Off. James "Jimmy" McNulty

A Baltimore homicide detective with real talent and no patience for the chain of command, McNulty opens the series by tipping a judge to police brass about a stalled drug case — the kind of end-run that gets results and makes him enemies. Smart, restless, and drinking too much, he can't leave a case alone once it's caught his attention.

West plays him as charming exactly to the degree that charm is a problem: McNulty believes his own righteousness so completely that he can't see the wreckage he leaves personally and professionally. The show never lets his brilliance excuse his selfishness, and that tension — talented man, terrible instincts — makes him endlessly watchable rather than simply likable.