‘For many, growing up queer in Ireland was a trauma almost – they ran away’

Derek Murphy in London hopes Queer Irish Film & Television UK can help people ‘dip their toes back into Irishness’

Derek Murphy in London. Photograph: Joanne O'Brien

Genevieve Carbery

Sun Mar 15 2026 - 06:00 • 3 MIN READ

This article is part of a series about Irish people who are working in creative fields and living abroad.

Derek Murphy

Actor, presenter, producer, London

Almost two decades away from “the real capital” have not faded actor and presenter Derek Murphy’s Cork accent..

After studying theatre in his home city in the mid-2000s, Murphy was working in Dublin on projects in theatre and with RTÉ, but when the economic crash hit, arts funding was “the first thing to go”. Going to London was “the obvious move” but was also like “starting again”, as Murphy’s Irish stage and TV credits – which included roles in a comedy movie, We Watch You Watch, and Pat Shortt’s TV series Killinaskully – “meant nothing” there, he says.

Working in London’s creative scene means Murphy wears “multiple hats” in film, TV and stage; he acts, produces, hosts, presents and does voiceover work. “I feel like anyone in the arts has to juggle,” he says. London presents lots of “fun” opportunities to do “random things” he had never considered – work in recent years has ranged from voicing audiobooks, a role in a radio play called My Boy Jack, and adverts for Cadbury and Jaguar. He has also starred in a coming-of-age short film called Sequins, and appeared on stage in Dial M for Murder and Major Barbara. Last year he presented the Irish Pride Film Festival in London.

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“I think we are lucky being creatives; there are a lot of avenues,” he says.

Murphy is leading the new Queer Irish Film & Television UK (Q-IFTUK) initiative, bringing together creative Irish LGBTQI+ people working in the industry in the UK.

Q-IFTUK will host screenings, talks and workshops throughout the year. It’s a division of non-profit Irish Film & Television UK, which last summer organised the Irish Pride Film Festival in London.

“I want to use it as a platform to promote queer Irish artists of all types,” says Murphy.

For certain generations of LGBTQI+ Irish people, growing up in Ireland was “a trauma almost”, he says. They “grew up queer” and “ran away from Ireland”. He hopes initiatives such as Q-IFTUK can help people to “dip their toes back in” to their Irishness as they begin to see themselves represented in Irish culture.

[ Life as a gay man was certainly easier in London than DublinOpens in new window ]

Murphy wants to see more awareness of “people who were always there but were never included before” in the Irish story. For him, seeing Irish LGBTQI+ people represented in creative fields is part of a healing process. “If I had seen anyone doing anything like this when I terrified and scared growing up and felt trapped, it would have made the world of difference.”

The theme of silenced Irish LGBTQI+ stories is central to a stage play Murphy has worked on with Irish writer Amy Clarke, Mammy’s House, with the help of funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Emigrant Support Programme. The play tells the stories of Irish men during the Aids crisis, many of whom left Ireland at a time when homosexuality was illegal. “We are all familiar with the stories,” Murphy says, “but you never hear about it from an Irish point of view.”

There is a far less serious side to Murphy’s work, too. In an attempt to keep them both sane during the Covid lockdowns, he and his partner Stephen Cheriton (aka drag queen Orla Nothin’) started doing comedy sketches online. Their first Derek & Orla Do series “took off on social”, and the second scripted season won several awards. They recently worked with Cork-based production company Silver Mountain on a third season, due out later this year.

Irish creatives abroad

Ireland is a perennial overachiever in the arts, such that when Oscar, Booker and Grammy nominations are released, we expectantly wonder how many Irish people have made the list.

We often posit on reasons for this creative Irish gene: traditions of storytelling, music and our language intertwined across generations of oppression, trauma and suffering.

At this time of year we bottle up and repackage this formula as politicians travel across the globe, connecting with our departed citizens and wider diaspora.

Why is it that so many Irish creatives move abroad and flourish? From acting to architecture, comedy to music and all that lies in between, there are Irish people in their tens of thousands forging paths away from home. Is it because Ireland as a small island simply cannot match the scale of London’s comedy and theatre scene, or LA’s major studios?

Or is there something more fundamental in the Irish psyche in which leaving the constraints and expectations of the island behind allows untethered emigrants to thrive?

Ahead of St Patrick’s Day, we spoke to six Irish people working in creative fields around the world, to ask what brought them to their chosen home and how their Irishness impacts their work.

Are you Irish and living in another country? Would you like to share your experience in writing or by interview? You can use the form below, or email abroad@irishtimes.com. Irish Times Abroad submission guidelines here.