It’s been nearly two decades since the last Beverly Hills cop movie, and Eddie Murphy is set to star in the franchise for a fourth time as the Beverly Hills Cop 4 script moves fast towards completion, Deadline report.

Murphy made a name for himself in the first movie - directed by Martin Brest - as the hard-talking, smartest cop on the block, before building upon that success with the second film, which was helmed by the late, great Tony Scott. By the third film, Murphy was an international star. But it was the first film, made in 1984, that really captured the essence of Muprhy’s comedy.

The subsequent films, made in ’87 and ’94 flopped with the critics, especially the latter, which grabbed a pathetic 10% on review aggregator site, Rotten Tomatoes. The Box Office figures represented what the critics thought; Beverly Hills Cop has a lifetime gross of $234m, while the disappointing third film only has $42m.

So, Murphy et al have plenty of work to be doing. The script is currently being penned by the Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol masterminds Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec, which is a good omen for BHC4 considering the fourth Mission Impossible’s rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 93%.

The whole project came about via a spinoff, which has influenced an addition to the franchise proper. The spinoff was a TV show, which only made it to the pilot stage, but Murphy’s performance and the overall quality drew enough attention for a fourth film to be made.

Eddie MuprhyEddie Murphy is set to return to the Beverly Hills Cop franchise