Tyrone Productions, one of Ireland’s largest independent television production company (Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, Wanderlust, Open House, Ros Na Rún, Riverdance: Live from Radio City; School Around The Corner) has announced the appointment of Jimmy Duggan as Head of Documentaries.
Originally from London Jimmy worked as a writer/journalist and radio producer before producing his first award winning drama in 1985. Boom Babies was financed by the Irish Film Board, RTÉ and UTV. Becoming increasingly involved in documentary Jimmy then began working with Muiris Mac Conghail’s company First Run Films on a series of landmark documentaries such as "Big Rock, Little Clay", - a definitive 2 hr. documentary on life on Inis Mór in the Aran Islands.
Since then Jimmy has worked as a documentary scriptwriter, director and producer for television and theatrical release for companies such as Emdee, Sullivan Forde, Ocean, Loopline and Agtel and his work has been shown by PBS, Discovery, Channel 4, WDR, RTÉ, UTV and TG4 among other broadcasters.
Television projects during the 1990s included The Uncle Jack – 76” feature documentary for Hollywood Films/British Film Institute/ Channel 4/ RTE/ Irish Film Board; James Gandon - A Life, One hour documentary feature for Loopline Productions/RTE; In The Name Of Love, 13 part drama documentary series for SullivanForde/ Hearst Entertainment, USA/ Lifetime TV, USA; The War In The East, 4 x 1hr documentary series for Castle, UK/PBS; and The Battle Of The Somme, 1hr documentary, Castle, UK/PBS, USA.
Since finishing a three year post as Head of Development with the Independent Picture group in 2000 Jimmy has written, produced and directed Spré Na Seascaídi, 9 x 26” documentary series for Agtel/TG4. He continues to work as an active producer/writer/director within Tyrone with projects such as The Land of Sex & Sinners, a 2 x 1hr. history of sexual culture in Ireland and The Mollies an Irish/Welsh/US co-production about the members of the US based labour agitation group the Molly Maguires hanged as murderers in the 19th Century.
Jimmy’s appointment as Head of Documentaries will see Tyrone working with the cream of established and emergent Irish talent to carve out a definitive niche for the company in the area of international documentary production.
Welcoming Jimmy’s appointment, Siún Ní Raghallaigh, Chief Executive, Tyrone Productions said “ I am delighted that Jimmy is joining us here at Tyrone Productions. As part of our strategic development he will be key in developing our documentary slate and furthering our relationship with key international co-production partners”.
