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Irish Independent
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Late gay icon Vincent Hanley to be honoured at Tipperary arts festival
Vincent's partner in Green Apple Productions and MT USA producer Conor McAnally, said: "Vincent Hanley was a pioneer of Irish broadcasting, a trailblazer in the first wave of popular broadcasting on national radio. "His unbridled enthusiasm and embracing voice made him a household favourite. Those skills combined with an encyclopaedic knowledge of music and popular culture took him past radio to TV and beyond. Vincent always looked beyond the horizon and was determined to get there.' As a young gay man, Vincent, who was from Clonmel, was emblematic of an emboldened generation of LGBTQ+ people that left an indelible mark on a society grappling with change and modernity. Tonie Walsh, civil rights activist and curator of the Irish Queer Archive, said: 'Ireland's first celebrity AIDS death, Vincent Hanley deserves to be defined by more than just the manner of his passing, as culturally significant as it was. "His life and times, especially the 1980s, prompt us to explore the AIDS pandemic and its casualties with all the necessary candour, empathy and critical thinking that the catastrophe demands.' Since his death in 1987 and despite his iconic status, many believe that Vincent has not been given the critical attention he deserves beyond a couple of TV and film documentaries. The Vincent Hanley Summer School seeks to right this imbalance, exploring Vincent's legacy while also endeavouring to make sense of the extraordinary change in Irish society in the intervening years. Rebecca Lenehan, Clonmel Junction Arts Festival's artistic director, said: 'The fantastic line-up of presenters, speakers and bands such as Zrazy, Garage Inc and The Waheys will offer an opportunity to celebrate 1980s music culture, as well as looking to the future, discussing Vincent's legacy as a broadcasting trailblazer and what future generations can learn from him.' The Vincent Hanley Summer School will run over three days from July 4 – 6. Here is the line-up: 8pm on Friday, July 4 A discussion of the music legacy of Vincent Hanley with Conor McAnally and guest speakers. Presenter: Conor McAnally, Irish television writer, producer and director. Speaker: Billy McGrath, filmmaker and Irish TV veteran. Speaker: Jim Carroll is a music journalist and editor of RTÉ's Brainstorm. Music from The Waheys 8pm on Saturday, July 5 A discussion of Vincent Hanley and LGBTQ+ rights with Tonie Walsh and guest speakers. Presenter: Tonie Walsh, civil rights activist and curator of the Irish Queer Archive. Speaker: Dr Páraic Kerrigan, Professor in Media Studies at UCD and author of Reeling in The Queers. Speaker: Anna Nolan, current chair of the National LGBT Federation and former Big Brother contestant. Music from Garage Inc 6pm on Sunday, July 6 Conor McAnally and Tonie Walsh in conversation with Helen Carroll, Irish TV presenter and journalist. Music from Zrazy. The Vincent Hanley Summer School is sponsored by Camida.
Leader Live
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
Vicky Pattison and Angela Scanlon launch podcast inspired by ‘female comradery'
The catalyst for the podcast was 'female comradery in the face of the ridiculous', according to Virgin Radio UK host Scanlon. 'Being told to 'get a grip' is not a new notion for most women, and is something I've experienced a couple of times (a week!), as has Vicky,' the 41-year-old said. 'Female comradery in the face of the ridiculous was the catalyst for our new podcast. We wanted to create a fun and empowering space where we can unpick the good, the bad and the bizarre happenings in the world each week as we move through our own lives loudly, unashamedly and maybe a little unhinged. 'We're taking the group chat into the pod world and we can't wait for you to come with us!' Reality TV star Pattison said: 'For those who know me by now I am never one to shy away from expressing myself whether people want to hear it or not! 'So I'm thrilled that I get to do that alongside my partner in crime as we do our best to keep things real and put the world to rights with lots of laughter along the way. I have no doubt we will be bringing a lot of you along with us too.' I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! winner Pattison, 37, previously hosted the podcast Vicky Pattison: The Secret To, where she spoke to celebrities about their success. Scanlon presented the podcast Thanks A Million, which saw her interview celebrities including comedian Alan Carr and Irish TV presenter Laura Whitmore. Arianne Merry, executive producer of Get A Grip, said: 'We're absolutely thrilled to team up with Angela and Vicky on Get A Grip. 'This is an unapologetic podcast that your ears have been craving. It's bold, brilliant and brimming with personality. 'We knew we were creating something special from the moment we got Angela and Vicky in the studio together. 'They not only get on like a house on fire, but bring two distinct female perspectives to the table, tackling everything from personal battles, headline-grabbing issues or the lighter side of life, whilst carrying mutual respect and quick wit. 'And they top it all off with a laugh, which is something we all need more of!' Get A Grip is available on all podcasting platforms from May 8.
