No Air Head

The location is the new Firestation nightspot on Tara St in Dublin, the occasion is the launch of Motorola's new V2288 mobile phone and the guest of honour is MTV's Select's vivacious vixen Donna Air.

Ms Air speaks for all of a minute and a half before settling down with a pineapple juice for our chat. She's even prettier in the flesh than she is on telly, if unusually thin, and actually looks a lot younger than her twenty years. Donna originally graced our screens on the BBC teen-soap Byker Grove, in the company of such luminaries as Ant and Dec, before joining girl band Crush for a brief and not entirely successful career in music.

"I couldn't sing a bloody note," she admits, in a Newcastle accent that's slightly softer than her television persona. "It's a case of finding out what you're good at, and singing really isn't my thing."

So, is presenting a difficult job?

"Look, I could lie, and I probably should, but actually, (whispers), it's a piece of piss, it's sooo easy. I'm lucky in that the Select team are fantastic, great fun and excellent with supplying good callers, but yeah, it's easy. Since March I've been working on The Big Breakfast for Channel 4, and also I've got a late-night pop-gossip show called Pop Gun, so I'm quite busy. Also I'm acting again, 'cos that's still my first love, in a period drama called A Dinner Of Herbs for the BBC, and I get to wear loads of cool 1840s clothes."

Ahh, clothes. Many of us are more familiar with the unclothed Ms Air, as she regularly appears bra and panty-clad for photoshoots in glossy lad-mags like Loaded. Is she aware of the fact that men may actually read these magazines, em, one-handed so to speak?

"Aaargh, I can't believe you asked me that!", she says, looking appalled. "I don't do as many of those shoots as people think, 'cos they re-use the pictures for calendars and stuff. Basically I don't do anything I don't enjoy, and if I've got something I want to publicise and I can do that while wearing nice gear, or, uh, not wearing a lot of nice gear, I'll do it. It's not up to me what happens afterwards. Do you know, if you're right, I'd be quite flattered, but seriously I don't think about it."

Is it true that Donna once asked The Corrs, live on air, how they got together?

"Irish journalists always ask me this. I dunno... I haven't interviewed The Corrs for four years, and I certainly don't remember asking that. I didn't, and if I did I'm sure I was taking the piss..."

Does she have a boyfriend?

"Nah, I don't," she sighs. "I'm really busy with work so I don't go out much..."

But I thought she was big mates with the Meg Mathews mafia?

"Not really, 'cos everyone's so busy. I used to see Meg a lot 'cos she used to live really close to me, but not so much now. Nowadays I just sleep to relax. Occasionally I'll go out with mates, I've got one old friend and one new friend so I'll go out drinking with them. I'm a big Tequila fan. When we were in Dublin for the MTV Awards we all got rat-arsed in a ballad pub in Temple Bar. My limit's about nine."

Does she take drugs?

"It depends what you would call a drug: coffee's a drug, alcohol is a drug, but if you mean what I think you mean then no."

Who's the most fanciable person she's ever interviewed?

"George Clooney, but I'm useless at flirting. I always play it too cool. That's why I'm still single I suppose."