Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by British actor Dominic West. McNulty is an Irish American detective in the Baltimore Police Department. While he has proven to be a canny and tenacious detective, he is disliked by several of his superiors due to his tendency to circumvent the chain of command to set up investigations and because of his disdain for authority. When off the job, he has frequent problems involving alimony, alcoholism, child support, relationships, and money. McNulty nevertheless manages to play the role as one of the more competent officers in several of the largest drug-related arrests that take place within Baltimore.