Interview with Dermot O'Leary

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Presenting Channel 4’s two hour television spectacular live from the International Space Station is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most exciting TV programmes Dermot O’Leary has ever had the opportunity to work on.

And as he prepares to front the amazing broadcast from the space station and Mission Control in Houston as it completes an orbit around the world in 90 minutes, Dermot says he can’t wait to ask the questions everyone wants to know.

“This is such a mega and amazing programme to be part of,” say Dermot, sounding genuinely excited. “I am so looking forward to presenting it and I cannot wait. Going live with a TV show is always great but to be able to say ‘now we are going live to the space station’ will be a fantastic and surreal experience.”

The X Factor presenter continues: “This is, undoubtedly, one of the most exciting shows I have ever worked on. When you work on a blockbuster like the X Factor, you can do something else that is out there and this definitely is it! I am in a lovely position where I do get offered other shows. But as I spend so much time with the X Factor, I want to do things that interest me – and this definitely does.”

Ever since he was a boy, the 40-year-old gregarious and charming star has been fascinated by space. He explains: “I have told all my friends I am doing this and they have all said ‘OMG that’s going to be amazing’. It is. We are the post-moon generation where we were all brought up on the space shuttle. I am no expert and I don’t profess to be. But I can remember watching Challenger going up when I was at school. I have always been into exploration. Most of my fascination was to do with people in the past. But these guys (the astronauts) are our modern day Ernest Shackleton.”

He has already carried out a lot of research by reading books on space ahead of the live show. “You always want to do research as you don’t want to go into an area and just hang out,” says Dermot. “For me, the point of going into television is I am always interested in people – whether it is an astronaut or a cab driver. I love getting stories and it is why I do the job I do. My fascination for this programme is two fold. Aside from the live link-up and how brilliant that will be, there is that macabre thing where you wonder what you would do if something goes wrong. How do they deal with it? What do they do? Then there are the ordinary, daily things like how do they shave? How do they go about their day-to-day lives? Everything about it all fascinates me.”

The TV presenter, who also hosts his own weekly programme for BBC Radio Two, goes on to add that he felt completely mesmerised when he joined the production crew to watch the space station fly over London one evening in February.

“Last night we went to the top of the building next to St Paul’s Cathedral and we saw the International Space Station go over for the first time,” says Dermot. “It was brilliant. We had emailed them to say we would be watching and so the guys knew we were doing so, which was really surreal that they did. I was like ‘wow’. We really are looking at something that is 250 miles away - which is also looking at us! It’s so interesting.”

Yet despite his fascination and genuine interest about the world of space, Dermot laughs as he admits he could never swap his own successful TV career for a life away from Earth. “Their strength of character is so fascinating,” he says. “They are brave and their mentality is incredible. They have to do so much training and you don’t realise that when you talk about what it would be like to be an astronaut. The level of sacrifice they have to make is extraordinary and they have to be so fit and intelligent. They do have a certain purpose up there and the science that goes into it all really fascinates me – but no, I don’t want to be an astronaut!”

ENDS
CREDIT: “Live from Space season airs on Channel 4 in March 2014”