Maurice Murphy (director)

Maurice Brendan Murphy (born 1939 in Sydney ) is an Australian film and television director, producer, writer and actor.

In 1960, Murphy joined the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) where he worked his way up to being a director: 'The ABC was a great training institute at that time, and a place which allowed me much creative freedom.

I learned a great deal there'.

His first big break was in 1967 with the big budget 20-episode variety series, I'm Alright Now, with Reg Livermore.

Murphy spent 1968–1971 in England working at the BBC and London Weekend Television.

He was mentored by Frank Muir and worked with many British comedy stars including Ronnie Barker, Tommy Cooper, Harry Corbett and Wendy Craig.

He directed Doctor in the House, starring Robin Nedwell, which was the first non-American comedy series to be bought by US television.

In 1968 Murphy directed the 6-episode series of Complete and Utter History of Britain starring Michael Palin and Terry Jones.

It was a highly original look at medieval history using television techniques to satirise the events.

For instance, the Battle of Hastings was broadcast as a soccer match.

On his return to Australia in 1972, Murphy helped to create the ground-breaking anarchistic comedy, The Aunty Jack Show, starring Grahame Bond, Rory O'Donoghue, John Derum and Sandra McGregor.

He used some unorthodox methods to get the show to air.

After the first episode was screened, the ABC received more than 1000 complaints and Murphy knew he had a winner.

A spin-off from The Aunty Jack Show was The Norman Gunston Show, a comic satire featuring an unsophisticated reporter from Wollongong.

The Gunston character was devised by Wendy Skelcher and played by Garry McDonald.

The series achieved considerable success and inspired several contemporary comedians.

Norman Gunston has the distinction of being the only television character, as opposed to an actor known for playing a character, to win a Gold Logie, the premier Australian television accolade.

In 1973, Murphy became Head of Entertainment at the ABC.

Murphy's show biz enthusiasm was well-developed long before his ABC years.

As a young child he was enthralled by the physical comedy of the clowns at Wirth's Circus.

Later at boarding school he discovered Abbott & Costello films, delighting in their vaudevillian routines.

The cinema became an integral part of Murphy's school holidays with musicals, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby 'Road' movies and comedies his favourite genres and ones that would influence his future work.

Throughout his school years Murphy would regularly escape into the wonders of radio hit parades, spending countless hours analysing pop song structures and writing down lyrics.

He applied these skills to television comedies.

'I worked out how the shows were structured.

I wrote down the scenes.

Sketched the sets.

Analysed the placement of dialogue and the positions for its delivery.

I noticed the similarity in patterning and timing between various shows.

I really got to understand how TV comedy was staged', says Murphy.

In 1975, the first colour television to appear on Australian screens was a brilliant sketch devised by Murphy and Grahame Bond, in which a black and white Aunty Jack tried in vain to stop colour slowly seeping into the scene.

Murphy believes that comedy has a very important social role to play, and is also important for us individually.

One of his recurrent themes is that the children within us are able to overcome the adult world with absurdist humour.

Murphy has written, directed or produced a number of independent feature films.

His first films were ones for children, Fatty Finn and Doctors and Nurses, stories in which children were at odds with the adult world.

Then a young adult satirical comedy with the emphasis on fun, Exchange Lifeguards (aka Wet and Wild Summer!) starring Julian McMahon, Christopher Atkins and Elliott Gould.

He is best known for his influential work as a director of TV comedy programs for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation – most notably The Aunty Jack Show – and for his 1980 feature film adaptation of the Australian comic strip Fatty Finn.

After a month as a Melbourne University student, Murphy realised that his true calling was in the entertainment world.

For the next three years, he financed his theatrical pursuits at The Little Theatre in South Yarra, by working at the Victorian Railways.

The series is regarded as the precursor to Monty Python's Flying Circus and until 2004 it was believed that no copies of the series had survived.