Four Late Late Show talking points, including Ruth Codd on having both legs amputated
Ruth Codd and John Bishop with Patrick Kielty on the Late Late Show
Actress Ruth Codd joined the show on Friday night to discuss her highs and lows in recent months, from finding further fame as a contestant on a few months ago, before losing a second leg via amputation.
Codd, 29, was catapulted to fame after her viral TikTok landed her a role on Netflix’s in 2022. In November last year, she was the third player to be ‘murdered’ by Traitors Alan Carr, Jonathan Ross and Cat Burns.
Also in November, Codd had her left leg amputated in an elective surgery — she previously had her right leg amputated when she was 23 due to a childhood injury.
“It was the only way for my quality of life to improve,” she said of the latest operation.
“I’m not willing to spend my entire life in a hospital bed for the sake of keeping a leg that doesn't work. It was a hard decision but I had to do it. You get used to your new normal. I'm not going to say that my life is the same [now]. It's different, but in a good way, I think.”
Her fellow guest on the show, John Bishop, was awed by her attitude.
“I’ve never met anybody who's so easily as brave as you,” he said. “You're talking about what you've been through with nonchalance, and then you talk about a career that people can only dream of as if you just work in Kwik Save.”
She said her family helps to keep her grounded.
Comedian John Bishop was in the studio to discuss a film inspired by his life story and early days on the comedy scene.
His marriage became the real-life inspiration for Bradley Cooper’s latest movie, with Will Arnett starring as the character based on Bishop, 59. He shared the incredible story of how turning to comedy saved his marriage, even though he and his wife had been about to finalise their divorce.
During their separation, he accidentally discovered stand-up at a Manchester comedy venue as performing was one way to gain free entry. One night while performing a bit about his wife, Melanie, he saw her in the audience.
“We were at the final stages of the divorce, and I remember seeing her and thinking, ‘Jesus that's gonna cost me another 10 grand’. And then, and then at the end,” he said.
“She came over to me at the end, and I thought we were gonna have an argument, because we really didn't talk a lot at that point. She said, ‘That was that was a surprise’. I said, ‘Yeah, you mean the stand up?’ She said, ‘No, you were funny. You remind me of the man that I met, that little glint in your eye and the spring in your step. Whatever happened to you?’ I said, ‘I married you.’ So she said, ‘Can we do something about it?’
“And we did. We ended up going to relationship counselling, and then just found our way back to each other. That's the genesis of this film.”
Actor James Nesbitt, who is currently starring in the latest Harlan Coben adaptation on Netflix, spoke about his work with the Wave Trauma Centre in Northern Ireland.
Nesbitt, 61, has worked with the organisation for 23 years and is particularly passionate about helping the families of the Disappeared find their lost loved ones.
“Where my heart really lies is with the families of the Disappeared,” he said. “It has been a process that has worked. The relocation of the remains of the disappeared, 13 have been found. It does work.”
He urged anyone with information of five Disappeared people to share details with Wave.
“All the families that are still remaining without their loved ones' remains want the same thing: they want to have a funeral or a wake or a grave that they can tend to.
“And if there's anyone out there who has any information on where the remains of Columba McVeigh, Joe Lynskey, Seamus Maguire, Robert Nairac, and Lisa Dorrian, who was disappeared in 2005, if you have any information, please contact ICLVR [Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains].
“I’ve seen the anguish that the families went through, and — it's the worst word to use — the joy that the ones that got their families back.
Olympic gold medallist Kellie Harrington told Patrick Kielty about why one of her biggest fights at the moment is one outside the boxing ring.
Harrington, 36, is leading the Save Our Pitch campaign to protect a play area for children on Portland Row which is at risk of being developed.
“The plan was to build housing in [a neighbouring] corporation depot, and that's an absolutely brilliant plan, and everybody from the community was all up for that,” she explained.
“Then they pushed the border, the red line, basically, and they're trying to take away our recreational pitch, the safe place we have for kids, teenagers, adults, to go and to play sports.
“What I would like to see is integration with the new community from the [housing development on the] depot being able to happen in that playground, in that pitch. We’re looking for integration, not elimination of what's there.”
Harrington said she was surprised by how far news of the campaign had spread, saying she was stopped while in Cork by people who wanted to lend their support. She was quick to rule out any political ambitions, however.
“I will not be running in any election or anything. The only thing I run after is Mandy when she's making me dinner.”
