Brookside and Fair City actor Bryan Murray awarded IFTA ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’

The actor who has appeared in other series including BBC One sitcom Bread and TVS, for ITV, drama Perfect Scoundrels was bestowed the gong in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the world of film and television. One of Ireland’s most respected actors, Bryan has been a household name on Fair City, playing the role of Bob Charles since 2005.

Fair City’s Executive Producer, Brigie de Courcy:

“I am delighted for Bryan, who is hugely deserving of this prestigious award for his exceptional contribution to stage and screen. When Bryan joined Fair City, he brought a freshness and humour to the role that made an immediate impact. Nearly 20 years later, he is just as fresh and just as funny. Bryan is from the first generation of actors to grow up watching drama on RTÉ. Although he went on to have a stellar career, he remains a television actor to the core. This is where his heart is, and he shows it in every scene. We are lucky to have him.” 

His acting career spans over five decades and began at the Abbey Theatre, where he went on to feature in over fifty productions. He has also performed at London’s Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Bryan has appeared in films including A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, The Disturbance at Dinner, Boy Eats Girl, Vita & Virginia and The Professor and the Madman.

Bryan appears on RTÉ’s Keys to my Life to discuss his early days and career with Brendan Courtney.

He also hosted shows such as Encore and The Tenements, which received critical acclaim and an IFTA nomination. Bryan has worked with many Irish and international actors over the years, including Judi Dench, Peter O’Toole, Anna Friel, and Sean Penn among others. For UK viewers he is arguably best known as playing Trevor Jordache in Channel 4’s Brookside as the wife-beater husband of Mandy who ended up as the infamous body under the patio – where his corpse lay for two years.

Over in Ireland on Fair City, Bryan’s character of Bob Charles has quite the opposite status with soap fans and has become a much-loved cast member for many years. He ran and managed the RTÉ One soap’s McCoy’s pub, but a series of tumultuous events led to him being homeless for a period.

Brookside: Mandy and Trevor, having fled their violent marriage Trevor hunted his estranged wife down. It ended with his murder.

In another series of dramatic events, a romantic relationship with Judith led to Bob being shot when Judith was being stalked by Tommy Dillon. Throughout his time in Carrigstown, Bob has actively been involved in charity, community and philanthropic work. He now runs and operates the Hungry Pig, which after Covid, he attempted to burn down for insurance money.

Bob eventually fell in love with and married his on-screen partner Renee Phelan, who is played by Bryan’s wife Una Crawford O’Brien.

Brookside: The ‘remains’ of Trevor were discovered two years after his death when flooding in the neighbours garden was investigated

Born in a rundown tenement in Islandbridge, his family later moved into a Corporation House in Arbour Hill that pulled his family out of destitution. In the 1980s he moved to London where he could afford a chic apartment thanks to regular work, and increasing fame, from shows such as BBC’s ‘Bread’, ‘The Irish RM’ and RTE’s ground-breaking drama ‘Strumpet City’. However, it wasn’t all money, fame and success. The financial windfall from a series of soap adverts in the US was lost in an ill-advised County Kildare Theme-Park scheme.

Bryan has been widely praised in recent years for speaking candidly and frankly about his diagnosis of Alzheimers, while continuing to appear on Fair City.

Fair City: Bryan Murray as Bob and Una Crawford O’Brien as Renee on their wedding day in 2019