A former standup comedian and his wife have received a £4.2m dividend from the TV production company behind Mastermind, Derry Girls and Have I Got News for You.
Jimmy Mulville and his wife, Karen, shared the payout from Hat Trick Holdings, the producer behind hits including Father Ted, Trigger Point and Outnumbered.
Hat Trick’s revenues fell to £48.4m in 2023, from £57.7m the year before, and the company remained in the red, as pre-tax losses narrowed to £377,590 from £397,587, according to accounts filed at Companies House.
The number of series produced, a key measure of its performance, fell from 12 in 2022 to seven in 2023.
However, the company said highlights of last year had included delivering four shows through HTM Television – its joint venture with the Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio – and setting up Strong Watch Studios, a digital specialist, with two former executives of the online publisher LADbible.
Last month, a US version of Have I Got News For You debuted on CNN, 34 years after it hit British screens.
Hat Trick said that several of its subsidiaries – producing shows such as George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces and The Proms for the BBC – “continue to perform well collectively in a difficult environment”.
Independent TV production companies have struggled as commissioning budgets have been cut by British broadcasters, leading to an industry mantra of “survive to 2025” as they attempt to ride out the tough financial conditions.
Hat Trick was founded in 1986 by Mulville – an aspiring standup turned TV executive – and his ex-wife, Denise O’Donoghue, who together created comedy shows including Drop the Dead Donkey and Room 101 before her departure from the company in 2005.
Mulville has previously discussed bringing back the company from the brink after a private equity deal struck in 2003 turned sour. “I would sit in the car park, quaking with fear,” he said. “The business was crippled with debt, not selling any shows.”
In total, the company paid out a dividend of £4.7m, including £470,000 to its chair, Patrick McKenna, up from £2.7m distributed last year. Jimmy and Karen Mulville received £4.2m of last year’s dividend, up from £2.4m in 2022.
“Our goal remains simple: to make highly successful programmes for profit,” wrote Paul Cohen, the group commercial director, in the accounts. He said Hat Trick, which has offices in London and Belfast, also makes investments in “early-stage content creation companies”.
Last year, Mulville was ordered to pay a £1,000 fine after a magistrates court heard that he swore and made rude gestures at a cyclist who had filmed him using his phone while driving his Aston Martin in London.
