(Image: BBC/Alley Cats TV)
By Jon Donnis
Ronan Keating sets out along Ireland’s rugged western coastline in Ronan Keating’s Wild Atlantic, a new series for BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Daytime that blends travel with something far more reflective.
What begins as a straightforward exploration of the Wild Atlantic route gradually shifts in tone. Keating himself describes it as starting as a “lovely travelogue” before becoming a deeper kind of journey, shaped by personal reflection and emotion. The series follows him as he moves along the coast, taking in the landscape while also opening up about the loss of his brother, giving the programme a more intimate edge than a typical travel format.
Along the way, he is joined by a mix of familiar faces and personal connections. Shane Filan appears as one of the travelling companions, alongside artist Terry Bradley and comedian Diona Doherty. Family members also feature, grounding the series in relationships that feel close and genuine rather than purely on-screen encounters.
Set against the backdrop of Ireland’s west coast, the series leans into both the physical journey and the emotional one unfolding alongside it. The result is a programme that moves between scenic travel and personal storytelling, shaped by the people Keating meets and the memories he carries with him.
Tell us about the series.
It's kind of a labour of love, really. It was a bit of a journey for me, you know, it started out as a beautiful travelogue of the west coast of Ireland, where I used to spend my childhood holidays. It evolved more into a journey to discover why my brother [Ciarán], who passed away two years ago in a terrible car accident, chose the west coast of Ireland. What was his love for the west coast of Ireland? It started as a lovely travelogue and turned into this kind of journey to understand my brother's decisions, and really, it just made me fall in love more with the west coast of Ireland.
How did it actually come about?
This was an idea for me that the production company Alleycats TV came up with and pitched to the BBC. I've also done a lot of work with the BBC, I was on The One Show, and I'd been talking with the team there to come up with something involving Ireland. We’d also been speaking a lot about grief and dealing with grief and perhaps looking at doing something towards that. So it's been a very organic kind of thing.
How did you feel about opening up about your brother's tragic passing on camera?
You know, I got a lot of therapy after my brother was killed. I struggled a lot with it. And to be honest, I still don't think I've unboxed a lot of it. But it was a very natural thing [to speak about]. I was just talking while making the show and it just came out, and while we were out on the road, we adapted, and we changed the plan. I invited my brother's elder children out and to come on the journey with me and speak about my brother, to almost help them to understand and help them deal with the loss of their dad.
Would you say it was cathartic?
Yeah, actually, I would. There's a very magnetic, there's a draw for me there. You know, I feel very grounded on the West Coast, and there's definitely a draw, which I feel is what happened with Ciarán, why he chose there. He felt that we spent great summers as kids on the west coast of Ireland as a family. And, you know, there were great memories, and there was just a real magnetic pull to bring me back there.
Did that make you feel closer to him?
Absolutely! It helped me understand why he loved it so much and why he chose it, why he left Dublin. My brother and I had a very, very tight bond. Even when I was working in Boyzone and travelling, he was also involved in the music industry, we spent a lot of time together, but it was like a light bulb moment for him. He just said, I've had enough, and I want to get out and get away from it all. And chose the west coast. He brought his family up there. I found it hard at the beginning when he made the decision. But this film, and this time I spent in there, it was incredibly helpful.
It looks absolutely beautiful.
It's breathtaking. Every shot is like a scene from a magnificent film. You know, it's just beautiful, every angle. And you can see why all the movie productions are moving a lot of their films to Ireland to shoot there. Everything from Star Wars to The Banshees of Inisherin issue.
It’s a real family affair as well, because you've got your other brother, Gary, and nephews involved.
My brother Gary is there, and then my nephews are there. It's really fab. And then one of my best friends, Terry, he joins me up in Donegal. You know, it’s really special, a very special film.
What would you say were the highlights for you from the series?
One of the highlights is very special. It’s going to Clare Island. It’s a little island my brother used to go to a lot with his kids. He'd take a little boat over. Other highlights were Donegal, being in Donegal, the beauty of Donegal! Bundoran, the beach. Killarney was very, very special for me as a kid. You know it was, my best, my finest summer holidays, memories of all of my brothers and sister and mum and dad together as seven.
