39 Facts About Jimmy McNulty

James McNulty is a fictional character and the protagonist of the HBO drama The Wire, played by Dominic West.

Jimmy McNulty is an Irish-American detective in the Baltimore Police Department.

Jimmy McNulty is central to many of the successful high-end drug investigations that take place within the series.

Jimmy McNulty is loosely based on Ed Burns, co-writer of the series.

Jimmy McNulty took West to do a reading for Chris Albrecht, then the president of HBO Original Programming, who had final say on the casting.

Jimmy McNulty's father was an employee for Bethlehem Steel before being laid off in 1973.

Jimmy McNulty spent four years in patrol at the Western District before becoming a detective and spending two years in the Escapes and Apprehensions Unit.

When Burrell asks his majors and shift lieutenants to send additional detectives for the investigative detail, Jimmy McNulty is assigned to the unit.

Daniels and Jimmy McNulty argue about how to handle the case at their first meeting: Jimmy McNulty, after seeing an FBI drug sting, suggests surveillance and wiretaps, but Burrell has ordered Daniels to put together a quick and simple case to appease Phelan.

Jimmy McNulty is officially separated from his wife, who limits his contact with his two sons, Sean and Michael.

When Elena finds out, she seeks an emergency order to stop Jimmy McNulty from seeing the boys.

Jimmy McNulty is angry that McNulty continues to see his affair partner, Ronnie Pearlman, casually.

Jimmy McNulty's assistance leads to McNulty's inadvertently solving one of Michael Santangelo's old cases; the grateful Santangelo in turn reveals that he is a mole for Rawls, who is looking for an excuse to fire McNulty.

When Kima is shot in a buy-bust sting operation gone wrong, Jimmy McNulty is guilt-ridden, although even Rawls assures him that the shooting is not his fault.

Jimmy McNulty has a frank discussion with Daniels in which he admits that the Barksdale case is no more than an exercise in intellectual vanity and an opportunity to demonstrate the BPD's shortcomings.

Jimmy McNulty almost convinces D'Angelo to testify against Avon but at his mother's insistence, D'Angelo takes a 20-year prison sentence instead.

When Rawls argues the case is not in his jurisdiction, Jimmy McNulty spends three hours poring over wind and tide charts to prove the death occurred within city limits.

When port authority police officer Beadie Russell finds 13 dead women in a shipping container on the Baltimore docks, Jimmy McNulty again intervenes and, with the help of the medical examiner, proves that the deaths were not accidental: the air pipe to the container was deliberately closed off, and, with the help of a mining engineer, the investigators are able to prove that the ship was within the city limits when it happened.

Jimmy McNulty finds himself under pressure from Bunk to find Omar, since Bird is about to go on trial.

Jimmy McNulty coerces Bubbles into tracking down Omar, who successfully testifies against Bird who is convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Meanwhile, Jimmy McNulty wants to salvage his marriage, leading him to sign a separation agreement with generous alimony as a gesture of good will towards his estranged wife so she will agree to get back together.

Jimmy McNulty resolves to give up alcohol and detective work, two of the main reasons for the breakup of his marriage.

When Daniels's unit is re-formed to investigate stevedore union boss Frank Sobotka, Rawls refuses to allow Jimmy McNulty to rejoin the team, vowing he will remain working in the harbor for the rest of his career.

Jimmy McNulty seems to accept this with good grace but tries to help the detail unofficially.

Jimmy McNulty continues to work with the MCU but is disappointed that their target is not Bell.

Jimmy McNulty begins looking into the Barksdales anyway, finding out about D'Angelo's death and Avon's early release.

Jimmy McNulty reconnects with Colvin to set up the Barksdale organization as the MCU's primary target.

Jimmy McNulty's beat includes the corner that Bodie Broadus works on behalf of drug kingpin Marlo Stanfield.

Mello is disappointed, but Daniels realizes that Jimmy McNulty has been able to get his life in order while working as a patrolman.

Jimmy McNulty gives up drinking almost entirely, sometimes resolving to stay sober despite pressure from his friends.

Jimmy McNulty soon begins to miss the MCU and quietly begins getting closer to Bodie in the hopes of turning him into an informant against Marlo.

Jimmy McNulty feels guilty and rejoins the MCU, much to Freamon and Daniels' delight.

Jimmy McNulty applies what he learns to a probable overdose case he is investigating with Bunk, and tampers with the crime scene to make it seem that a struggle occurred, and over Bunk's protests, McNulty strangles and stages the corpse to make it appear as if a serial killer has come to Baltimore.

When Jimmy McNulty finds that most dead homeless men are concentrated in the Southern District, Freamon puts him in touch with an old patrol partner there who agrees to tip them off when new bodies are found.

Jimmy McNulty realizes that he can no longer falsify the murders on real corpses as there is too large a police presence, so he instead takes a mentally ill homeless man off the streets and stages a photograph of a murder to send to Sun reporter Scott Templeton, before taking the man to a homeless shelter in Richmond with fake identification.

Jimmy McNulty has been voicing the killer in telephone calls to Templeton.

Jimmy McNulty confesses his deception to Greggs, who in turn informs Daniels, now the BPD's Deputy Commissioner for Operations.

Daniels and Rawls confront Jimmy McNulty, informing him that this will be his last CID case.

Jimmy McNulty brings the man to justice, in his final case.