That's life: TV presenter Angela Scanlon on motherhood, Instagram and living in the moment

Ireland’s belle of British broadcasting Angela Scanlon is taking a fresh tack to revel in the projects she is currently working on, says Esther McCarthy.

SHE’S the star broadcaster flying the flag for the Irish in Britain and in the past year Angela Scanlon has embraced another new role — parenthood.

Ruby, her child with husband Roy Horgan, turns one at the end of the month and it’s clear that the TV and radio star is smitten.

“She’s funny. She’s great. We’re nearly a year on. Those first few months particularly are just kind of a blur and then the little personality starts to form and suddenly you get it,” she says.

“It obviously comes with its challenges, trying to balance things and trying to make sure everybody’s happy. But I really love it. I really love it because I was terrified about it to be honest.”

It’s the kind of candour that makes Scanlon so relatable to audiences, and one of broadcasting’s most in-demand presenters.

She’s become a BBC Radio 2 regular, hosting as well as regularly standing in for some of the station’s biggest stars.

“I love radio, I love the intimacy of it, I’ve been really, really lucky in that Radio 2 has given me brilliant opportunities. I’ve sat in on Drivetime, I’m doing Dermot O’Leary’s show on Saturday and I fill in for him quite regularly. Some of my favourite broadcasters are on that, whether it was the late Sir Terry Wogan, Graham Norton is on there, Claudia Winkleman and Zoe Ball, so I feel very very lucky to be in that building never mind live on air.”

This week, she came home to help launch a major new global campaign for Kerrygold, which puts Ireland’s grass-fed family farming system firmly in the spotlight, celebrating the passion, pride and tradition of Irish dairy as part of a major global expansion drive for Ireland’s largest food exports.

Like many Irish in London, she’s come to know the local shops that stock it, though the word is out about Irish butter, she adds. “It’s so popular in the UK. It is everywhere now. I use it in coffees more recently, bulletproof coffee have you heard of this? I mix it with coffee and some milk and blitz it up and I have it for my breakfast and it’s absolutely delicious. I mean it sounds bonkers, it apparently originated in Australia.”

She works hard at staying fit which she enjoys once she hits her stride. However, it’s getting the running shoes on in the first place that can prove to be a challenge.

“I definitely have to psych myself up for it,” she says. “I kind of have to remind myself, and pretty regularly, how much I benefit from it. I do fitness whether it’s spinning or more recently I’ve taken running up again having not done it for a long time.

“I do it for my head. I think It’s really, really important for clarity, I sleep much better. I feel like I have more energy. It’s really important I think for my mental well-being. I think I’m probably a natural-ish runner. But actually getting the runners on and getting out is a challenge for me, finding the time and prioritising that.”

Angela’s rise to the top echelons of British broadcasting has been swift. Her first major documentary, Oi Ginger, aired on RTÉ in 2014 and became an instant hit with critics and audiences alike, showcasing her playful style but ability to dig deep on a subject matter, too. The success of her follow up, Full Frontal, about extreme makeovers, brought her to a wider audience and after co-hosting BBC’s live coverage of T In the Park she became a regular in the corporation.

Not at the #Brits but ok with it.... 👅 pic.twitter.com/VpdGahRLGL

— Angela Scanlon (@angelascanlon) February 20, 2019

A busy lifestyle has made her very mindful of the need for a healthy lifestyle and some downtime.

“Exercise is definitely part of that. I think my diet plays a massive part. If I’m shooting and I’m doing long days and I’m eating whatever junk is on a shoot that definitely has an impact. So I try to be a bit organised and a bit disciplined about that.” She’s a big Instagram fan but is aware of the impacts social media can have too.

“I love Instagram, I’m a very visual person and I enjoy posting and consuming other people’s stuff but I do think it can be detrimental to your mood if you don’t limit it. There are tonnes of studies that are starting to come out about how it’s actually rewiring us negatively, that kind of overconsumption. Are we becoming more conscious of how it’s taking over our lives? Definitely. I think we’re literally waking up to the fact that we can spend hours and hours out of our days on this stuff.

“It’s fine consuming these things if you’re doing it consciously. But for a lot of us — and I do it myself — you wake up, you get on your phone you scroll, you refresh, you go from Instagram to Facebook to Twitter. By the time you’re finished you go back again to Instagram and you’ve a new feed. You could spend a long time just mindlessly consuming stuff, comparing things.”

Another approach Angela is taking this year is to enjoy the projects she’s working on in the here and now.

“Oi Ginger was the very first thing that I did by myself on telly and that was maybe four-and-a-half years ago. I don’t think then if you had asked me what I wanted to do in five years time that I could have imagined I’d be doing any of the stuff, really, that I’m doing now.

“One of the things that I’m trying to do on the old mindful train is to be a bit more present I suppose and enjoy the thing I’m doing in the moment. I think it’s good for the head.”

Self care

Combining a busy and varied career with parenthood means that for Angela, finding some time to herself can be a challenge. But she feels that for all of us, it’s important to our wellbeing.

“There’s an awful lot of chat around self care now and I definitely try to make time,” she says.

“I think whether that’s having a bath and just a bit of silence on any given evening.

“I try to limit screen time after a certain point in the evening or take days off from it at the weekend — sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail miserably.

“I think most people deal with some level of things and for me it’s about keeping on top of things and recognising when I’m overwhelmed. It’s managing it really.”

- For more on Kerrygold’s A True Taste of Kerrygold, visit www.kerrygold.com

Butter fans are out in force for our preview of ' A True Taste of Kerrygold' global campaign in the beautiful @StellaRathmines 💚 #kerrygold pic.twitter.com/4IoZRpnylt

— Kerrygold Ireland (@KerrygoldIRL) February 12, 2019