Patrick Kielty will be spending a lot of time in Ireland for the next few weeks as The Late Late Show is returning tonight.
Just like last season, he will fly between London and Dublin for the course of the show.
But the proud Down man has never stopped considering Ireland home, no matter how long he is away from it.
Speaking to VIP Magazine ahead of the launch of the new season of the iconic chat show, he admits that moving back to Ireland has always been “the dream”.
“At the minute, we do have the best of both worlds. I have the house up in Dundrum [Co Down] for 25 years now. I’ve always been back and forth,” he says.
But logistically, it just wouldn’t make sense…at the minute.
“The kids are in school in London, Cat [Deeley]’s working in London, she’s working four days a week there. I can just about come back in and spend the time I need to do this because she’s working. So I can’t see it happening anytime soon.”
He goes on to say: “But I always call Dundrum home. I brought the boys back three weeks ago. The eldest fella was playing in a GAA Blitz and he was asking if were we moving back to Dundrum. He thought it’d be great. But no there’s no plan. But there’s always the dream.”
Coming from London, you would think that the boys would get a culture shock going to Down every summer.
“They’re living the dream! I’m happy enough feeding them fish and chips and ice cream and they’re being spoiled by their granny. It’s only when they’re back in the school regime, there are rules and regulations back in London. They think Dundrum is the greatest place in the world.”
So will his two sons be watching their dad on Friday?
“The two boys will be in bed!” he laughs.
But he is hopeful his wife Cat Deeley will be over to see him at least once this run.
“Cat won’t be here on Friday but she does want to get over for a show during this run. There was a part during the last run where she ended up in Atlanta for seven weeks…which was kind of tricky. I mean, I was over here and the kids were in London,” he jokes.
At the time, the new This Morning presenter was filming So You Think You Can Dance for Fox in the States
“But now things have settled in and she’s working the Monday to Thursday, so there’s a real good chance she will come over. Now she’s on a more stable schedule.”
With Cat up at the crack of day to present This Morning with Ben Shephard and Patrick flying over to Ireland at the end of the week, do they find the juggle tough?
“There are a lot of people who are getting up a lot earlier than us and seeing a lot less of each other than we do. There’s days where we see each other right the way through, so there’s no hardship.”
The Late Late Show to RTÉ One & RTÉ Player on Friday 13th September, 9:35pm.
