GERRY Kelly, the broadcaster and journalist whose warmth and easy charm made him one of Northern Ireland’s most recognisable and best-loved media figures for more than four decades, has died aged 77.
He passed away on Sunday, 26 July 2026, at his home in Ardglass, County Down, surrounded by his family. Gerry was best known as the host of Kelly, the weekly UTV talk show that became appointment viewing for Friday night audiences across Northern Ireland for 17 years.
Over the course of the programme’s run he interviewed some of the biggest names in entertainment, sport and music, from country star Garth Brooks to footballing great George Best.
Among his most fondly remembered moments was an interview with an eight-year-old Rory McIlroy, in which the future golf world number one chipped balls into a washing machine — a clip that has since been viewed millions of times around the world.
Born and raised in Downpatrick and educated at St Patrick’s Grammar School, Kelly began his working life as a lecturer at St Joseph’s College before a chance encounter redirected his career.
In the early 1980s, UTV’s head of sport, Leslie Dawes, called at the Kelly family home hoping to offer a short GAA results slot to Kelly’s brother Danny, then a Down county footballer.
Danny was out; Gerry was in and took the twenty-second slot himself. The exposure led to the offer of a role on a new programme fronted by Gloria Hunniford — on condition that he first secured a National Union of Journalists card.
To earn it, Kelly turned to the Down Recorder, effectively working for nothing as he built a portfolio covering motoring and general news alongside the paper’s reporters.
Within six months he had his NUJ card and was hired by UTV outright, beginning a broadcasting career that would make him a household name.
His own show, Kelly, launched in 1989 and ran for the better part of two decades. Kelly’s talents were formally recognised in 1998, when he won the prestigious Sony Gold Award.
He went on to host a long-running weekly programme on BBC Radio Ulster from 2009, and in his later years returned to television to front The Kelly Years, a retrospective on the many stars who had passed through UTV’s studios.
In 2022 he teamed up with students at Belfast Met to revive his chat show format for community broadcaster NVTV, working alongside a dozen former UTV colleagues to mentor a new generation of broadcasters.
In 2018, Kelly revealed he had been treated for a bladder tumour two years earlier, undergoing six rounds of chemotherapy following surgery. He used the platform his fame afforded him to urge other men to seek medical attention for worrying symptoms without delay.
Tributes were paid across the broadcasting and political worlds following news of his death. UTV’s head of news and programmes, Simon Clemison, said Kelly “was one of Northern Ireland’s best known and much-loved broadcasters,” whose chat show “became a must-watch on Friday nights, featuring some of the biggest names in entertainment”.
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly described him as “a face and a voice that so many generations across Northern Ireland were familiar with” and “a much-loved presenter with a huge character”.
Broadcaster William Crawley said Kelly “had a rare gift for drawing out a guest with deep curiosity and genuine warmth; he made interviews feel like real conversations,” adding that he had “inspired, encouraged and mentored other broadcasters too.”
Former colleague Anne Hailes remembered him as “a big man who will leave big memories”. Gerry Kelly is survived by his wife, Helena, and their two daughters.
