TV comedy boss swore at vigilante cyclist as he used phone in his Aston Martin

AN executive behind the hit TV shows Have I Got News for You and Father Ted swore and made a rude gesture towards a vigilante cyclist after being caught on camera using his mobile phone while driving his Aston Martin.

Jimmy Mulville, a 68-year-old comedian who co-founded Hat Trick Productions, reacted angrily after he was caught out checking a text as he drove on Battersea Bridge on July 29. He “flipped the bird” and shouted “go f*** yourself” at cyclist Mike van Erp, City of London magistrates’ court heard. Mulville, who came into comedy through the Cambridge Footlights, is behind TV shows including Room 101 and Father Ted in his role at the helm of Hat Trick. He was prosecuted for driving while using his mobile phone.

Mr van Erp told the court he has reported about 1,100 drivers for offences in the past five years. The cyclist, who rides with a GoPro to catch out drivers, was involved in the prosecution of film director Guy Ritchie and ex-champion boxer Chris Eubank. Mulville was absent from his trial due to illness, as magistrates found him guilty of the offence. He was ordered to pay a £1,000 fine, £625 in costs, a £400 court fee and he received six points on his licence. The court heard Mulville was banned from driving in 2020, and has another three points on his licence from October last year for a speeding offence.

Mr van Erp was cycling home when he noticed Mulville’s Aston Martin not keeping up with queueing traffic moving forward, then accelerating sharply — behaviour he referred to as the “WhatsApp gap”.

Mr van Erp said he that when he stopped by the driver’s side window of the car he saw the driver “typing with both hands”, before quickly shutting down the app he was using when he saw he was being watched. “At this point he flipped me the bird and mouthed to me something rude”, he said. “I believe it was ‘go f*** yourself’.”

Mulville, of Kensington, was represented by Freeman and Co, the law firm of “Mr Loophole” Nick Freeman. In pretrial correspondence he challenged much of the evidence put forward by police. But at trial, his barrister Sam Thomas conceded Mulville admitted using his phone to look at a text. He was prosecuted after not paying a fixed penalty fine, and has 28 days to pay the penalties imposed by magistrates.