Profile Craig Doyle: He has presented Tomorrow's World, Holidayand - less successfully - Grandstand, but his biggest challenge will be winning over Irish television viewers, writes Rosita Boland.
On the flagship Christmas issue of the RTÉ Guide, broadcaster Craig Doyle is pictured on the inside flap of the cover. If there is a hierarchy at Montrose when it comes to these things, one would have to conclude that he is at present a B-list RTÉ personality, no matter what his profile is across the water.
On the front cover, where one would reasonably presume the A-listers have been put, are Charlie Bird, Sharon Ní Bheoláin and Pat Shortt with a frozen-smiled Gráinne Seoige sitting gingerly on his lap. On the inside flap is Kathryn Thomas (sitting on a chair), Aisling O'Neill, Joe O'Shea and Craig Doyle, hands in pocket, standing alongside them, looking slightly bewildered by the company he's keeping, as if to say, "Where am I? BBC or RTÉ?"
Doyle was born in Kilmacud in Dublin in 1970. He initially wanted to be a vet, but instead studied Sociology and History at St Patrick's College, Maynooth. He went on to take a diploma in Broadcast Journalism at the London College of Printing. As a graduate, he offered to work for free in RTÉ, but was not accepted. Instead, he was taken on in England at local radio station BBC Radio Suffolk, where he worked as a producer under news editor Jim Ensom, who, he says, both challenged and encouraged him. Telling the Guardian about that first job, Doyle reflected modestly: "My simple tip is that people prefer to get on with those they work for and I count myself lucky - there are reporters out there who are far better than I ever was."
From Radio Suffolk, Doyle took up his first television job as a presenter on UTV's Disney Club. There followed a stint on Tomorrow's World, the popular science show, before the big break arrived, albeit under the most unfortunate of circumstances. When BBC presenter Jill Dando was murdered at her front door in 1999, Doyle was contracted to take over her slot on Holiday, a travel show that had been running since 1969.
ON THIS AMIABLE series of sun-soaked rambles round the more visited areas of the world, his combination of clean-cut looks, likeable manner and Irish accent made him a very popular presenter and gave him a high profile in British television. Although in theory an exotic job, the reality was that, for seven years, Doyle spent up to 200 days a year on the road. He wasn't the only family member travelling for a living: his brother Keith was for a time a presenter on RTÉ's holiday show, No Frontiers.
In the time Doyle spent on that show, he decided that his favourite world cities were London, Stockholm and Buenos Aires; that his top walk was one he took from a lodge in Torres del Paine, Chile; and his favourite hotel was Francis Ford Coppola's Turtle Inn in Placencia, Belize. He doesn't rely on books to get him through the long flights, as he says he doesn't read novels. He is, however, an avowed fan of maps.
He also admitted to the Independent in London earlier this year: "I booze my face off when I get a chance and I can eat a lot of rubbishy food when I don't have time to eat properly when I'm travelling."
In 2000, he bought a house in Ireland, in Wicklow, and began commuting to London, which he continues to do, four days a week. Despite the lady-killer image of him as portrayed by the British press, Doyle says he was always shy around women, and that it took four dates for him to get round to kissing Doon, his Irish girlfriend, who is an interior designer.
He told the Daily Record: "I was so shy with women when I was younger that I rarely had girlfriends, and let's just say I was the last of the lads to lose the big one, if you know what I mean."
In between toting his suitcase from airport to airport for Holiday, Doyle managed to find time to marry Doon in 2002. They have two children, Quin (aged four) and Muireann (two).
In 2004, he dropped heavy hints in several media interviews that he was anxious to move back to Ireland permanently and base his professional career here. He told The People: "I've got homes in England and Ireland but I'd love to live full-time in Ireland, especially now that we've got a child."
That year, he left Holiday and moved to Grandstand, one of BBC's longest-running sports programmes. It was also the year of the Athens Olympics, and Doyle was one of the team chosen as a presenter. He was familiar with Athens as a destination from his Holiday days. "Athens in August is hellish. It's about 40 degrees-plus, humid, smoggy and nasty."
Athens did indeed prove to be hellish for Doyle, but not for meteorological reasons. He received much criticism on both sides of the Irish Sea over his Olympic coverage.
"With the best will in the world, I find Craig Doyle unsuitable as a sports broadcaster. He has the looks, he has the Irish charm, but he has no feel for sport and at the Olympics he was out of his depth," was the Daily Telegraph's summary of his contribution, and about the most measured of all the negative coverage he received. He was memorably dubbed a "himbo" - the male version of the stereotypical bimbo, all style and no substance.
He even attracted the ire of Labour MP Chris Bryant, who declared: "I think some of the anchor presenting is just patronising. You get the experts who know everything about sport but can't put it into English, and then you get Craig Doyle."
HE WASN'T POPULAR with the Irish press either, after such comments as: "It's great to see us [ Britain] win another medal," and "It's great to hear the anthem [ God Save the Queen] again."
Mind you, he genuinely does seem to think that Irish people are quite fond of the British queen. In his interview with the current Christmas RTÉ Guide, when asked about his "favourite Christmas telly moment", Doyle says: "We never watched telly on Christmas Day, although we used to watch the queen's speech - I think most Irish households do so on the sly."
In 2004 also, Doyle was given his own series on RTÉ, The Craig Doyle Show. It was a chat show done on the hoof, with interviews conducted with personalities abroad. It didn't seem to make much of an impact on Doyle's would-be career in Ireland, receiving poor reviews.
This year, it was announced that Grandstand was going to be phased out of the BBC schedules. However, Doyle is under negotiation to renew a radio contract he currently holds with London's Capital Radio. He is also fronting two one-off shows for RTÉ this Christmas: co-presenting Test the Nation with Miriam O'Callaghan on New Year's Day; and Wealth: Ireland's Richest List on December 27th. Earlier this year, he was voted Ireland's Sexiest Man, ahead of actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers, X Factor winner Shayne Ward, and GAA football captain Seán Óg O'hAilpin.
According to Julian Vignoles, assistant commissioning editor for entertainment at RTÉ, "Craig's BBC career is his own business. We were looking for someone to go with Miriam to front Test the Nation since Ray D'Arcy wasn't available, and Craig is very well-informed and accomplished. As regards Wealth, he came as part of the package. He has a stake in the production company who made it."
So, will we be seeing more of Doyle on the RTÉ schedule in the future?
"It depends on what shows are available that suit his talents, but I'd say we'll be seeing more of him," says Vignoles.
So, like the slogan for the Iarnród Éireann television campaign that he fronts, Craig Doyle is not there yet, but he's getting there.
TheDoyleFile
Who is he?
Versatile broadcaster, who made his name in British television
Why is he in the news?
He is presenting two shows on RTÉ over Christmas
Most appealing characteristic:
His clean-cut, boy-next-door looks
Least appealing characteristic:
Assuming most Irish households watch Queen Elizabeth's speech on the sly on Christmas Day
Most likely to say
Yes to every show he's offered
Least likely to say
"I'm an acknowledged expert pundit on sport"