Observer (24th February 2002)

He'll take the tough with the smooth

Big Breakfast's Dermot O'Leary is joining the SAS. But only for a game show.

A stray crumb from the pain au chocolat that presenter Dermot O'Leary has been devouring sticks tenaciously to his left eyebrow. That he is unaware of this as he talks earnestly about his career, or of the further shower of crumbs that cluster on his jeans, makes him almost unbearably endearing. He may be one of the brightest rising stars in television, former darling of T4, the show that catered to Channel 4's weekend hangover audience, but no one could accuse him of excessive slickness.
This is perhaps what separates him from Johnny Vaughan, the other, more established, contender for the Smart Bloke on TV award. O'Leary upped his profile further when he stood in for Vaughan on The Big Breakfast and stamped his own personality on the show. Now he is about to start his first series, SAS - Are you Tough Enough?, for the BBC. Where Vaughan is sharp, O'Leary is professional yet unthreatening, someone you know you could sink a few pints with and not risk any tart remarks in the morning.

Not that we're in the pub now, mind you. It's 10am and O'Leary has chosen an upmarket patisserie on his home turf of Queen's Park, north-west London as the venue for this interview. A decision he looks like he's having cause to regret as other patrons clustered around the one large table in the cafe eavesdrop on our chat.

As he lowers his voice self-consciously, I'm forced to remind him that he'll have to speak up for the tape recorder. No diva, he grabs the machine and manfully tries to eat his pastry one-handed. But then aren't those the hallmarks of a good presenter? Being cool under pressure and the ability to eat poncey pastries under extreme conditions.

The son of Irish immigrant parents, O'Leary was born in Colchester almost 29 years ago. When he announced to his builder father at the age of eight that he quite fancied a career on the telly, O'Leary Senior was firm: 'He said you can't go into telly, no one makes any money out of telly, get a proper job.' Undeterred, he studied politics and media at Middlesex University and after a brief stint of travel applied himself to writing to every production company in the book.

'I sent my CV to 200 production companies and got about 195 rejection letters which weirdly and bitterly I still have.' Documentary makers Barraclough Carey saw some potential, however, and hired him as a runner. He soon moved up to researcher and worked on the series Century Road, about a street in Walthamstow that had been around for a hundred years. 'That was my 'Nam,' he says laughing. 'I had to go round knocking on doors and the only woman on the street who knew anything about its history wanted nothing to do with me. I had to keep going back, crawling with chocolates and flowers and she was like "get away from me!"'

Screen tests followed and he clawed his way up, the really big break coming with T4. A weekend link show between Hollyoaks omnibuses and episodes of US teen dramas, it soon became cult viewing. 'The whole vibe was ideas that would fit around hangovers. The beauty of T4 was that it was a new show that allowed us to make mistakes and it just got better. I know it was only a link show but it was so much of its time and it succeeded through word of mouth.' His emotional departure saw Baby Spice turning the tables and interviewing him. It doesn't get more postmodern than that.

After coming out of a six-month exclusive contract with C4, O'Leary is set to make his high-profile BBC debut in the three-parter SAS - Are You Tough Enough? This involves him wandering around the Trossachs in Scotland as 29 super-fit members of the public put themselves through 10 days of hell with former SAS commanders.

Originally scheduled to go out in November, it was put back post-11 September and the war in Afghanistan. 'Which was a shame for me,' he says with only a hint of irony. 'It means I've been off-air for a long time and I was starting to get a bit worried. But in retrospect I think the break did me good. You don't want to be on everything all the time or people lose respect for you.'

An SAS-themed show would seem a peculiar choice for someone who prides himself on his Irish background. 'It was quite strange working with people you know have killed people and my background did make me think quite hard before I took it. But I don't think it glorifies the Army or the SAS. It pays respects but at heart it's a human interest documentary.'

O'Leary, who mockingly describes himself as a Plastic Paddy, does consider himself true green Irish. 'I've always had an Irish passport and obviously growing up in Essex is different from growing up in Limerick or Tipperary or Wexford but I'm still Irish. To me there's no difference between being second-generation Irish and second-generation Asian.'

His recently set-up production company is called Murphia, a jokey reference to the slang for the influential Irish network in London and elsewhere. The company, he hopes, will achieve what he says is his absolute and only goal, to make good television. Shows on music and sport are in the pipeline, the first of which will air on BBC Choice. 'There is so much bad television and so many bad presenters out there. It's hard to find good presenters for the simple reason that most people are presenters because they want to be famous and the rest are presenters because they can't do anything else.'

O'Leary claims that his ambition is to do the job well and have people say 'he's one of the good guys and he takes his job seriously'. 'I've been in TV for six years and I feel like I've done it the right way. I didn't go to stage school and I'm not obsessed with being famous. I don't want my star to burn out too quickly. But it is nice to get recognised and for people to stop you and tell you you're doing a good job.'

His highlight of last year came with a mysterious call on his mobile during his stint presenting Big Brother's Little Brother on E4. It was from the man he considers the absolute benchmark in television presenting. 'I answered and this voice said "Hi, it's Jonathan Ross". Immediately I get a flashback of me and my sister making dinner and watching The Last Resort when I was about 15. I'm thinking "he's ringing me up on my mobile"'. It was total damage limitation from that moment on trying not to be sycophantic.'

Ross is a fan and O'Leary ended up going to his house for dinner. 'Jonathan Ross's house,' he says, still clearly shell-shocked at the experience. So has he been back? 'Well, no,' he admits, 'maybe it was my eating etiquette. And I can't really invite him round to mine. I did send him a Christmas card though.' See? Totally endearing.

SAS - Are You Tough Enough? starts on Sunday, 3 March at 9pm on BBC2

- Tina Ogle