trainer Teddy - think they call the shots but she is the driving force behind the triangle. She could eat them for breakfast.
"It was fantastic to play someone who looks like a certain type of woman and yet is quite different. When she watches the boxing match in the first scene she is in a leopard print dress, which sounds tacky, but later at the garden party she wears a trouser suit and dresses against type. She has a business head on her but I hope I also brought out the warmth of the character."
Camille is comfortable with the episode's setting in the world of boxing.
"My father used to hang around with boxing promoters and designed the posters for events in the East End. I would hear stories about the boxers and the bouncers who worked in the pubs. I grew up in Wandsworth and Frank Bruno would be training on the common which was very exciting. So this storyline wasn't too alien for me."