Gerry Kelly (broadcaster)

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Gerry Kelly

Occupation Television presenter
Children 2 daughters

Gerry Kelly is a long serving broadcaster with UTV in Northern Ireland. He currently presents the chat show Gerry Meets as well as his own show on U105.

Initially a primary school teacher and lecturer at St. Mary's Training College, Kelly began in TV initially as a part-time sports reporter. In 1979 he was picked to host UTV's nightly one-hour news/magazine programme, Good Evening Ulster alongside Gloria Hunniford. He also presented a series of outside broadcast roadshows, and a local quiz show series Pick of the Six.

Gerry launched his talk/variety show Kelly in September 1989. The highest-rated edition of Kelly was broadcast on Friday 10 November 2000, when a special edition dedicated to George Best was watched by 367,000 viewers.[1] UTV announced the axing of Kelly in 2005[2], and despite calls to save the series from ending[3], the final episode of Kelly was transmitted on 16 December 2005.[4]

In 1998, Kelly was initiated into the Royal Television Society Hall of Fame for his contributions to broadcasting in Ireland.

On 8 January 2008, the Belfast Telegraph reported that Gerry Kelly had left UTV, telling the newspaper "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."[5]

Married with two daughters, Kelly lives in the County Down village of Ardglass.[6]

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[edit] References

  1. ^ [1] Belfast Telegraph: "By George, Gerry's show scores as the Best attraction"; dated 15 November 2000, retrieved 11 January 2008
  2. ^ [2] Belfast Telegraph: "Curtain falls on the Kelly Show"; dated 1 September 2005, retrieved 11 January 2008
  3. ^ [3] Belfast Telegraph: "Plea to save programmes from axe"; dated 22 October 2005, retrieved 11 January 2008
  4. ^ [4] u.tv: Details of final edition of Kelly
  5. ^ Belfast Telegraph: "It's time to move on, says UTV's Kelly (dated 8 January 2008)
  6. ^ [5] u.tv: Gerry Kelly profile