RTÉ News
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Angela Scanlon launches podcast with Geordie Shore's Vicky Pattison
Irish TV presenter Angela Scanlon and Geordie Shore star Vicky Pattison will discuss topics including motherhood and internet drama as the hosts of a new podcast titled Get A Grip. The catalyst for the podcast was "female comradery in the face of the ridiculous", according to Virgin Radio UK host Scanlon. "Being told to 'get a grip' is not a new notion for most women, and is something I've experienced a couple of times (a week!), as has Vicky," the 41-year-old said. "Female comradery in the face of the ridiculous was the catalyst for our new podcast. We wanted to create a fun and empowering space where we can unpick the good, the bad and the bizarre happenings in the world each week as we move through our own lives loudly, unashamedly and maybe a little unhinged. "We're taking the group chat into the pod world and we can't wait for you to come with us!" Reality TV star Pattison said: "For those who know me by now I am never one to shy away from expressing myself whether people want to hear it or not! "So I'm thrilled that I get to do that alongside my partner in crime as we do our best to keep things real and put the world to rights with lots of laughter along the way. I have no doubt we will be bringing a lot of you along with us too." I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! winner Pattison, 37, previously hosted the podcast Vicky Pattison: The Secret To, where she spoke to celebrities about their success. Scanlon presented the podcast Thanks A Million, which saw her interview celebrities including comedian Alan Carr and Irish TV presenter Laura Whitmore. Executive producer of Get A Grip,Arianne Merry, said: "We're absolutely thrilled to team up with Angela and Vicky on Get A Grip. "This is an unapologetic podcast that your ears have been craving. It's bold, brilliant and brimming with personality. "We knew we were creating something special from the moment we got Angela and Vicky in the studio together. "They not only get on like a house on fire, but bring two distinct female perspectives to the table, tackling everything from personal battles, headline-grabbing issues or the lighter side of life, whilst carrying mutual respect and quick wit.
Telegraph
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Apex Predator: This dire vampire drama lacks bite
Down in Southwark, at the Menier Chocolate Factory, they're presenting Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors – which is styled as a gender-bending, Gen Z spin on Bram Stoker's vampire classic but has its emphasis, winningly, on pure silliness. Up at Hampstead, by contrast, we're offered something ostensibly meatier to sink our teeth into. John Donnelly's Apex Predator collides the model of a vampire thriller with a domestic drama about a young mother buckling under modern-day stresses. So: genre-bending, then. Initially, we're presented with the portrait of a woman, Mia, who's showing signs of being stuck in a post-natal horror-show: it's not just the anti-social behaviour, especially noisy neighbours upstairs, that is grinding her down, but aside from a hungry babe-in-arms, there's her disturbed 11-year-old son Alfie (facing exclusion for biting another child) and a husband unhelpfully absent working at nights on a police case. The focus at first seems to shift towards Alfie, with his sinister drawings and curious wariness around his mother. But his primary-school teacher, Ana – who has taken him under her wing – leans in, literally, towards Mia, bizarrely offering to breast-feed the baby and proffering coaxing advice: 'Maybe you've just lost touch with the animal part of yourself'. Before you can say 'ouch', a drip-drip gore-fest, primarily at the expense of a rancid male sex that deserves what it gets, is the order of the night. What with the huge success of 2:22 A Ghost Story – not to mention an insatiable public craving for vampire-fodder recently stoked anew by Nosferatu – you can see why Hampstead leapt on a show with a supernatural (and thus commercial) edge. But while Blanche McIntyre's production seduces technically – with some icky sanguivorous flourishes – Donnelly's drama feels curiously de-fanged. The secondary characters are so disposable as barely to warrant attention. And while on paper, he succeeds in drawing us into a twilight world where we, too, are