Angela Scanlon said she moved to the UK to make it big as a presenter because she wasn’t being taken seriously in Ireland.
The Meath native started her career on TV3 and RTE – but she had to prove her merit before landing the bigger gigs. Not being taken seriously by commissioning editors was like “a slap in the face”, she recalls.
The BBC One Show star is back on our tellies this month for a second series of her Ask Me Anything hit RTE chat show. Now one of the most sought-after TV presenters here and across the water, she rose to fame with RTE 2 documentaries Oi Ginger and Full Frontal in 2014. And she admitted that carving a career in Ireland proved “tricky” at first.
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The feisty redhead believed she had the experience to present RTE holiday show Getaways after showcasing her skills on RTE 2. Angela, 39, told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “I remember them saying ‘we’re not going to give you that gig’.
“I thought I was going in with a great shot at getting it.” She said she was told it was a great experience for her to audition and sure ‘You have your four documentaries on RTE 2’.
“I was thinking that’s not a career, four hours of telly isn’t enough for me, to literally pay my rent I can’t do that. I remember saying ‘I think you’ve got this wrong’. I thought I’d been slapped in the face.
“Thankfully I got the job, as producers thought I was the right person.” With her star finally on the rise here Angela then decided she needed to look further afield.
She recalled: “I remember thinking I need to spread my wings, as there’s not enough work here. I thought maybe I should be hedging my bets a bit here.”
Unlike some TV hosts who bemoan the fame their success spawns, the Thanks A Million podcaster takes celebrity status with a pinch of salt. She said: “I don’t think of myself as famous, I don’t feel when I move through the world I’m being gawked at.
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“There are different levels of it. The show I presented for the BBC, Your Home Made Perfect, went out to millions of people. People really took it to heart and it was a big show and it’s on Netflix now.
“Since then I’ve noticed a shift, wherever I go now people say, ‘Oh we watch the show, we love it’. Thankfully the shows I’ve done have been family shows and haven’t been divisive.
“I work on shows that are so warm, that people have a nice sense about, so I’m not the target of their sh*t.”
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Angela is mum to seven-month-old Marnie and five-year-old Ruby and she reckons that’s her brood done. She said: “I think two and done now. But never say never.”
She says her husband of eight years, Cork entrepreneur Roy Horgan, helps keep her in check. She joked: “I’m a pretty grounded human but I’m a bit flighty and sometimes sweat the small stuff.
“I get quite overwhelmed with a lot of things. Roy is a very balancing influence.
“He’s very pragmatic and supportive.” At one point Roy had his own a solar business and the pair are eco-conscious.
Angela explained: “We are looking at the energy bills a lot now as it’s so in the consciousness. I’m just going to start wearing jumpers and I love an old bed sock.”
Angela’s hit RTE show Ask Me Anything returned for a second season last night with Cold Feet star Jimmy Nesbitt in the hot seat. Guests agree to be grilled on any aspect of their lives and are often left squirming as past gaffes are aired.
UK-based Angela admitted juggling her dream gig as an RTE chat show host and motherhood can be challenging. She said: “Wanting to put my heart and soul into it, so it can be the best.
“Also leaving the girls for a few days at the start and feeling distraught especially when we’re bedding in. I think we need to let go generally and part of it is soothing our guilt by trying to control everything.
“But you cannot do everything, but I try to get things in place and then to let go.” Known for her bohemian style, Angela said she’s even inspiring her daughter Ruby to follow suit.
Her daughter has been asking if she can ‘freestyle’ dressing for school. She said: “I’ve always had that freestyle attitude.
“I’ve always enjoyed dressing up like theatre and doing things that feel a bit different, but being comfortable in my own skin. I do like to play a bit with clothes and with style and on the show I definitely want to lean into it.”
When her part self-help, part memoir book Joyrider was published – to critical acclaim – in May, Angela admits she got the “wobbles”. Opening up on her 15-year eating disorder and postpartum depression struck a chord with readers.
She said: “Every day I’m still getting messages from people saying, ‘I thought you were writing about me’. That’s quite a human thing to think, that your weirdness is uniquely connected to you.”
It was “cathartic” writing the book, but after it went into the public domain the self-doubt crept in. She added: “I got the absolute wobbles about what I had written in the friggin’ book.
“But similar to my face that can’t lie, my gob can’t either. It was probably more revealing [than I’d intended].
“I said to my husband Roy ‘do you think it’s a bit much?’ He was like”‘It’s too late for that now’.
- Angela Scanlon’s Ask Me Anything is on RTE next Saturday at 10pm
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