Gerald "Gerry" Kelly (born 20 September 1948) is a Northern Irish broadcaster and journalist, best known for his presenting career at UTV where he presented the Friday night talk and variety show '' Kelly'' from 1989 until 2005. From April 2009 until December 2019 he worked at

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster is a Northern Ireland, Northern Irish national radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. Acc ...

, where he presented on Fridays from 3.00pm to 5.00pm and on Saturdays from 12.00pm to 1.30pm.

Early life

Kelly was born on Thomas Street in

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...

on 20 September 1948. His parents were originally from

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

, where his father worked in the shirt industry. He, along the rest of his family moved to

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Down Cathedral, Its cathedral is sai ...

in the early 1950s and much of Kelly's early childhood was overshadowed by his father's alcohol problem. In the early 1960s, his father left the family on the pretext of going to Scotland for work, after which Kelly never heard from his father again. Kelly later went on to work as a teacher and a lecturer at St. Mary's College in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. He also worked as a leisure development officer for

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council () is the Local government in Northern Ireland, local authority with responsibility for part of Belfast, the largest city of Northern Ireland. The council serves an estimated population of (), the largest of any district c ...

, before going into broadcasting and journalism.

Broadcasting career

Kelly's broadcasting career began at Ulster Television as a part-time GAA reporter, but left the station quickly after being blacklisted by the

National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union supporting journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The NUJ was founded in 1907 and has 20,693 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Trades ...

.Sunday Life: "Oh brother! Big TV break was a complete fluke..."
dated 8 October 2008; accessed 18 January 2008 Following a year's work experience at the '' Down Recorder'', he returned to UTV in 1979 as a reporter, and later presenter, of its evening magazine programme, ''Good Evening Ulster'',.Belfast Telegraph: "Kelly: The man who talked the talk with celebrities"
dated 9 January 2008; accessed 18 January 2009 Kelly also presented the series ''Lifestyle'', ''Kelly's People'', ''Kelly on Tour'', ''Kelly on the Road'', ''What Next?'', ''Get It Right Next Time'' and ''Pick of the Six'' for Ulster Television. He also presented a radio show called ''Kelly on the Radio'' on

Downtown Radio Downtown Radio is a Hot Adult Contemporary music radio station based in Newtownards, County Down, that serves all of Northern Ireland using a network of FM and DAB transmitters. As of December 2024, the station has a weekly audience of 309, ...

. In September 1989, he began presenting the popular talk and variety show, '' Kelly'', which aired for 571 episodes. Famous guests included a 9-year-old

Rory McIlroy Rory Daniel McIlroy (born 4 May 1989) is a Northern Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He is a former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking and has spent over 100 weeks in that position du ...

who appeared on the show in 1999 after he had won the world under 10s championship and

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

(who appeared in a special edition in 2000, which was the highest-rated edition at 367,000 viewers). In May 1999, there was speculation that Kelly was one of the few names who were tipped to succeed Gay Byrne as the host of '' The Late Late Show'' that aired on

RTÉ One RTÉ One is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by RTÉ. It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís Éireann'' on 31 December 1961, it was renamed ''R ...

in the Ireland. However, Kelly did not get the position which went to Pat Kenny. In September 2005, UTV announced that ''Kelly'' would end. Kelly said that UTV were unhappy with the show airing in the 9pm slot, as UTV had to opt out of ITV's network schedule. Instead of moving the show to a new different timeslot, UTV took the decision to axe it completely. The final episode of ''Kelly'' aired on 16 December 2005. After the cancellation of ''Kelly'' in 2005, a new series, ''Gerry Meets...'' was launched in March 2006. The series concentrated on one-to-one interviews with guests. One 2006 episode, during which Kelly interviewed the DJ

Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English media personality and DJ. He was known for his eccentric image, charitable work, and hosting the BBC shows ''Top of the Pops'' and ''Jim'll Fix It''. A ...

, received widespread coverage in the national press six years later after the

Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal In late 2012, it emerged that Jimmy Savile, a British media personality who had died the previous year, had sexually abused hundreds of people throughout his life, mostly children but some as old as 75, and mostly female. He had been well kn ...

first broke. Particular attention was paid to comments Savile made to Kelly that were interpreted as clues to Savile's history as a predatory sex offender. In January 2008, it was reported that Kelly had left UTV. In an interview with the ''

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media, which also publishes the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and various other newspapers and magazines in Ireland. Its e ...

'', Kelly said, "I'm leaving UTV on amicable terms and I have nothing but the highest regard for them. As far as I'm concerned, they gave me one of the best jobs in the world and I'm grateful to them for that." In March 2009, it was announced that Kelly would be joining

to present a Saturday afternoon programme, commencing in April. Kelly replaced the Alan Simpson show on

he is on air from 15:00 – 17:00 on Friday Afternoons. In November 2023, it was announced that Kelly would become the presenter of a new series, ''Conversations with Gerry Kelly''. Kelly clarified that the show would not be a rival series to

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

's '' The Late Late Show'' as it was thought that both shows could inevitably be broadcast around the same time. In January 2024, it was announced that Kelly's new ten-part series will be broadcast on Monday nights from 29 January 2024 on Belfast-based television channel NVTV.

Awards

In 1993 he received the Sony Gold Award for a special programme following the Shankill Road bombing. In 1998 Kelly was installed in the Royal Television Society Hall of Fame in recognition of his lifelong contribution to broadcasting. He also received two Entertainment and Media Awards and his show '' Kelly'' was twice been voted the most entertaining programme in Northern Ireland.

Personal life

Kelly currently lives in Ardglass in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

with his wife Helena and has two daughters, where he is a member of Ardglass Golf Club. He is also the brother of former Down GAA goalkeeper Danny Kelly. In February 2018, Kelly announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer two years earlier and had the tumour successfully removed and went through six chemotherapy sessions to tackle the cancer.

References

External links

Gerry Kelly
at BBC Radio Ulster * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Gerry 1948 births BBC Radio Ulster presenters Living people People from Ballymena Radio presenters from Northern Ireland Schoolteachers from Northern Ireland Television talk show hosts from Northern Ireland UTV (TV channel) people People from Downpatrick Broadcasters from County Antrim Broadcasters from County Down People from Ardglass