James Murray MBE
At the March for Clean Water in London, 2024.
Born	(1975-01-22)22 January 1975 (age 51) Manchester, England
Other names	Jim Murray
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1998–present
Spouse	Sarah Parish ​ ​ (m. 2007)​
Children	2
Website	https://jimmurray.art/

James MurrayMBE (born 22 January 1975) is an English actor, artist, and river conservationist. He is well known for his work campaigning for British rivers and is a wild salmon advocate. He currently holds the position of Deputy Chair forRiver Action, and foundedActivist Anglers in 2023.

Murray and his wife, Sarah Parish, set up The Murray Parish Trust in 2014 in memory of their late daughter Ella-Jayne and have raised more than £5 million for paediatric facilities. They were both appointedMBEs in the2025 New Year Honours.^[1]

His television roles includeStephen Hart inPrimeval (2007–2008), Niles Pottinger inDefiance (2014), Daniel Coltrane inCucumber (2015), Chief Superintendent John Houseman inMcDonald & Dodds (2020–2021),Prince Andrew inThe Crown (2022–2023), and Colonel Neil "Chick" Harding inMasters of the Air (2024).

Murray was born inManchester. He was awarded a Classics scholarship byMalvern College, and has a degree in film. His great-grandfather, Richard Hollins Murray, invented the reflecting lens in 1927.^[2]

Murray's mainstream roles were inPrimeval (ITV, 2008) as expert trackerStephen Hart, and inCucumber (Channel 4, 2015) as conflicted character Daniel Coltrane.Earlier on in his career he starred in a series of both film and television pieces, including the comedy seriesRoger Roger (1999), legal drama seriesNorth Square (2000), mini seriesOther People's Children (2000) andSons & Lovers (2003), aGranada production ofThe Sittaford Mystery (2006) as Charles Burnaby, a film of theThomas Hardy storyUnder the Greenwood Tree (2005) as Dick Dewy, plus earlier filmsNailing Vienna (2002) as Peter,All the King's Men (1999) as Pvt Will Needham, andPhoenix Blue (2001) as Rick. He also found more permanent roles in Channel 4's20 Things to Do Before You're 30 (2003) playing Glen andBBC One's season four ofCutting It (2005) as Liam Carney.

Murray appeared in the ITV science fiction seriesPrimeval as Stephen Hart,Nick Cutter's lab technician, in both series one (2007) and series two (2008).

Murray had the leading role of the father, Frank Davis, inIt's Alive (2008) a remake of the 1970s horror classic byLarry Cohen.

He had a role inKröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, a comic fantasy series forComedy Central andBBC Two, which began airing in April 2009. His character is Ralph Longshaft.

In the US, Murray was a lead in theCBS spy caper seriesCHAOS from 2010 to 2011. His character was called Billy Collins.

He was cast as Mayor Niles Pottinger,^[3] in the second series ofDefiance, which first aired on 19 June 2014. Murray appeared in one episode ("Dead Air") of the third series which aired on 27 June 2015.

He took over fromFay Ripley as lead DCI in the completely improvised showSuspects as DCI Daniel Drummond,^[4] which aired in August 2016 (all six episodes).

He appeared as the father, Edward,^[5] in the three part ITV supernatural seriesHIM.

In 2016, Murray played The Doge of Venice in season 1 ofNetflix'sMedici, before playing the lead role of Wesley opposite Polly Walker in BBC One'sAge Before Beauty.

In 2017, Murray directed veteran actorRobert Hardy in his last role alongsideNina Sosanya in his short filmLa Familia.

He appeared as Caleb in theRyan Reynolds film6 Underground released in December 2019. He was Chief Superintendent John Houseman in the ITV seriesMcDonald & Dodds.^[6]

In 2021, Murray was cast as Colonel Neil "Chick" Harding in Apple TV's WW2 epic bomber dramaMasters of the Air. The series is directed byCary Joji Fukunaga and executive produced bySteven Spielberg andTom Hanks. It premiered in 2024.

Murray directed and co-presented withRobson Green ITV'sRobson and Jim's Icelandic Flyfishing Adventure (July 2021), a passion project about the therapeutic values offly fishing set in the bountiful rivers in Iceland.

Murray played the role ofPrince Andrew in the final two seasons of Netflix'sThe Crown.^[7]

Murray married hisCutting It co-starSarah Parish inHampshire on 15 December 2007, following a two-year romance. On 18 January 2008, it was announced that Parish was pregnant with their first child.^[8] Their daughter, Ella-Jayne, was born five weeks premature in May 2008 and died in January 2009 aged 8 months due to a congenitalheart defect.^[9]

Their daughter Nell was born on 21 November 2009.^[10]

In honour of Ella-Jayne, Parish and Murray began raising funds for the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit atSouthampton General Hospital, where she was cared for.^[11] Their efforts led to their creating the Murray Parish Trust in 2014, to enhance overall paediatric emergency care servingSouthern England.^[12]

Murray and his wife Sarah Parish were appointedMBEs in the2025 New Year Honours for services to "children with an illness and their families" through their charitable foundation, The Murray Parish Trust, and as patrons of Friends of Picu atSouthampton Children's Hospital.^[13]

• https://www.instagram.com/thejimmurray/?hl=en
• James Murray atIMDb
• The Murray Parish Trust

• 1975 births
• English male film actors
• English male television actors
• Living people
• Male actors from Manchester
• Members of the Order of the British Empire

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