We're in Killarney, so going back there and spending time with Gary there was very special. There were so many elements, like in everything that we did, there was in every episode, there's a little bit of magic.
Can you tell us a little bit more about the activities you try in this series?
There's all sorts we do. We go foraging in the forests. We make pizza in the wild oven. I go back to playing hurling again, which is something I haven't done since I was 12 or 13 years old. We make leather, go to a leather workshop. We find this old, 100,000 year-old bog oak and fossils that are four million years old, and we turn it into art. It's just some of the magnificent things that we get up to.
Did you have any favourites?
I enjoyed making the boat while I was in Derry. We made a little currach which is an age-old Irish boat made out of animal skins and tree branches. I met this incredible gentleman who makes these boats for the likes of Game of Thrones and fabulous films and TV shows. And they're authentic. We made a boat together and then set it up and sailed in the water. It was hilarious.
Did you pick up any new interests or hobbies as a result of making the series?
Well, I do like to make things. As a kid making Lego all the way through to making Lego with my own children. Now I love to build and create, using and working with my hands. So from the leather belt making through to the boat making, they were probably some of my favourite things to do. Then also, foraging was a really beautiful thing to do.
You know, there's a quote I say it in the in the show, it's like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory when they're taking the things off the walls. You’re in the forest and, you know, we're picking up these little things off the ground, and one tastes like a strawberry. This is a leaf. It tastes as sweet as a strawberry, and the other is minty as spearmint. Just fabulous and eye opening. It was a real education, and I really enjoyed that.
You mentioned in the series, that this is something that you've been wanting to do for a long time, how did it live up to expectations? And is there anywhere that you’d like to go back and explore in more detail?
I really enjoyed Killarney, and being there, I don't feel I had enough time in Killarney. Kerry, as a county, is a very, very special place. And, yeah, it's really beautiful and magnificent, and there's so much history there. I think I'd like to go back and spend more time in Kerry and Killarney.
So where would you like to go next in Ireland?
There's so much more of Ireland that I would love to explore. The East Coast is where I was brought up and I know so much better, but there's still so much of it. And the absolute north and the absolute south... I mean, there's beautiful coastline there also. So, there's still a lot to see and discover!
Aside from filming there, do you feel that your experience would bring you back to spend more time there, naturally?
Yeah, I think so. I think, you know, Ireland for me was always a little bit difficult, because I became well known at a young age, 16 years of age, and almost it was hard to be there. And when you're naive and you're young and in the dark about fame... we didn't have anyone teach us or help us or guide us in that ... we were thrown to the wolves at 16 years of age. So every time we came home to Ireland, it got a little bit more difficult to be there and live there. And I fought through it, because I always was so proud and loved the country so much. I wanted to be there, but I struggled with it a lot. I used to find it hard when there was negative press written about us and stuff like that.
But going back there now, look, I've grown up a lot, and I think, seeing it through grown up eyes …I don’t really given a sh*te. It was just beautiful. It was wonderful. I was welcomed with open arms back home.
Where are you based now?
Now, I live between London, Dubai and Australia. After Ciarán died, I reassessed life, and kind of did what was right for me to be around my family, my wife and children. And things have changed for me, the rhythm of how I live.
And how is Ciarán’s family doing?
It's very difficult. But they watched the show, the first episode, and it was a very emotional. I got wonderful text saying how proud they were and how much they loved it and thanking me. And I was like, Jesus, don't be thanking me, and thank you for allowing me to tell the story and talk about your dad. It was quite special.
It must be a gift to be able to talk about somebody that you love and lost. Ciarán’s son who you speak to in the first episode, what a strong young man.
Incredible, incredible children, incredibly strong. But to answer your question, it's ripped the family apart. It's devastating. It's not easy, and it's not yes, it's not fair.
So if I can find any way to help them celebrate their dad, I think something like this is, you know, is a wonderful help.
What would you like viewers to take away from this series?
It’s a postcard. It's a postcard to Ireland from, you know, it's a beautiful, beautiful love letter, you know, from where I was born and raised, and if it also helps people to talk about their grief... we're not given the tools to understand grief and to deal with it ever and if this gives people some sort of help and tools into dealing with their grief and maybe understanding and asking the right questions, well, then, I think that would be, that would be lovely.
