Jimmy McNulty

James McNulty is a fictional character and one of the protagonists of the HBO drama The Wire, played by English actor Dominic West. McNulty is an Irish-American detective in the Baltimore Police Department. While talented in his profession, McNulty's conceited belief that he is more intelligent than his peers and his willingness to ignore the chain of command in pursuit of his own investigative projects mean that he regularly incurs the wrath of his superiors. When off the job, he has frequent problems involving alcoholism, alimony, child support, cheating and sexual promiscuity, and unstable relationships. He is central to many of the successful high-end drug investigations that take place within the series. McNulty is loosely based on Ed Burns, co-writer of the series.