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09-05-01 news
Dannan is in MTV heaven...

The Irish MTV presenter Danann Breathnach is being tipped as the next Jamie Theakston after being snapped up by MTV to present a daily pop show.

The 26-year-old has uprooted from Dublin to settle in London and now finds himself rubbing shoulders with the likes of Moby, Emma Bunton and Westlife.

Dark-haired Breathnach, even found himself strutting on the Milan catwalk recently alongside supermodel Giselle, at the MTV Fashionably Loud show. "My life's gone mad,"he says excitedly to news wire services.

"I thought things were crazy in Dublin, but everything's just stepped up a pace since I got the MTV job and moved to London. One minute I'm interviewing top pop stars, the next I'm in Milan modelling clothes. I'm not complaining though, it's fantastic and as glamorous as it looks," he adds.

Breathnach, took over the live video show MTV Select after being spotted on RTE, where he presented a weekly teen pop programme called Fish with Louise Loughmann.

Although he's a well known face in his native Ireland he didn't hesitate to start out again as a relative newcomer in England. "I honestly thought I'd never leave Dublin," he admits. "I had a great life over there and the work was flooding in. I used to get mobbed walking down the street sometimes, but when the offer came in from MTV I knew it was too good an opportunity to miss - my dream job in fact."

Moving to London wasn't all plain sailing, however. "One place was really squalid," he says. "I opened up the dishwasher and found all the plates crusted with mould."

Thankfully Breathnach looks like putting all that behind him as his TV profile grows. He's following in the footsteps of the likes of MTV proteges Richard Blackwood and Cat Deeley.

His co-presenter on MTV Select is Lisa Snowdon, who has been dating George Clooney. "I haven't met him, even though I keep hoping he'll turn up to the studio," says Breathnach of the Hollywood superstar. "Lisa's a great girl but I don't think she sees much of him either. He's a very busy man."

As for his own love life Breathnach happily admits he's young, single and definitely free. "I had a bit of a messy break up with my last girlfriend a couple of months before I left Ireland, so the MTV offer came along at the right time," he reveals. "But I'm enjoying being single again. I'm always having crushes on people. Kelly Brook, Helena Christensen and the really cute dark-haired girl in the band Precious. She's my new favourite," he adds.

Chances are it won't be too long before he gets to meet his crushes in the flesh. But for now, the up-and-coming star is determined to keep his feet firmly on the ground. "I'm just grateful to have a job," he laughs. "When I was younger I always wanted to be Han Solo in Star Wars, but when I realised that was never going to happen, anything else was a bonus."

Breathnach was born and educated in Limerick and after achieving a higher diploma in film and video production, he kick-started his TV career as a researcher on RTE. "I had no idea what a researcher was at the time," he grins. "I just thought 'what the hell. I'll give it a go'.

"After the Han Solo disappointment I've never really had a game plan, I've just enjoyed being in TV and want to do the best I can at each job. That's why it's flattering to be compared to Jamie Theakston, but I take it with a pinch of salt. I can't help it with family and friends like mine. They still live in Limerick and whenever I go back home they don't make a big fuss. They're proud of what I'm doing but I'm just plain old Danann to them."

He's far from plain to his many female fans and he's set to be a name to be reckoned with. And as for that name? "It's Gaelic and pronounced Donann," he explains. "People are always telling me to spell it with an O, but that only winds me up. It's an unusual name, but I'm very proud of it," he concludes.

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