unsure what's in Mia's head and what lies without, in practice, the piece feels like an interesting conceit that hasn't been fully fleshed out. A twisty ending tries to have its cake and eat it, serving both to indicate Mia's maternal distress and re-assert a teasing sense of dark unleashed forces. With short scenes lending the metaphor-laden evening a televisual (yet theatrically cumbersome) choppiness, Sophie Melville turns in quite a flat performance, almost in keeping with Tom Piper's ungainly set with its rising and falling sections of frosted panels and unprepossessing scaffolding. She's more starey than scary, and isn't helped by having to jiggle a plainly fake baby, although her quivering bouts of 'blood lows' are nicely done. The brightest element is Laura Whitmore – the Irish TV presenter and actress – as the predatory primary-teacher with carnal longings and immortal leanings. She has presence, and unmistakable glamour. The piece apparently draws on Donnelly's own grasp of the complex challenges thrown up by the protective urges of parenthood. But given that it's still evidently taking its baby steps, it needed cosseting itself in a less exposed part of the theatrical food chain, ideally in the studio space.
The Independent
15-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Laura Whitmore shares last message from Caroline Flack on anniversary of death
Irish TV presenter Laura Whitmore has shared the last text messages between her and Caroline Flack on the five year anniversary of her death. Flack, who was known for presenting ITV's Love Island, took her own life on February 15 2020 at the age of 40. On Saturday, Whitmore, 39, shared screenshots of messages that showed her telling Flack she had just been offered the presenting role on the ITV series. In the messages Flack said it was 'perfect' that Whitmore would be doing the show alongside her husband Iain Stirling, who narrates the series, and followed up this message with a series of love hearts. Flack hosted the reality dating show between 2015 and 2019 with Whitmore taking the reigns in 2020 and leaving the role in 2022. In an Instagram post, Whitmore said: 'I got a new phone this month and as I was trying to download WhatsApp messages from my cloud loads of old messages came up. 'Ones I thought I lost a few years ago and no longer had. It really hit me hard. 'Looking at messages I've never publicly shared as they were private messages. Media outlets wrote a lot far from the actual truth. 'I think they show a side to Caroline which is nice to remember. Hence I'm sharing now.' Whitmore said she had met Flack when she took over hosting duties for I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! NOW!. 'She was as supportive of me doing that role back then as she was when she supported me doing Love Island in 2020,' she said. 'Both were great shows with hundreds of people working on them and relying on the show going ahead. 'I will always be so thankful of the last messages between me and Caroline.' She continued: 'Every time I've been asked to speak about the situation or be part of a documentary I decline. I will always be so thankful of the last messages between me and Caroline Laura Whitmore 'I've already said all I can say on the tragedy and don't want words to be misconstrued and need to look after my own mental health. 'This was the last correspondence I ever had with her.' 'The last message from her to me were love hearts,' she said. 'I'd like to think wherever she is now, she's at peace and somewhere lovely like I hoped. 'I'm sad when I see the press and social media be so divisive and that we still haven't learned from Caroline's treatment before her death when it comes to women in the spotlight. 'Today I choose to remember these messages and thank the cloud for giving them back to me.' After Flack's death a coroner ruled she took her own life after learning prosecutors were going to press ahead with an assault charge over an incident involving her boyfriend, Lewis Burton. She was most known for presenting a number of ITV shows and in 2014 she won series 12 of Strictly Come Dancing alongside professional dancer Pasha Kovalev. An upcoming Disney+ documentary follows Flack's mother as she tries to understand events in the final months of her daughter's life, while also celebrating her career. Christine Flack unveiled a a suicide prevention bench in north London last September in honour of her daughter.
