The most acclaimed show on television is about to return to our screens as Succession series four is almost upon us.
The HBO masterpiece has hoovered up awards and five star reviews since it first debuted in 2018. The final instalment will arrive on UK screens tomorrow night as we enter the last chapter in the saga of who will succeed Logan Roy as boss of Waystar Royco.
Some viewers may be forced to do a double take as they spot a familiar name when the credits roll after another hour with TV's most dysfunctional billionaire family. "Staff writer Jamie Carragher" has often prompted fans to joke whether the legendary Liverpool FC defender has had a drastic career change.
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The Sky Sports pundit addressed the confusion himself when he shared a photo of the credits after the season three finale as he joked: "Taken aback by the lovely comments & tributes after Succession finale. The fans & viewers are who we do it for."
The reality, of course, is the former centre half just happens to share a name with a talented member of the Succession writer's room. However, the connection doesn't just stop at the name as the writer also hails from Merseyside and shares a love for Liverpool FC.
Succession's Jamie is originally from Birkenhead and he laughed as he told the ECHO how sharing a name with an LFC great has followed him around his whole life. He said: "I can remember in primary school when he wasn't playing so well and I'd get a load of stick in school when he scored two own goals vs Man United. And then, of course, under Rafael Benitez he became one of the best centre backs around so I started to get called the s**t Jamie Carragher. It changed pretty quickly."
The name is purely a coincidence as the 30-year-old was born years before Carragher first made his debut and reveals his Everton FC supporting dad would never name him after a Reds' player. However, Jamie admits Carragher is not the most common of surnames and couldn't rule out whether the two may be distantly related.
He laughed: "This makes it seem like I'm trying to get into his last will and testament. I think you'd have to get the Who Do You Think You Are lads on to it. I'm just imagining now some Jeremy Kyle-esque show to see whether I can prove some very tenuous relationship between me and him."
The writer responded to the 45-year-old former defender's tweet after the end of season three and joked he will "one day overthrow Carragher and win this namesake battle." Jamie is certainly off to a good start in forging his own legacy by being part of a show that will forever be included in conversations around the best TV programmes of all time.
Jamie was driven to make a career as a writer after the first play he penned while studying at Oxford University won an award and was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe. He moved back to Wirral after finishing university and honed his writing skills on the Liverpool Everyman Young Writer's programme, which he credits for helping turn his hobby into a career.
He said: "You got to appreciate the rich writing heritage of Merseyside. Lizzie Nunnery, Alan Bleasdale, Jimmy McGovern and Frank Cottrell Boyce. It's great to have these local figures around who are doing great work because it seems a bit more real that way."
Jamie's relentless pursuit of his writing dream eventually landed him a scholarship on an arts journalism course at the University of Southern California and he moved to the West Coast with hopes to build networks in Hollywood. He said: "I used to get up very early in the mornings there and watch the Liverpool games with a friend of mine and he was the only person I really knew in the industry. He was an agent's assistant in LA.
"I bugged him the whole year if he heard of any assistant jobs or reception jobs. After a year of bugging him at every Liverpool game he said 'you don't have any experience so it's not going to happen'. I came back to the UK with my tail between my legs."
Jamie continued to persevere and he was working at a secondary school in Norwich while plotting how to make his writing dream a reality when the friendship forged over a love of the Reds helped provide his breakthrough. He said: "I was frustrated because I didn't feel like I was getting any closer to becoming a writer.
"I was pretty determined to move to London in Summer 2018 because I wanted to get to know people to show them what I can do. That's when my friend in LA got back in contact with me and told me there's this assistant job going on a new show called Succession." He added: "The Liverpool FC illuminati came through in the end."
Although he modestly credits being an LFC fan with helping him get his first chance, Jamie has seized the opportunity with both hands and his immense writing talent has seen him progress up through the writer's room as he was promoted to story editor for season four.
Jamie brands the role as the "luck of his life" but he has earned his place in the Succession writer's room alongside esteemed colleagues he studied as part of his course on the Liverpool Everyman. However, the joke that has followed Jamie around his whole life is something not lost on his fellow Succession writers as he revealed showrunner, Jesse Armstrong, made the decision to head to Carragher's bar in New York for a celebratory drink with the crew after the show finished filming its final scenes.
The bar is themed in tribute to the legendary player and Jamie messaged his footballing namesake on Twitter to tell him how their name had played a part in the show's impromptu wrap party. However, the writer was grateful as he revealed the former LFC player's amazing gesture in response.
Jamie said: "He very kindly paid for all our drinks and made sure we were looked after. I think that makes getting called the s**t Jamie Carragher throughout secondary school all worth it."
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