On Christmas Day and thirty-three years after her first news bulletin, Anne Doyle makes her final appearance for the station, writes ROSITA BOLAND
ON CHRISTMAS DAY, RTÉ newsreader Anne Doyle will read her final broadcast, after 33 years with the station. There is a symmetry to the date: Doyle read the RTÉ news for the first time on Christmas Day in 1978.
Her departure has a particular meaning for a television audience who first started watching her reading the news at a time when there was little other choice of channels. Both the Six Oneand Nine O'Clock Newsbroadcasts draw consistently large audiences, and the faces of those who front them build up a relationship with viewers. Or the other way around.
Whichever it is, Anne Doyle and her unruffled, dignified and steely delivery of the news will be missed in homes around the country.
From Ferns in Co Wexford, a county she still enthusiastically supports when it comes to sport, she was the youngest of seven. Doyle studied English and history at UCD. She then did the diploma in education and taught for a short time, which may explain why she sometimes looks to camera as sternly as a teacher about to reprimand a pupil.
She joined RTÉ in 1978 after a period at the department of foreign affairs in the consular service. Ever since, her face and voice have been familiar to the hundreds of thousands of people who regularly tune into RTÉ, either at home, or latterly, via the internet.
Doyle may have a prominent presence in the public consciousness, but once the cameras stop rolling, she guards her privacy closely.
Although RTÉ was this month inundated with requests to interview her prior to her departure – including this newspaper – to date, Doyle has turned them all down, even those from her own organisation. The message appears to be she wants to leave with the minimum of fuss.
The State broadcaster runs a skeleton staff on Christmas Day, so even within her own organisation, there will be few colleagues around to clap when her news broadcast ends on Sunday.
Attempts to find colleagues to speak about Doyle were difficult. “People inside RTÉ are scared to speak to anyone at the moment, even off the record,” one employee explained: even, it seems, on a subject as uncontentious as the departure of a respected colleague.
The sole employee who did talk about Doyle had this to say: “She’s quite different to what you see on television. She comes across as quite formidable on screen, but in person, she’s good craic and a little unpredictable. ‘Bonkers’ is a phrase I’ve heard used.”
In 2000, Doyle was elected to represent the staff on the 14th RTÉ Authority. “That election is via a vote, and you have to canvass for it, so it shows she is popular with staff.”
When the news broke that Doyle was leaving the station, former colleague Gay Byrne told a newspaper: “She’s really funny and witty and self-deprecating, which is wonderful. Unfortunately, people don’t see that side of her when she is reading news but she really is terrific. She really should do another type of show.”
Doyle has continued her early interest in literature by being extremely well-read. Apparently crime novels, nature, non-fiction and diaries are among her favourite genres. She’s interested in theatre, Georgian architecture, and is keen on travelling, with Italy being her favourite destination. She’s devoted to her cats – at one point in her life, they numbered 10 – and supports animal welfare charities.
Doyle has also lent her support to Aware, the organisation that helps raise awareness around depression.
Last month, she had the distinction of being one of three faces of RTÉ television chosen to represent the station on a set of stamps from An Post. Gay Byrne, Emma O’Driscoll and Doyle all appear on the 55-cent stamp. Doyle’s face is shown on the screen of a smartphone, to reflect the changes in the ways viewers now access news since the station first went on air 50 years ago. It’s entirely possible all Christmas cards sent by Anne Doyle this year carried stamps of her face on the envelopes, which may well make them collector’s items in years ahead.
She has her own tribute Facebook page. The Anne Doyle Facebook Appreciation Page describes her thus: "For decades, nay centuries, since the first homo sapienmale attached his Sky Digibox and tuned into the newscast from Montrose, the lady of the silver screen has conveyed the bulletins of the day to our homes. Glamorous, resplendent in strange metallic jewellery, her stunning visage 'neath her golden bob, Anne Doyle has come to represent all that is good about the national broadcaster . . . The Sharon Ní Bheolains of this world will come and go, but Anne shall remain immortal, immovable, immaculate."
Ah, the necklaces. There aren’t many things that can reflect a person’s individuality when you are presenting to a set format. Hair is one of them, jewellery another. The hair has remained pretty constant for several years; a perfectly groomed blonde bob.
As for the statement necklaces, they are many, and many of them are large. When Bull Islandwas on air, it regularly parodied Doyle with a catchphrase: "I am Anne Doyle. I am the news." The Bull IslandAnne Doyle character wore necklaces so huge they may have taken their inspiration from the giant torcs in the National Museum.
Watch out for what she’ll be wearing for her final broadcast on Christmas Day. And listen to what she’ll say when signing off on air for the last time in 33 years. Don’t let us down, Anne Doyle. It’s Christmas. Promise us you’ll say something.
CV
WHO IS SHE?
One of RTÉ's best-known employees
WHY IS SHE IN THE NEWS?
She reads her final news broadcast on Christmas Day after 33 years at RTÉ
MOST APPEALING CHARACTERISTIC?
The desire to keep her private life private
MOST LIKELY TO SAY
And that's all from us for tonight. Good night.
LEAST LIKELY TO SAY
Disappointingly, anything profane live on air
