Jimmy Doherty

About

Jimmy is a Suffolk based farmer of Irish descent and a popular television presenter. He is most well-known for the show Jimmy’s Farm, based around his and his partner Michaela Furney’s Essex Pig Company.

He studied at Newport Free Grammar School and has a degree in Animal Biology from the University of East London. He later studied for a PhD in entomology at Coventry University’s zoology department.

A childhood friend of Jamie Oliver, he later appeared as a friend and guest on Jamie Oliver’s show Oliver’s Twist, in the episode entitled ‘Football Breakfast’.

He went onto train as a pig farmer, where, in 2002, he met runner Furney when Channel 4’s filming for Jamie’ s Kitchen took it to the Cumbrian farm where he was working.

After returning to Essex to run his own farm, Doherty and Furney set up The Essex Pig Company utilising free range meat production practices. Based around various rare breeds, the core breed of pig is the endangered Essex, together with the Berkshire, Gloucester Old Spot, large and middle Whites; Soay and Jacob sheep and Red Poll cattle.

Jimmy’s farm is in Suffolk near Ipswich and has over 20 full-time staff whose efforts were followed by a series of fly-on-the-wall documentaries which aired on BBC Two.

Jimmy Doherty’s presenting career began with a series for BBC2 called Jimmy Doherty’s Farming Heroes which aired from July 2008 to August 2008, followed by various other series and single documentaries for the BBC. Notably, Jimmy’s Food Factory, in which he demonstrated the industrial techniques used in the production of processed foods, ran for two series on BBC One. When the Controller of BBC One at the time, Jay Hunt, left to become Chief Creative Officer at Channel 4 at the end of 2010, she signed up Doherty to present exclusively for Channel 4. Doherty’s last series for the BBC, A Farmer’s Life for Me, was broadcast in February/March 2011.

Since June 18th 2011, Jimmy’s Food Factory airs as ‘ProSieben BBC Spezial – Jimmy’s Food Factory’ every Saturday on German TV channel ProSieben.

In 2012, Jimmy presented his own popular show Jimmy and the Giant Supermarket, as well as, Jimmy and the Whale Whisperer. Both of which were aired on Channel 4.

Jimmy backed the introduction of butchers being able to compete at WorldSkills UK in early 2015, where only the most talented of butchers have a chance to compete. The Skills Show is the nation’s largest skills and careers event and helps to shape the future of the next generation.