Fiona Looney

Last updated

Fiona Looney
NationalityIrish
Occupation(s) Journalist, Playwright
SpouseSteve
ChildrenCiara, Cian, Uainín

Fiona Looney is an Irish columnist, playwright, scriptwriter and media personality.

Contents

Personal life

Looney was brought up in a Catholic family in the Greenhills region of south Dublin. [1] She has spoken about having been sexually assaulted on two occasions, while a child and as a young adult. [2] [3]

Career

Looney began her career as a writer for the Irish political music magazine, Hot Press , before going on to a career with BBC Radio in London during the 1990s. She regularly contributed to The Gerry Ryan Show on RTÉ 2fm until the death of Gerry Ryan in 2010.

She was previously a regular contributor to topical comedy show The Panel . Looney's other television credits include working as a reporter for news programme Capital D and presenting two series of the travel series Voyager on RTÉ. Looney is also the creator of Celebrity Bainisteoir , having first submitted the idea to RTÉ in 2004. [4] As a screenwriter, she has contributed to the television shows The Fast Show , No Limits , This Is Ireland, and You’re A Star , among others.

Looney writes columns for the newspaper Irish Daily Mail and magazine Woman's Way. [5] Her newspaper columns provided the material for her first book, Misadventures in Motherhood: Life with The Small Girl, The Boy and The Toddler (2005). She is also a playwright. Her debut play Dandelions was a commercial success and focused on the lives of women in suburban Ireland; it became the first in a trilogy of plays. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Late Late Show</i> (Irish talk show) Irish chat show

The Late Late Show, with its title often shortened to The Late Late, is an Irish chat show. It is the world's second longest-running late-night talk show, after the American The Tonight Show. Perceived as the official flagship television programme of the Republic of Ireland's public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), it is regarded as an Irish television institution, and is broadcast live across more than two hours in front of a studio audience on Friday nights at 9:30pm between September and May. Certain segments are sometimes pre-recorded and aired within the live parts of the show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dana Rosemary Scallon</span> Irish singer and politician

Dana Rosemary Scallon, known professionally as Dana, is an Irish singer and songwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Tubridy</span> Irish broadcaster (born 1973)

Ryan Tubridy is an Irish broadcaster. He used to present The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio 1 and presented The Late Late Show and The Late Late Toy Show from 2009 to 2023. Tubridy previously presented RTÉ 2fm breakfast radio show The Full Irish. For five seasons from 2004 until 2009, he presented the Saturday night TV chat show Tubridy Tonight on RTÉ One. He later left RTÉ 2fm for a number of years to present The Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio 1, but returned to RTÉ 2fm in 2010 to present a weekday morning radio show from 09:00 to 11:00, following the termination of The Gerry Ryan Show with the presenter's sudden death. Tubridy has also hosted the Rose of Tralee contest on two occasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerry Ryan</span> Irish broadcaster (1956–2010)

Gerard Ryan was an Irish presenter of radio and television employed by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). He presented The Gerry Ryan Show on radio station RTÉ 2fm each weekday morning from 1988 until hours before his sudden death. He was presented with a Jacob's Award for this show in 1990.

Lucy Kennedy is an Irish television and radio presenter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liz Bonnin</span> French-born Irish television presenter

Elizabeth Bonnin is an Irish science, wildlife and natural history presenter, who has worked on television in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. She presented morning show RI:SE and music show Top of the Pops in the early 2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Whitmore</span> Irish presenter and actress

Laura Whitmore is an Irish media personality and model based in London. She was a video jockey for MTV in 2008, and has since presented television shows, such as This Morning (2014), Survival of the Fittest (2018) and Love Island (2020–2022). In 2020, Whitmore became a team captain on the comedy panel show Celebrity Juice.

Mairead Ronan is an Irish television and radio presenter.

<i>Celebrity Bainisteoir</i> Irish TV series or programme

Celebrity Bainisteoir was a prime-time reality programme created by Fiona Looney and first broadcast in 2008 by RTÉ.

The Gerry Ryan Show was RTÉ 2fm's mid-morning radio show. Presented by Gerry Ryan until hours before his sudden death, it was launched in March 1988 and ran from nine until midday on weekday mornings.

<i>Operation Transformation</i> (TV series) Irish reality television health and fitness show

Operation Transformation is a health and fitness programme airing on RTÉ One in Ireland. The show is a cross-media event broadcast via radio, web and television on RTÉ 2fm, RTÉ.ie and RTÉ One since 2008. Prior to this it had been limited to radio but has since expanded onto the web and television. It is comparable to US television show The Biggest Loser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Callan</span> Irish satirist

Oliver Callan is an Irish vocal and performance satirist and impressionist known as the creator of Callan's Kicks, Nob Nation and for frequent appearances on The Saturday Night Show. He rose to fame during the 2000s when his daily Nob Nation slots aired on RTÉ Radio. His Callan's Kicks creation on RTÉ Radio 1 has been described by The Sunday Independent as "the best comedy show the national broadcaster has ever produced".

Evelyn O'Rourke is an Irish broadcaster employed by RTÉ

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Gerry Ryan</span> Irish death

RTÉ broadcaster Gerry Ryan died on 30 April 2010, aged 53. Ryan had been presenting The Gerry Ryan Show since 1988 and at the time of his death had the largest audience on RTÉ 2fm. Ryan also hosted several television series, including Secrets, Gerry Ryan Tonight, Ryantown, Gerry Ryan's Hitlist and Operation Transformation and Ryan Confidential, as well as one edition of The Late Late Show in 2008. Ryan co-presented the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 with Cynthia Ní Mhurchú. He died sixteen years later at his Upper Leeson Street apartment in Dublin, with his body found by his partner Melanie Verwoerd. The broadcaster had split from his wife Morah in 2008; the couple had five children together.

Lottie Ryan is an Irish television and radio presenter with RTÉ, Ireland's public service radio and television broadcaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Byrne</span> Irish radio and TV presenter

Claire Byrne is an Irish radio and television presenter.

Maïa Conchita Dunphy is an Irish television producer, broadcaster and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darren Kennedy</span>

Darren Kennedy is an Irish television presenter, entrepreneur, style expert and creative director from Dublin, Ireland now based between New York, Los Angeles and London. He has hosted television shows on Channel 5, BBC, ITV and RTÉ. He is the creator and co-founder of men's grooming brand Kennedy & Co.

Brenda Donohue is an Irish radio and television presenter.

Ryan McShane is a Northern Irish dancer and choreographer. He, alongside his professional partner, Ksenia Zsikhotska, were the 2016 United Kingdom & British Latin Professional Champions and British Show Dance Champions. He is also known as being one of the professional dancers on the Irish version of Dancing with the Stars.

References

  1. "Miriam meets...... Dr Anne Looney and her sister Fiona Looney". RTÉ.ie. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  2. Lundon, Jane. "Fiona Looney:"I was molested as a child so seeing perverts being let off chills my heart"". RSVP.ie. Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  3. "Bibi Baskin and Fiona Looney open up about sexual assault on TV3's Midday". TV3.ie. 31 August 2015. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  4. "Writer created celebrity TV series - judge". The Irish Times . 17 May 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
  5. "Want a stay-at-home wife? Go and see 'Dandelions'". Irish Independent . 27 May 2006. Retrieved 13 November 2008.
  6. "Public well advised to pick Dandelions". The Kingdom. 22 June 2006. Retrieved 31 July 2009.[ permanent dead link ]