Billy Murray (actor)

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This article is about Billy Murray, a British actor. There is also an American actor, called Bill Murray. See William Murray for other people with the same name.

Billy Murray as Don Beech

Billy Murray (born October 1941) is an English actor.

Murray was born in London and knew the Kray twins from Bethnal Green, who are said to have funded him to train at East 15 Acting School, London.[1]

In his early career in the 1970s, he played Spike in TV series Rock Follies and has appeared in many other British television series such as The Professionals, The Sweeney and Minder.

His main claim to fame was as corrupt DS Don Beech in the ITV1 police drama series The Bill, playing the role from 1995 to 2000. In 2001 he returned as Don Beech in a one-off movie length episode Beech on the Run and later that year in a spin-off six-part mini-series entitled Beech is Back. In 2004 he returned to the Bill for a guest stint in five episodes, in which his character escaped from prison and is now back 'on the run'.

In 2005, he joined the cast of popular BBC soap opera EastEnders, playing somewhat retired gangster Johnny Allen. He was reported to be the nastiest gangster ever to appear in the soap, but after a good start and a few months into the character's arrival — due to constant script re-writes, poor storylines, and changing executive producers — the character of Johnny was often inconsistent.

He departed from the show in 2006 when his character was jailed after confessing to the murder of Dennis Rickman and countless other murders in the past. He won the 'Best Villain' award at the British Soap Awards in May 2006 for his role as Johnny Allen. He made a brief return to EastEnders later in the year when his character was seen in prison and later died of a heart attack.

His daughter Jaime Murray stars in the series Hustle and (like her father) once had a role in The Bill.

Billy is a big West Ham United fan.

[edit] Trivia

He appeared in small guest roles in both The Bill and EastEnders before going on to play more well-known regular characters many years later. Before playing Don Beech in The Bill he appeared as DI Jackson in 1989, and before playing Johnny Allen in EastEnders he appeared as Mr X in 1991.
In the episode of his funeral on EastEnders, Billy is actually in attendance with the mourners (wearing glasses and a hat).
He currently lives in Brentwood, Essex and often dines at a local carvery.