UTV Presentation Thread

More logic defiance on UTV tonight.

Julian Simmons did IVC into Emmerdale earlier, and it looks like it was done live, and without plugging the Watch 2 Win question, while Gillian Porter is doing ECPs, which may or may not be live, and no doubt will be reading the late news.

Is there an actual point to having Julian around tonight if Gillian is also there and doing the same shift? Why let one announcer do the programme intro while another does the outro?

Just finished uploading Christmas & New Year presentation to UTV Today! Still a wee bit more to come, plus the videos! Click the link in my sig...

Is TVF's top Norn Irn male telly totty (although I'd rather have Gavin Andrews, thank you) Marc Mallett, still doing continuity shifts? No sign of him recently.

Likewise, Sarah Dobson didn't venture from the newsroom over the holidays - have her and Marc been ousted from continuity duty now Audra is back?

And where has Aidan Browne disappeared to?

And, lastly, are there any more updates on UTV Today before you get busy again, Stephen?

Julian Simmons: I was spat at for being gay
By Lesley-Anne Henry
Monday, 19 January 2009

Northern Ireland television presenter Julian Simmons has spoken of the homophobic abuse he suffered after revealing he was gay.

The popular UTV star, who came out last summer, said he was ‘spat at’ as he walked through Belfast city centre.

The sickening attack came just days after he confirmed his sexuality in an interview with a local newspaper.

Yesterday he told our sister paper the Sunday Life: “I was standing at traffic lights and a van went past and a guy shouted out of it: ‘There’s that gay fella from UTV’, and spat at me.

“It didn’t land on me — it landed on the woman beside me — which was pretty inconvenient.

“It’s horrible, but you just have to say, ‘there but for the grace of God go I’ because I could have that attitude.”

Julian, who landed the UTV job more than 25 years ago, said he has developed a thick skin since being in the public eye.

“I would go so far as to say 99% of the time I have developed a veneer of toughness to be able to deal with the situation.

“But there is a bit of me that is easily hurt. These days, though, you learn not to let that come to the front,” he said.

Julian, who is currently single, also revealed he has had his heart broken many times.

He added: “I’m not cynical, but I just accept the fact that nothing lasts forever and I just enjoy the first flush of it when it hits because it doesn’t get any better than that.

“I’ve had my heart broken umpteen times and I do lose my heart easily, but these days I have learnt.

“It hasn’t happened for a brave few years.”

Despite being a household name Julian said he has only recently felt that he belonged at Havelock House.

The former airline worker concluded: “It’s only recently, in the last five or six years, that I feel I can walk into the UTV without feeling like an impostor.

“I always felt I should never really be there.”

Speaking of Jules:

Wow. I never suspected a thing!

I can't tell if you think it's an unfortunate choice of words or not.