P.H. Moriarty

Acting

P.H. Moriarty

Born — Died

1939-01-27 — 2025-02-03

Place of birth

Deptford, London, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

37 titles

P.H. Moriarty was a British actor best known for playing hard men and gangsters. He began acting late in life, having worked for many years in several professions including a boxer and a longshoresman. It was whilst working in the latter role that his film career started; a production company, shooting on the docks spotted him one day and asked him to act in their film. Moriarty's film credits include Guy Ritchie's feature film debut Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, The Long Good Friday, Jaws 3-D and the Western-inspired sci-fi film Outland (1981). He also starred in various British television programmes and TV movies.

Known for

The Bill poster
6.8

The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.

The Bill

1984

The Professionals poster
7.6

The lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley. The mandate of CI5 was to fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5 operative, hand-picked each of his men. Bodie is a cynical ex-SAS paratrooper and mercenary whose nature ran to controlled violence, while his partner, Doyle, comes to CI5 from the regular police force, and is more of an open minded liberal. Their relationship is often contentious, but they are the top men in their field, and the ones to whom Cowley always assigned to the toughest cases.

The Professionals

1977

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Patriot Games poster
6.7

When CIA Analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets Jack and his family as revenge.

Patriot Games

1992

Judge John Deed poster
6.8

Judge John Deed is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Sir John Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real justice in the cases before him. It also stars Jenny Seagrove as the barrister Jo Mills, frequently the object of Deed's desire. A pilot episode was broadcast on 9 January 2001, followed by the first full series on 26 November 2001. The sixth and last series concluded on 18 January 2007. The programme then went on an indefinite break after Shaw became involved in another television programme, and he and Seagrove expressed a wish for the format of the series to change before they filmed new episodes. By 2009, the series had officially been cancelled. The six series produced make it the longest-running BBC legal drama. The factual accuracy of the series is often criticised by legal professionals and journalists; many of the decisions taken by Deed are unlikely to happen in a real court. The romanticised vision of the court system created by Newman caused a judge to issue a warning to a jury not to let the series influence their view of trials—referring to an episode where Deed flouts rules when called up for jury duty. Another episode led to complaints about biased and incorrect information about the MMR vaccine, leading the BBC to ban repeats of it in its original form. All six series have been released on DVD in the UK.

Judge John Deed

2001

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels poster
8.1

A card shark and his unwillingly-enlisted friends need to make a lot of cash quick after losing a sketchy poker match. To do this they decide to pull a heist on a small-time gang who happen to be operating out of the flat next door.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

1998

Film credits

1990s · 5 titles

1980s · 11 titles

Outland poster
6.4

On the sunless moon Io, Marshall William T. O’Niel goes toe-to-toe with the corrupt manager of a mining colony and his gang of roughnecks while investigating a rash of worker suicides.

Outland

1981

The Long Good Friday poster
7.2

In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand, a gangster trying to become a legitimate property mogul, has big plans to get the American Mafia to bankroll his transformation of a derelict area of London into the possible venue for a future Olympic Games. However, a series of bombings targets his empire on the very weekend the Americans are in town. Shand is convinced there is a traitor in his organization, and sets out to eliminate the rat in typically ruthless fashion.

The Long Good Friday

1980

Jaws 3-D poster
4.5

A giant thirty-five-foot shark becomes trapped in a SeaWorld theme park and it's up to the sons of police chief Brody to rescue everyone.

Jaws 3-D

1983

No artwork available
1.0

The thirteen-part series recounted the lives of the titular Fox family, who lived in Clapham in South London and had gangland connections.

Fox

1980

A Sense of Freedom poster
6.5

The true story of Jimmy Boyle, who was reputed to be Scotland's most violent man.

A Sense of Freedom

1985

Slayground poster
4.8

After thieves botch an armored truck robbery that leads to the death of an innocent young girl, her father vows revenge by recruiting a sociopathic hitman to track them down and assassinate them.

Slayground

1984

Bloody Kids poster
6.5

Two boys pull a Saturday night prank on the police in a seaside British town.

Bloody Kids

1980

Jake's End poster
NR

'Motors can stall, shooters can jam. But Jake's end of it'll be all right.' Jake's a professional, a married man with a reputation to maintain-and a bank to rob.

Jake's End

1982

The Making of Jaws 3-D: Sharks Don't Die poster
5.0

Academy Award winner Lou Gossett Jr. takes you underwater on the trail of the great white shark and behind the scenes on the production of Jaws 3-D.

The Making of Jaws 3-D: Sharks Don't Die

1983

Number One poster
6.7

A down on his luck Irishman in London decides to play snooker for money.

Number One

1985

The Accountant poster
NR

London middle class Jewish accountant Lionel is preparing for his son's bar mitzvah when he does a little favour for a friend, and ends up getting mixed up with the Mafia.

The Accountant

1989

Series credits

The Bill poster
6.8

The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.

