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Jimmy Mulville | |
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| Born | James Thomas Mulville 5 January 1955 Liverpool, England |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, writer, comedian, producer |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4 |
James Thomas Mulville (born 5 January 1955) is an English comedian, comedy writer, producer and television presenter. He is best known for co-founding (in 1986) the British independent television production company Hat Trick Productions with Denise O'Donoghue and Rory McGrath (who left in 1992). [1] In 2003, Mulville and O'Donoghue, as co-founders of Hat Trick, were listed in The Observer as two of the 50 funniest people in Britain. [2]
Brought up in Walton, Liverpool, Mulville attended Alsop High School, a local comprehensive. He began his career as an actor and writer for the Cambridge Footlights, whilst reading French and Classics at Jesus College, Cambridge. [3]
At Cambridge, Mulville met Rory McGrath with whom he both performed and wrote. He became president of Cambridge Footlights in 1977 and after graduating, went on to work for BBC Radio comedy for four years, [4] producing shows such as Injury Time (1980–1982) [5] and Radio Active , before moving to television in 1984 as script editor and producer of Alas Smith and Jones . [6]
He appeared in and co-wrote the cult TV show Who Dares Wins (1983–1988). He was one of the cast of the British comedy series The Steam Video Company (1984). He starred in the ITV sitcom That's Love in the 1980s, along with Diana Hardcastle and Tony Slattery.
He co-wrote and starred with Rory McGrath in the two series of Chelmsford 123 , a comedy set in Roman Britain, broadcast on Channel 4 in 1988 and 1990. They also co-wrote the radio comedy Glompus Van Der Hloed's Tales From The Crypt, which starred Andrew Sachs, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones, which aired on Capital Radio in the early 1980s and subsequently released in an abridged version as an album. He featured on the radio version, as well as the television pilot, of UK improvisation show, Whose Line Is It Anyway? , alongside Stephen Fry and Nonny Williams.
Mulville had a non-comic acting role in Alan Bleasdale's G.B.H. in 1991, playing a researcher hired by the lead character Michael Murray to trace his childhood nemesis. On radio, he appeared in the BBC Radio 4 comedy series Old Harry's Game (1995–2012) as Thomas Quentin Crimp; he and writer and co-star Andy Hamilton are old friends, having met at Cambridge, where they were at university with Rory McGrath, Clive Anderson and Griff Rhys Jones.
He has been married three times, with the first two marriages ending in divorce. He has four children, a step-daughter and three sons. His second marriage was to Denise O'Donoghue, with whom he continued to work after they divorced.[ citation needed ] In 1999 Mulville and O'Donoghue jointly received the BAFTA Alan Clarke Award for their creative contribution to television. His third wife is Karen Mulville, the co-founder of the retirement complex Auriens. [7] [8]
Mulville received a driving ban in 2020. In 2023 he was found guilty by magistrates of driving whilst using his mobile phone. [9]
He is an Everton F.C. supporter. In 2004 he was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Liverpool. [10]
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Clive Stuart Anderson is an English television and radio presenter, comedian, writer, and former barrister. Winner of a British Comedy Award in 1991, Anderson began experimenting with comedy and writing comedic scripts during his 15-year legal career, before becoming host of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, initially a radio show on BBC Radio 4 in 1988, before moving to television on Channel 4 from 1988 to 1999. He was also host of his own chat show Clive Anderson Talks Back, which changed its name to Clive Anderson All Talk in 1996, from 1989 to 1999. He has also hosted many radio programmes, and made guest appearances on Have I Got News for You, Mock the Week and QI.
Melvyn Kenneth Smith was an English comedian, actor and filmmaker. He worked on the sketch comedy shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones with his comedy partner, Griff Rhys Jones. Smith and Jones founded Talkback, which grew to be one of the United Kingdom's largest producers of television comedy and light entertainment programming.
Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE was an English actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of The Goodies.
Patrick Rory McGrath is a British comedian, television personality, and writer. He came to prominence in the comedy show Who Dares Wins and was a regular panellist on the game show They Think It's All Over for many years. He acted in the sitcom Chelmsford 123 and appeared in the ITV reality show Sugar Free Farm.
