Murdoc

For the Gorillaz member, see Murdoc Niccals.

Not to be confused with Murdock or Murdoch.

Murdoc
MacGyver character
First appearance	"Partners" (season 2)
Last appearance	"Obsessed" (season 7)
Created by	Lee David Zlotoff
Portrayed by	Michael Des Barres
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Assassin
Family	Ashton (Sister)

Murdoc is a fictional character in the television series MacGyver played by Michael Des Barres. Murdoc is an assassin working for the Homicide International Trust, an international group of assassins. He appears in a total of nine episodes, being the most frequent villain in the series and one of the very few to actually make recurring appearances.

Character

Angus MacGyver's most frequent opponent, a member of Homicide International Trust (HIT) and master assassin who never fails — except when MacGyver gets involved. Murdoc is an accomplished pianist, a master of disguise, as well as creative and highly skilled in the use of booby traps. He is also very fond of heavy weapons, including flamethrowers, bazookas, and dynamite. Murdoc's signature for each hit is to take photographs of his victim at the moment of their death. MacGyver first encountered Murdoc in 1980: Murdoc was being followed by Peter Thornton, and MacGyver comes to Pete's aid. Their interaction convinces Pete to hire MacGyver to work with him at the DXS. At the end of this encounter, Murdoc had apparently been killed.

Murdoc's first appearance in the television series is seven years later; he has resurfaced to take revenge on MacGyver for foiling his plans during their first encounter. Murdoc's revenge scheme not only fails, but once again results in his apparent death. This became a recurring theme with the character: resurfacing after an apparent death, only to fail and appear to die again. This "near death" cycle occurred a total of 9 times throughout the series. He has survived, among other things, falling down an abandoned mine shaft, driving off a cliff in a car that exploded upon impact, and falling thousands of feet off the sheer face of a mountain. His body was never found.

Murdoc always screams "MACGYVER!" at the moment of his "death", except in episode "Halloween Knights", where he and MacGyver act as allies: for his repeated failures at MacGyver's hands, HIT has excommunicated Murdoc, and kidnapped his sister. To rescue her, Murdoc is forced to seek MacGyver's help. In this episode, it is revealed that Murdoc is terrified of snakes.

He has over-the-top disguises and weapons complemented by a maniacal-smile persona that offer a touch of comic relief to the series. He gets child-like joy from taunting his victims before he kills them using elaborate traps (which MacGyver can just manage to escape).

Episode guide

• Season 2 Episode 18 - "Partners"
• Season 3 Episode 08 - "The Widowmaker"
• Season 4 Episode 09 - "Cleo Rocks"
• Season 4 Episode 19 - "Unfinished Business" (Appears in flashbacks only)
• Season 5 Episode 06 - "Halloween Knights"
• Season 5 Episode 12 - "Serenity"
• Season 6 Episode 19 - "Strictly Business"
• Season 6 Episode 21 - "Hind-Sight" (Appears in flashbacks only)
• Season 7 Episode 03 - "Obsessed"