Travelling Light
She was the face of No Frontiers for a decade but when that show ended Kathryn Thomas had to reinvent herself. So she put away her rucksack and took a job presenting Winning Streak. Then Gerry Ryan passed away and she found herself stepping into his shoes on Operation Transformation. In a revealing interview she discusses her ‘rivalry’ with Grainne Seoige over hosting The Voice, losing her virginity at 17 – and why RTE needed to stop paying its stars so much.
Olaf Tyaransen, 21 Mar 2012
So you weren’t just a gopher?
Well, I was a gopher, but I was happy to be a gopher that was noticed as opposed to one that wasn’t noticed.
How did Rapid come about?
I was down labelling tapes for Coco TV – these girls would send showreels in and my job was to rewind the showreels and make sure they were set up, put the stickers on them to make sure we knew who they were. I was looking at all these girls coming in with their headshots and all that...
I presume you were destroying all the good ones...
Yeah, fuckin’ rip that one up (laughs)! But even at that stage I loved the production side of it. I loved being part of a team. Even to just be in there at that stage was enough for me. One of the first shoots I was on was About The House with Duncan Stewart. It was pissing rain and my job was to hold the umbrella over Duncan for the day while he was doing his lines. To see how the creative process worked, I loved. But anyway they decided that Jason Sherlock was to be the male presenter for Rapid and one of the producers came down and said, “Look, would you think of auditioning for it yourself?” I didn’t have to be asked twice.
You’ve always had a TV show since then...
Touch wood (knocks forehead and laughs) – because, as you know yourself, the freelance business can be tough. But I was 19 and, fingers crossed, I haven’t been out of work since.
Any regrets about not going back to finish your degree?
None whatsoever.
How long did Rapid last?
It ran for three years. I was temping for the summer in London – I was going out with a guy who was an editor in London at the time – and I got the phonecall to say that Rapid wasn’t coming back, but could I meet the travel show people, they wanted to introduce a younger, funkier, independent strand. So I met that production company and they asked me if I would go backpacking and travel around the world for them and it was like, “Let me think about that... emmm – ok!”
It was a dream gig for any young person...
Ah Jesus! I started that when I was 21 and finished up last year when I was 31. Ten years. Literally, my whole 20s, I had this incredible privilege to work with a very small team and go to these amazing places.
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Olaf Tyaransen
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