Geoffrey Howard Perkins was a British comedy producer, writer and performer. He was BBC head of comedy between 1995 and 2001, and produced the first two radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He is one of the people credited with creating the panel game Mornington Crescent for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. In December 2008 he posthumously received an Outstanding Contribution to Comedy Award.
Griffith Rhys Jones, often known and credited as Griff Rhys Jones, is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, and television presenter. Rhys Jones starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. He and Smith came to national attention in the 1980s for their work in the BBC television comedy sketch shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones.
Hat Trick Productions Limited is an independent British production company that produces television and radio programmes, mainly specialising in comedy, based in London. The company's logo is depicted as a rabbit pulling a man out of a hat instead of the other way around.
Chelmsford 123 is a British television situation comedy produced for Channel 4 by Hat Trick Productions. It ran for two series, of six and seven episodes respectively, in 1988 and 1990.
Denise O'Donoghue, OBE is a British television production company executive.
Who Dares Wins is a British television comedy sketch show, an adaptation of BBC Radio 4's Injury Time, broadcast between 1983 and 1988, featuring Jimmy Mulville, Rory McGrath, Philip Pope, Julia Hills and Tony Robinson. It was one of the first TV outlets for alternative comedy and was broadcast by Channel 4 late at night in a first attempt at "Post-Pub television". It was eventually aired by the Playboy Channel in cable television outlets in the United States.
Peter Arthur Fincham is a British television producer and executive. From 2008 until 2016, he was the Director of Television for the ITV network. He was also formerly the Controller of BBC One, the primary television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation, until his resignation on 5 October 2007, following criticism over the handling of the Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work debacle.
Jon Canter is an English television comedy writer for Lenny Henry and other leading comedians. Canter was born and brought up in the Jewish community of Golders Green, North London and studied law at the University of Cambridge, where he became President of Footlights.
Gerald Gary Mercurio is a British television writer, producer, director and novelist. A former hospital doctor and Royal Air Force officer, Mercurio has been ranked among UK television's leading writers. In 2017, Mercurio was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Television Society and the Baird Medal by RTS Midlands.
Thomas William Basden is an English actor, writer and comedian. He is best known for co-creating and starring in Plebs, which won the Royal Television Society award for Best Scripted Comedy in 2014. He was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2007 Edinburgh Comedy Awards and is a member of the sketch group Cowards.
Joanna Marion Scanlan is a British actress and writer. On television, she is known for her roles in The Thick of It (2005–2012), Big School (2013–2014), Puppy Love (2014), No Offence (2015–2018), Requiem (2018), and The Larkins (2021). She was nominated for three BAFTA TV Awards for Getting On (2009–2012), including two for Best Writing.
Stephen Walters is an English actor. A regular in British television and film, he has played a wide range and variety of character roles in both drama and comedy. Walters is most commonly associated with unpredictable, complex figures. He was nominated for a Royal Television Society Best Actor award in 2013 for his role in the Sky Arts drama Ragged and in 2023 for a Supporting Actor (Male) award for his role in the ITV drama Anne.
Three Men in a Boat is a television comedy/documentary series produced by Liberty Bell Productions for BBC Two starring Dara Ó Briain, Rory McGrath and Griff Rhys Jones, first shown on 3 January 2006. In this first rendition, the three participants rowed in a replica wooden skiff from Kingston upon Thames to Oxford.
Injury Time was a radio comedy programme, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 during the summers of 1980, 1981 and 1982, with a 1982 New Year's Special
Bernadette Davis is a television screenwriter, who co-wrote the first 2 series of the BBC's sitcom Game On with Andrew Davies. She wrote the third series on her own. She was nominated for a BAFTA award for Game On in 1997. Game On was said to be: "a part of a zeitgeist that came to define a generation" and was a "sitcom that was so of its time, that it took its name from a catchphrase of the decade." She studied English and Drama at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
John Steven Rule Stroud, was a British television director and producer, who contributed to popular UK television comedy programmes over three decades.
