Alan Hughes (presenter)

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Irish television personality Alan Hughes is one of the most familiar faces on Irish television. He presents Ireland's number 1 breakfast show Ireland AM for Virgin Media One. (FormerlyTV3. He also hosted the popular prime time gameshow.[1] Alan won the reality TV show Celebrity Salon in 2011.

Alan is also a huge pantomime star. He is the longest running, consecutive panto performer in Ireland. He is famous for his loveable character Sammy Sausages; a panto role developed by his theatre producer husband Karl Broderick. Sammy Sausages is partnered up with the hilarious, man-mad panto dame Buffy. The Tivoli theatre was home to the panto, then called The Cheerios panto, for 11 years, before it was sadly demolished. Hughes and Broderick were quick to come up with an exciting new venue called The Pantodome, in the grounds of The Royal Hospital, Kilmainham...followed by the first ever Panto Drive-in at Malahide Castle, with Peter Pan. That panto was filmed and was then the first ever panto to get a cinema release when it played in Odeon Cinemas in July 2021. The hugely beloved panto began its new chapter in the fabulous National Stadium in Dublin in 2021 www.panto.ie

In the 1990s, RTÉ gave him his big break hosting prime time quiz show Talk About for three years.[2]


In 2009, Hughes faced a health scare when there were fears he had stomach cancer.[3]

In 2009 Hughes told The Sunday Independent he was broken hearted that he and his long term partner Karl Broderick had separated. But they soon got back together.

0n September 30th 2011, Hughes engaged in a civil partnership with his partner of 18 years, {Karl Broderick}, a songwriter and theatre producer, at the Unitarian Church in St Stephen's Green, Dublin.[4][5] The wedding, on the 18th anniversary of their meeting, was described by The Irish Times as the highest profile wedding since legislation permitting it to take place was brought in.[6] Close friend Derek Mooney was his best man. Their very public civil ceremony was seen as a very important step forward in LGBTQIA rights in Ireland. In fact, Alan was the Only gay presenter, out and proud, on a long running show, who casually talked about his boyfriend, now husband, Karl, on an Irish TV station, on Ireland am, long before gay rights were forefront in the publics minds.[7] The couple appeared on The Saturday Night Show soon afterwards in their first public interview together.[8] Alan's parents passes away within 6 months of each other when he was a child. He was moved to Enniscorthy to live with his brother Kevin, but ran away and got the train home to Ballyfermot. He then stayed there and was raised by his sister Margaret and her husband John.

Alan surprised Karl by asking him to marry him, live on Ireland AM. Over 200,000 peoppe wat he'd the moment on social media. They then got married, for real, in a small ceremony in 2016 with just Alan's brother Kevin and Karl's sister Ann in attendance. "We didn't even want a photographer present, Alan said at the time; LGBT marriage was now in law and so they just wanted a small affair. The pic released to celebrate the ceremony was taken by Karl's sister Ann and was posted to Facebook to let friends, family and fans know of the ceremony and got over 100,000 likes. TV3 News covered the wedding. They were voted Ireland's most stylish couple by V.I.P magazine readers and won a Gossie award as Best Male TV Presenter. Alan has been nominated multiple times in the Favourite Male TV Presenter category at TV Now Awards.[3] In 2021 Alan appeared on Primetime, Six One News and many other shows to discuss the arts being disrupted by the Covid pandemic.

References[]

  1. ^ "Family Fortunes". TV3. Archived from the original on 2011-11-23.
  2. ^ "Alan Hughes talks Family Fortunes". RTÉ Ten. Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 21 February 2012. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2012. Looking at Alan's slick new image for the show, is it likely that his signature deckchair jackets from his RTÉ Talkabout days will resurface? "I'd nearly go to someone in publicity in RTÉ and bribe them to burn every picture!
  3. ^ a b Horan, Niamh (12 April 2009). "TV3's Alan reveals cancer scare". Sunday Independent. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  4. ^ "TV3 presenter Alan Hughes gets married". RTÉ Ten. Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 1 October 2011. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
  5. ^ Murphy, Claire (1 October 2011). "TV3 star Alan in tears as he ties knot with Karl". Evening Herald. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
  6. ^ McGreevy, Ronan (1 October 2011). "TV presenter weds partner of 18 years". The Irish Times. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
  7. ^ Ryan, Alexandra (15 October 2011). "From best pals to rivals -- Derek and Alan face TV ratings war". Evening Herald. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2011. Despite denying similarities between the two shows, insiders revealed that Derek, who was best man at Alan's partnership with Karl Broderick, has been feeling the heat and knows his show will be pitted against Alan's.
  8. ^ "Hughes and Broderick among Saturday Night Show guests". RTÉ Ten. Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 4 November 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
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