In a short period of time Hat Trick Productions has grown from a small, independent production company in the UK into one of the largest and best respected TV production groups in the World. Hat Trick was the brainchild of a group of British TV comedy performers who hoped to produce their own shows and events for broadcast on the expanding TV market of the 1980s. Jimmy Mulville and Rory McGrath were well known TV comedians and actors when they formed Hat Trick Productions with Mulville's wife Denise O'Donohue in 1986. Mulville remains an important figure at Hat Trick, but McGrath and O'Donohue are no longer involved in the daily running of the company.
Hat Trick first came to the attention of the public when the British network Channel 4 commissioned the sitcom Chelmsford 123, starring Mulville and McGrath as opponents in the battle for Britain during the Roman period of history. Hat Trick tend to produce a large number of comedy and light entertainment shows, with the company nominated for more British and international TV awards than any other British producer, aside from the BBC. Other notable shows that were produced under the Hat Trick banner are Game On, Whose Line Is It Anyway and Have I Got News For You. The company has been known for taking creative risks, with the ever popular Father Ted and Episodes just two of the shows that Hat Trick have backed.
