Boyzone reuniting for Welcome to Wrexham-style TV docu-series after buying non-league Chorley FC
THE lads from Boyzone will follow Hollywood’s Ryan Reynolds by turning their purchase of an unfashionable football club into a TV series.
The Nineties boy band are the latest celebrities putting money into the beautiful game — with National League North club Chorley FC in Lancashire.
And I can reveal the pop stars are turning their efforts into a TV docu-series.
All the remaining group members are involved — Shane Lynch, Ronan Keating, Mickey Graham and Keith Duffy — plus Brian McFadden from fellow Irish band Westlife.
‘Humble club’
Shane said: “We’ve just bought Chorley Football Club. We start filming a documentary on that pretty much next week.
“It’s about getting the club into a financially successful place, to get the players paid well and to get the whole kind of town back in love with one of the oldest football clubs in the world.”
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Ryan and his actor pal Rob McElhenny have charted their success story rebuilding League Two’s Wrexham for Disney+, and Welcome To Wrexham is heading back to screens for series three soon.
Shane says Boyzone would love to follow Wrexham.
He said: “They have a big stadium — they have awesome stuff. We’re nowhere near that.
“We’re way down in the leagues. We’re a humble, hand-to-mouth club.
“The boys, all the players, have got jobs, they’re not full-time.
“We’re trying to get them out of that and get them full-time.
“It’s all to do with fitness levels, really, because some of the teams we’ve played over the last couple of weeks, the only thing that’s let us down is fitness.
“But they’re great players, a great team. We’re third in the league at the moment.
“We were eighth I think just before Christmas so we’re popping up there and it’s looking good.”
The lads are in talks with a number of channels who are interested in screening the series.
Shane added: “It came about again through connecting dots through different areas, a little bit like sliding doors.
“Brian McFadden lives in Rochdale, Keith Duffy’s apartment is in Wigan and I’m Cheshire, so we’re up in the North West.
“And it so happened to be that particular club came into fruition and the doors opened and I said, ‘OK, let’s do this’.”
Who needs Hollywood when you’ve got the luck of the Irish?
Why only one woman?
ITV unveiled its new line up of big entertainment shows on Saturday night - but it was the same old gender which dominated.
Once again the schedules featured zero women fronting the channel’s big shows.
The night began with Bradley Walsh on The Chase, Graham Norton on Wheel of Fortune, then continued with Ant and Dec were back with their Saturday Night Takeaway, Lee Mack was hosting The 1% Club and then there was The Jonathan Ross Show, followed by Millionaire with Jeremy Clarkson.
These men are all incredibly talented people - but where are the super gifted women too?
The first really big female we saw on Saturday was Katherine Ryan on Rossy’s chat show - and the other seven people he had on were all men too.
Given the overwhelming presence of blokes she sounds like, as a woman on ITV, she should have on The 1% Club.
The BBC of course, weren’t much better on Saturday.
But here’s hoping they improve when they unveil their next cluster of shows…
Out with a banger
GRAHAM Norton signed off from his Virgin Radio show for the last time yesterday.
He told his listeners before ending with the song Hung Up by Madonna: “It has been such a privilege to sit here and share your weekends with you for the last three years and two months.”
It's bang out of order!
LOVE Island has got a rival when it comes to messy hook-ups – Rosie Jones’ new Comedy Central game show Out Of Order.
Katherine Ryan has teased there are juicy revelations to come between “regulars” on the public panel who must be put in correct order in a series of categories.
They are judged by team captains Katherine and Judy Love along with a series of comedian guests.
She said: “There was a lot going on between the regulars on the show between the shows.
“All of them were staying in the same hotel, and they really did get super close.
“There were some romantic relationships, and there’s one episode where all of that drama comes out.
“It’s exciting for me, because I love that kind of gossip. I am just on this Earth to find out who is banging.”
Lee gags a serious hit on 1%
LEE Mack knew The 1% Club would be a big hit when he realised his jokes on the IQ knockout quiz were top quality.
The comic, who is hosting a third series of the ITV show, tells Richard Herring on the RHLSTP podcast: “I can’t take any credit for it because it’s not my format.
“On the pilot episode I said, ‘There is no way these 100 contestants are going to laugh at my jokes, they will be too busy trying to win the £100,000. You need to make an audience’.
“I didn’t get any laughs, but I did think, ‘This is a good format as my jokes are so brilliant’.
“They have cast people who are bright and fun and, even though you think about serious quizzers doing it, no same person will get it right every time.”
Ralph: I'd love a Sheri
RALF Little has set his sights on former comedy co-star Sheridan Smith for a role in Death In Paradise.
The actor, who plays DI Neville Parker in the BBC One crime drama, worked with Sheridan on The Royle Family and Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet of Crisps.
The regular cast on Death In Paradise, currently in its 13th series on Sunday nights, have been joined by a number of guest stars over the years, including Martin Compston, Neil Morrissey and Adjoa Andoh.
Ralf said of Sheridan: “She’s a fabulous actor, an old friend – a good friend – and it would be amazing to have her.
“We’ve had a lot of British actors on board over the years, to the point where my co-star Don Warrington didn’t remember me being a guest star in series two, when I first started playing Neville Parker.
“It would be great to add Sheridan to the list.”
Love Island heartbreak
LOVE Island couple Ella Thomas and Tyrique Hyde have split after six months together.
The pair, who reached the final of the ITV2 show last summer, have now deleted all traces of each other from their Instagram profiles.
The news comes less than a fortnight after he treated her to a £1,200 Louis Vuitton bag for Valentine’s Day. Ouch.
Stacey 'make or break'
JOANNA Page almost gave up on acting before landing her part in Gavin & Stacey.
She was working in a South London shoe shop and had not had a role for a year.
But then came her audition for the hit comedy series.
Joanna told Radio 2’s Tracks Of My Years: “I remember going in and saying, ‘I’m going to have to have the day off because I’ve got an audition for this show called Gavin & Stacey. I’d read it and I just thought, ‘This character is me. I’ve got to get this. If I don’t get this, that’s my lot.”
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She spoke of bumping into show co-creator Ruth Jones, who plays Nessa, in the loos.
Joanna said: “Apparently she went in and went, ‘Well I’ve just met Stacey’.”