 In 2003 , Nesbitt played undercover police detective Tommy Murphy in the first series of Murphy 's Law , after starring in a successful pilot episode in 2001 . The series was conceived when Nesbitt was working on Playing the Field ; he and producer Greg <unk> approached author Colin Bateman about creating a television series for Nesbitt in a similar vein to Bateman 's Dan <unk> novels . Bateman and Nesbitt were already well acquainted ; Nesbitt had been considered for a main role in <unk> Jack ( David <unk> , 1998 ) , based on Bateman 's original novel . A 90 @-@ minute pilot of Murphy 's Law was commissioned by the BBC , initially as a " comedy action adventure " . Bateman created a complex backstory for Murphy , which was cut at the request of the producers . After the broadcast of the pilot , Guardian critic Gareth McLean wrote , " the likeable James Nesbitt turned in a strong , extremely <unk> central performance , though rarely did he look <unk> by his efforts , and his chemistry with [ <unk> ] Harrison was promising and occasionally electric . " In 2003 , Nesbitt won the Irish Film & Television Award ( IFTA ) for Best Actor in a TV Drama for the role . The second series was broadcast in 2004 . 
