Music
21 Jul 10

BLACK DAISY singer for Paula Yates role

Lesley-Ann Halvey, the Limerick frontwoman with Black Daisy and Ireland’s Eurovision 2009 representative, has been cast as Bob Geldof ’s late wife, Paula Yates, in a major BBC film production When Bob Met Harvey which commemorates the 25th anniversary of Live Aid.

Focusing on the relationship between Geldof and his Live Aid co-organiser Harvey Goldsmith, When Bob Met Harvey will see Garryowen native Halvey starring alongside Domhnall Gleeson, son of the award-winning Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, who plays Bob Geldof in the production currently shooting in Dublin.

Twenty-six-year-old Halvey was picked for the role as iconic TV presenter Paula Yates after attending an open audition in Dublin. “I just heard them talking on the radio about these open auditions that were taking place in Temple Bar for some film that was set in the eighties. I knew I was going to be in Dublin that day anyway, so I decided to pop in. I just said, ‘feck it, I might as well give it a try’, and then the next day I got a call saying they were considering me for the part of Paula Yates,” Lesley-Ann revealed this week.

One of Halvey’s key scenes as Yates will see her shed tears while watching Michael Buerk’s famous 1984 BBC report about the famine in Ethiopia, a key moment which prompted Geldof to launch Band Aid and record ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ which in turn lead to Live Aid.

When Bob Met Harvey will be screened on BBC2 this autumn.