The Bill

1984

The Professionals poster
7.6

The lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley. The mandate of CI5 was to fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5 operative, hand-picked each of his men. Bodie is a cynical ex-SAS paratrooper and mercenary whose nature ran to controlled violence, while his partner, Doyle, comes to CI5 from the regular police force, and is more of an open minded liberal. Their relationship is often contentious, but they are the top men in their field, and the ones to whom Cowley always assigned to the toughest cases.

The Professionals

1977

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Judge John Deed poster
6.8

Judge John Deed is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Sir John Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real justice in the cases before him. It also stars Jenny Seagrove as the barrister Jo Mills, frequently the object of Deed's desire. A pilot episode was broadcast on 9 January 2001, followed by the first full series on 26 November 2001. The sixth and last series concluded on 18 January 2007. The programme then went on an indefinite break after Shaw became involved in another television programme, and he and Seagrove expressed a wish for the format of the series to change before they filmed new episodes. By 2009, the series had officially been cancelled. The six series produced make it the longest-running BBC legal drama. The factual accuracy of the series is often criticised by legal professionals and journalists; many of the decisions taken by Deed are unlikely to happen in a real court. The romanticised vision of the court system created by Newman caused a judge to issue a warning to a jury not to let the series influence their view of trials—referring to an episode where Deed flouts rules when called up for jury duty. Another episode led to complaints about biased and incorrect information about the MMR vaccine, leading the BBC to ban repeats of it in its original form. All six series have been released on DVD in the UK.

Judge John Deed

2001

Screen One poster
7.2

Anthology drama series.

Screen One

1989

Strangers poster
7.2

Strangers is a 1978–82 ITV police procedural created and principally written by Murray Smith, based on characters created by Kenneth Royce in his novel series and subsequent 1977–78 television adaptation The XYY Man. Don Henderson and Dennis Blanch reprise their roles, respectively, of Detective Sergeant (DS) George Bulman and Detective Constable (DC) Derek Willis. A group of police officers are brought together from across the country to the north of England. There, the fact that they're not well-known gives them the advantage to infiltrate where a more familiar local detective could not. Despite being based around a comparatively small team of detectives, a regular feature in its early years is that few episodes feature the entire team, with most using just two or three regulars in any major role.

Strangers

1978

Frank Herbert's Dune poster
6.8

In the year 10,191, the most precious substance in the universe is the spice Melange. The spice extends life. The spice expands consciousness. The spice is vital to space travel. The spice exists on only one planet in the entire universe, the vast desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune. Its native inhabitants, the Fremen, have long held a prophecy that a man would come, a messiah who would lead them to true freedom.

Frank Herbert's Dune

2000

The Paradise Club poster
6.2

Focuses on brothers Frank and Danny Kane. Their mother is the matriarch of a South London criminal gang, assisted by Danny. Frank has become a priest but leaves the church; he inherits The Paradise Club following the death of their mother and returns to London to try and steer Danny away from crime.

The Paradise Club

1989

Frank Herbert's Children of Dune poster
6.9

Twelve years following the events of Dune, the Atreides family must overcome a conspiracy that threatens to destroy their legacy and undermine their House in the eyes of The Empire. Only Paul's children can prevent this catastrophe from destroying everything and saving House Atreides from this malevolent force.

Frank Herbert's Children of Dune

2003

For the Greater Good poster
9.0

For the Greater Good is a three-part 1991 BBC Two television drama serial written by G.F. Newman and directed by Danny Boyle. It centres on three politicians attempting to reform the British prison system. However, their efforts are undermined when the tabloid press exposes their private lives.

For the Greater Good

1991

Bird of Prey poster
7.2

Bird of Prey is a British techno-thriller television serial written by Ron Hutchinson and produced by Michael Wearing and Bernard Krichefski for the BBC in 1982. From its video game-inspired opening titles to its pervasive electronic music track, Bird of Prey went to great lengths to demonstrate its credentials as 'a thriller for the electronic age'. These elements, together with a clever and complex plot that combines a breathless fascination with the still-young field of computing with pan-European fraud, international terrorism, rogue intelligence operatives and organised crime, link it firmly to the early 1980s, expressing that era's growing anxieties about the burgeoning 'Eurocracy'.

Bird of Prey

1982

The Chinese Detective poster
7.2

Chinese British Detective Sergeant John Ho solves cases in the East End of London. Ho fits the pattern of the maverick detective, prepared to use unorthodox methods to solve his cases, which emerged in series like Z Cars and The Sweeney.

The Chinese Detective

1981

The Nation's Health poster
NR

The Nation's Health is a 4 episode series written by G.F.Newman based on his book of the same name, originally broadcast on the fledgling Channel 4 UK TV channel in 1983. The series consists of four episodes that are, in order, titled: Acute, Decline, Chronic, and Collapse. In it we are faced with a maelstrom of political issues, illnesses, fatalities, personal greed and professional vanities. As may be clear from these titles, the series draws a relentlessly bleak view of the NHS in 1980s Britain. The protagonist of the series is a newly-qualified doctor, Jessie Marvill (Vivienne Ritchie). The series follows Jessie through four different sectors of the NHS, although the episodes are not focused entirely through Jessie: the NHS is seen from a variety of different perspectives, from doctors and patients to administrators and kitchen staff.

The Nation's Health

1983