Inside Jimmy Doherty's life with famous wife, four daughters pet polar bears and showbiz pals

Jimmy Doherty first graced our television screens over two decades ago, featuring in his best mate Jamie Oliver's cooking programmes.

After training to be a pig farmer, he established his own farm and founded the Essex Pig Company, which became the focus of the reality TV documentary, Jimmy's Farm.

These days, Jimmy juggles his farming duties with his television career, and this weekend he's in the new Channel 4 show, Jimmy Doherty’s Big Bear Rescue.

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The programme follows Jimmy, 50, at his Suffolk farm and wildlife refuge, where he welcomes some homeless polar bears, a pack of wolves, and two brown bears looking for their forever homes.

All of the action is filmed on his sprawling 70-acre family farm. He shares this idyllic setting with his telly producer wife Michaela Furney and their four daughters, not to mention a host of pets. Let's delve into his life, reports Essex Live.

Early life

Born in Ilford before relocating to Essex at three years old, Jimmy struck up a friendship with a young Jamie Oliver at primary school, and they've remained close ever since.

He's always had a passion for animals and wildlife, and from the tender age of 13, he worked in the tropical butterfly house at Mole Hall Wildlife Park in Saffron Walden, helping care for a variety of animals ranging from otters to chimpanzees.

Jimmy pursued animal biology at university and served for five years in the Royal Corps of Signals. He later trained as a pig farmer and now owns his own farm and operates The Essex Pig Company.

TV star wife and daughters

Jimmy Doherty's wife, Michaela Furney, first crossed paths with her future husband while working as a runner on Jamie Oliver's show, Jamie's Kitchen, back in 2002. The shoot led her to the Cumbrian farm where Jimmy was employed at the time.

Michaela eventually chose to leave her bustling London career behind to embrace farm life with Jimmy. In a candid chat with MailOnline, she reflected: "One of the biggest things was giving up my career; I was very focused and it was a good lifestyle. But it was my decision: Jim didn't put any pressure on me."

Although she stepped away from TV production, Michaela found herself in front of the lens for the documentary series, Jimmy's Farm. Initially resistant to the idea due to the intrusive nature of filming, she confessed: "We're just normal people and the attention can be scary and hurtful," adding, "I was still commuting when they began filming, so at first I thought I wouldn't be involved – that was how Jim persuaded me."

She also revealed the emotional toll of being filmed: "They used lots of shots of me crying, but it was just in frustration at all the setbacks, the worst of which were the fights with the council over planning permission [for outbuildings and, retrospectively, the shop]. I don't cry that often – they just seemed to catch it on camera every time I did."

The couple tied the knot in August 2009 with a reception held at their farm, and they have since become doting parents to four daughters.

Showbiz pals

Since their primary school days, Jimmy and Jamie Oliver have remained steadfast mates, presenting television programmes together such as Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast, whilst pursuing various other joint ventures - and remarkably, they appear never to have had a serious falling-out (save for the occasional spat during TV challenges).

It was actually Jimmy who played cupid, introducing Jamie to his future wife Jools when he was just 18. Speaking to MailOnLine, Jimmy recalled: "We went on a double date to the cinema in Cambridge – me, Jamie, Juliette and Sue Stump. He had a Fiesta with big fog lights and an exhaust like a tractor on it. We were going over a hill listening to Bob Marley, Buffalo Soldier. We're all singing, the guy braked in front of us and Jamie smashed into him and knocked his front lights out."

Their profound friendship was particularly touching when Jamie dedicated his book, Jamie Cooks Italy, to Jimmy's late father. Jimmy revealed: "There's a picture of him at my brother's wedding on there. Jamie gave me the book and I'm used to my dad being dead, but sorrow is a weird thing. I couldn't control it, I had to go away on my own. Then I came back and said thank you and it started again. But luckily I had an eye infection so I could blame it on that. Pink eyes, weeping."

On the farm

Jimmy's Suffolk farm, which serves as the backdrop for the ITV series Jimmy and Shivi's Farmhouse Breakfast, is rather extraordinary given its collection of exotic creatures, including polar bears and monkeys - the website actually claims it's Europe's largest polar bear reserve. In a chat with the Express, he shared: "And then you've got the wildlife park where we've got polar bears, we've got monkeys, we've got our anteaters. So we do different activities with them.

"One morning we played hide and seek with our monkeys. We hid all their food around and they had to go and find it. And I remember that for the camera system, it took him about 15 minutes trying to get the GoPro in this special box and tighten it all up. It took the monkey about five seconds to undo or and grab the camera, bite it and run off with it. But we've got some brilliant monkey selfies!"

Jimmy Doherty’s Big Bear Rescue is on Channel 4 on Sunday, July 20 at 8pm