In most episodes of The A-Team Murdock is sprung from the VA, usually by Face, to join the team on their missions. Sometimes he breaks out himself, usually with a simple "cause chaos and then run like hell" plan. He still joined the team even when they didn't apparently need a pilot for that particular mission. Of course a plane or helicopter would often just happen to show up for Murdock to fly at some point during the episode.

As well as Face scamming Murdock out of the hospital Murdock was often Face's sidekick on scams and they were close friends. His relationship with Hannibal was slightly more formal, they often called each other Captain and Colonel. But they were good friends too and Hannibal often encouraged Murdock's flights of fancy, much to the irritation of Face and BA. BA and Murdock had a more combative relationship, that masked the real affection they had for each other. BA found Murdock's crazy behaviour infuriating and often threatened him. He never really hurt him, though possibly this was only because Murdock could run faster than BA! BA did throw him into a body of water a couple of times though.

What made BA so mad were Murdock's fixations. These often involved taking on a new persona, such as Captain Cab, Pasadena Murdock or the Range Rider, or that saw him temporarily obsessed with a subject such as Bigfoot, health foods or the plight of the humble golf ball. Usually these lasted only as long as the episode and were usually related to the mission they were on. Some persisted though, such as his belief that he had an invisible dog, named Billy, who sometimes came along on missions too.

Murdock enjoyed getting into disguise to go undercover. If he got to affect an English accent for that then so much the better. And he had no objection to wearing a dress if he had to! So he was variously a nun, a cleaning lady and most memorably of all, a bride, temporarily taking the place of the real bride the team were rescuing from a forced marriage.

Murdock may have had a huge imagination, but that didn't extend to his wardrobe. Aside from his dips into the dressing up box, he wore the same thing almost every episode. His blue baseball cap, his leather flying jacket with a tiger painted on the back, khaki pants and Converse sneakers. The only thing that changed was his tee shirt. He must have had an extensive collection as he never wore the same one twice. If you're properly Murdock fixated you should be able to identify the episode purely from a picture of Murdock's tee shirt. As a rare treat we got to see him in his army uniform in a few episodes and he carried it off beautifully.

Although Face got most of the romance in the show, Murdock sometimes got the girl. His most promising love interest was Kelly Stevens, a veterinarian he met in the episode Bounty.

He was the team's "secret weapon" as he wasn't wanted by the army like the rest of them. But that didn't mean the army wasn't suspicious of him and Colonels Lynch and Decker both visited him at the VA to try and get information from him to help them find the others. Murdock's crazy act put them off both times. He had to be especially careful not to be spotted by the MPs when they got close to the team during missions, needing to maintain his cover.

Being a member of The A-Team was a dangerous job and Murdock almost paid the ultimate price for doing that job when he was shot in the episode Curtain Call. But thanks to the efforts of the rest of the team he pulled through. Getting shot wasn't the only danger being a member of the team brought though. He was once kidnapped by bounty hunters hoping to use him as bait to lure the rest of the team to catch them for the reward.

Everything changed in the final season of the show. The rest of the team were captured and put on trial for the murder of their CO in Vietnam, Colonel Morrison. They're innocent of course. There's even a suggestion that Murdock may in fact have been the one to kill Morrison, who was a traitor. The team were found guilty, but Murdock, with the help of new character Frankie Santana, came up with and carried out a plan to save them from being executed.

After that the team went to work for the mysterious and manipulative General Stockwell, with the promise they'd be pardoned once they completed all the missions he had for them. The team all hated Stockwell and he and Murdock had a particularly frosty relationship. Murdock was no longer living in the VA at this time, he showed up at the team's new home in Virginia, claiming he'd been released from the VA.

Although he went on missions with the team Stockwell didn't let him live at the house with them. So Murdock had to get a series of temp jobs, including dog catcher, underwear inspector (which sounds more fun than it really was!) and waiter. He also briefly had a "job" as a god on a South Pacific island, in the episode The Crystal Skull. Although Crystal Skull is generally considered the worst ever episode of The A-Team, it's hard to fault the central premise that Murdock is a god!

His friendship with Face was tested in the episode Family Reunion when Murdock is faced with a dilemma about whether to tell Face that the man they are bringing back to Washington is Face's long lost father. In the last episode of the show broadcast, Without Reservations, Murdock had to struggle to keep Face alive after he was shot in the restaurant where Murdock was working as a waiter.

There was a lot of mystery about Murdock. Was he truly crazy? What was his involvement with the CIA in Vietnam? What was his full name? If his nickname was Howling Mad why did nobody ever call him that? Was he really released from the VA?

Whatever the answers are to those questions, and whatever his full name was, to the fans he'll always just be Murdock.