Jimmy was one of the founders of Hat Trick Productions in 1986 and since then has seen it grow into one of the country’s leading producers of comedy, drama and entertainment, regularly bringing to the screen distinctive and popular series, including ‘Father Ted’, ‘Outnumbered’, ‘Drop Dead Gorgeous’, ‘Fonejacker’, ‘Room 101’, ‘The Kumars at No 42’, ‘Drop The Dead Donkey’, ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’, ‘Bodies’, ‘Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee’ and ‘Worst Week of My Life’ and of course, ‘Have I Got News For You’ which Jimmy created in 1990.
In the US Hat Trick launched ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway’ in 1997 which ran on ABC for seven years and was the very first British series to be recreated for American network television by a British producer.
In 1999 he received the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Creative Contribution to Television. Jimmy is a Fellow of the Royal Television Society and recently received an honorary doctorate from the University of Liverpool. Before moving to television in 1982, he produced for BBC Radio, where he developed and produced the award-winning Radio Active.
A passionate Liverpool-born man, Jimmy has recently taken up a role as Board Member of Imagine Liverpool; an ambitious regeneration board to spearhead Liverpool’s next wave of transformation. Jimmy aspires to accelerate the growth of Liverpool’s creative industries, as well as increase the Film and TV skills opportunities in his hometown – which is the most filmed city outside of London.
