| Jimmy Doherty | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jimmy Doherty 1975 (age 36–37) Essex, England |
| Occupation | Farmer, television personality |
| Known for | Jimmy's Farm, Jimmy's Food Factory |
Jimmy Doherty (born 1975) is a Suffolk based farmer and television presenter for the BBC, famous for the show Jimmy's Farm, based around his and his partner Michaela Furney's Essex Pig Company.
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A childhood friend of Jamie Oliver, he studied at Newport Free Grammar School, has a degree in Animal Biology from the University of East London [1] and studied for a PhD in entomology at Coventry University's zoology department. [2] He is of Irish descent.
He appeared as a friend and guest on Jamie Oliver's show, Oliver's Twist in the episode entitled 'Football Breakfast'.
He then trained as a pig farmer, where, in 2002, he met runner Furney when Channel4's filming for Jamie' s Kitchen took it to the Cumbrian farm where he was working. [3]
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. There are currently 20 full and part-time staff. Their efforts were followed by a series of fly-on-the-wall documentaries which aired on BBC Two. [4]
Doherty presented 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.[5]
Jimmy and Michaela Furney were married on Saturday, 22 August 2009. The reception was held at their farm in Suffolk. [3]
They have a daughter named Molly Rose who was born on August 4th, 2010.