Keating rings in the new year in real time while veterans offer their usual pre-recorded fare
That’s how I had the fortune of spending New Years of yore. And then things got more expensive. I resented the prospect of paying a wedge to stand in my local, only to get doused in beer and navigate my way home in the absence of taxis. I’ve grown older and less tolerant of crowds. And then came the kids.
Those hard-earned New Year’s escapes to the Canaries are now a distant memory, replaced by 10pm bedtimes in my mother-in-law’s.
These days, it’s karaoke with the kids until we convince them it’s midnight (really 11pm) thanks to King Julien’s YouTube countdown, and then himself and myself settle in with the box to ring in the New Year by living vicariously through someone else’s riotous celebrations.
Like many, I hugely depend on the “live” offerings every year so we can share a communal Auld Lang Syne without the beer showers or the taxi anxiety. And perhaps it’s the passage of time or the fact undisclosed quantities of Prosecco had been consumed, but I recall more live music events being beamed into our living rooms as the bells chime.
Among them, a proliferation of Imelda May music vehicles and events like New Year’s Eve Live – The Ultimate Gathering.
Musical guests busting out the gladrags back in October include David Gray, Lyra, Gavin James, Garron Noone, The Stunning, and – of course – Sharon Shannon
At least we still get a live element – a kind of NYE adjacent moment that bursts onto the screen around 11.45pm when The Late Late New Year’s Eve Show (10.25pm, RTÉ One) cuts live to Dublin Castle for the midnight performance, this year from Inhaler.
At the time of going to print, Patrick Kielty’s guest line-up has just been announced. This is pretty wild given The Late Late NYE episode itself was reportedly pre-recorded back on October 28… Happy All Hallows’ New Year’s Eve everybody!
Musical guests busting out the gladrags back in October include David Gray, Lyra, Gavin James, Garron Noone, The Stunning, and – of course – Sharon Shannon, squeezing her box alongside The Late Late Show House Band. Non-musical faces will come courtesy of Olympians Kate O’Connor and Fintan McCarthy, alongside Dermot Bannon and cast members of The Traitors Ireland.
Keeping with shows that aren’t exactly live is Jools’ Hootenanny (11.30pm, BBC Two). For years, I blindly believed he was busting out the bagpipes in real-time, and we were crowing Auld Lang Syne together. So naive of me.
Graham Norton welcomes guests such as Laura Dern, Tom Hiddleston and Will Arnett. Photo: BBC
Either way, from 11.30pm, we’ll have Jools shouting, clapping and spinning around alongside an array of guests that could be straight out of the late noughties, including Ronnie Wood, Lulu, Jesse J, The Kooks, Craig David and – would you believe it – Imelda May. Well, it wouldn’t be New Year’s Eve telly without her popping up somewhere.
And on the plus side, the Hootenanny is historically always recorded in mid-December, so at least you know the festive vibes are real.
As has become customary, The Graham Norton NYE Show will be spreading itself across both British and Irish terrestrial TV at slightly different times. If you’d like to ring in the New Year on time, bubbles in hand with Hollywood’s celebrity couch potatoes, best watch on Virgin Media One from 11.55pm (the BBC will air earlier, between 10.30pm and 11.30pm).
You will be cosying up with an array of famous faces, contractually obliged to plug their latest movie/mini-series. Among them, The Night Manager’s Tom Hiddleston, Laura Dern and her Is This Thing On? co-star Will Arnett. We also have the rapidly ageing Owen Cooper from Adolescence.
Ronan’s rollercoaster will even hand us over to the best bit of all: the NYE Live Fireworks at midnight
Norton’s music offering will be banged out by Alison Limerick, because who wouldn’t want to mark the 30th anniversary of Where Love Lives? after the John Lewis Christmas ad trampled all over everyone’s raucous rave recollections.
But what’s this, shining like a bright star in the otherwise largely pre-recorded wasteland of NYE telly? On BBC One, we actually have a countdown show that’s allegedly live. And just when you think it couldn’t get better, it’s only hosted by Ronan Keating, with appearances from Boyzone buddies Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch.
So fret not, fellow couch bound cohort – this year, we’re in safe hands thanks to Ronan Keating and Friends: New Year’s Eve Party (11.30pm, BBC One). Ronan’s rollercoaster will even hand us over to the best bit of all: the NYE Live Fireworks at midnight, with more merriment beyond.
Between Graham, Imelda, and now Ro and his buds teaching the neighbours how a proper telly knees-up is done, it’s clear no New Year’s bash lands without the Paddies. Fair play to us. Athbhliain shona!