We’ve come a long way from grilling our dad in the utility room
Siblings, Sib best friends and now co- presenters – telly tell host Amy Irons can’t can wait to share the screen scre with her little brotherbrot Lewis.
BBC Scotland show The Nine is set to become a real family affair when Amy’s younger brother starts doing the sports round-up on Tuesday.
Amy, 31, one of the nation’s best loved TV presenters, admitted working with Lewis, 29, is the realisation of both their childhood dreams.
The Adventure Show host said they were both destined to become sports journalists after honing their ski l ls gri l l ing their footballing legend dad Davie Irons after matches on a Saturday.
Amy, who has been working on BBC Scotland’s f lagship news programme The Nine for three years, said: “It is a dream come true to be working alongside my brother and sharing the screen with him.
“There are only two years between us. We grew up in each others pockets and did everything together including hosting our own sports show in the utility room every Saturday night.
“We would set up the family video recorder and wait to ambush dad when he came home from whatever football match he had been at.
“Looking back, I feel sorry for him as he would have been away all day and already been grilled by reporters and then he would come home to us shoving a camera in his face but he was very patient and humoured us.”
David played for Gretna and was assistant manager when they reached the Scottish Cup Final in 2006.
He has also played for Dunfermline and Partick Thistle and has managed Gretna, Morton and Stenhousemuir.
Lewis said: “We were ruthless and if there had been a defeat – which there often had been – we would ask why the team wasn’t good enough.
“Little did we know that our mini shows in our makeshift studio with the washing machine rattling in the background were a trial run for our future careers.
“We both wanted to be sports presenters for as long as we can remember, so it is incredible that both our dreams have come true and surreal we have ended up on the same programme.
“Amy was my role model growing up so to be following in her footsteps and joining her at the BBC is brilliant and bonkers. Our mum Fiona predicted it would happen one day.”
Lewis, who was a media officer for Scotland’s national football team, will do The Nine’s sports round- up on a Wednesday and Thursday with his big sister doing it on
MoMonday, Tuesday and Fridays. AmAmy, who has hosted some of the BBC’s biggest programmes includincluding the Hogmanay show and Sport’s Personality of the Year, said: “AlthougAlthough we wi l l be working on alternate days due to the nature of the team, there will be times when I present the main programme and Lewis will be doing the sport.
“We are also doing The Edit together at the end of the month when David Farrell is off on holiday and Lewis stands in. We are hoping our natural relationship and the chemistry we have might lead to us doing even more.
“Who knows, we could be the new Ant & Dec? Having our own chat show would be brilliant. We are hoping it is the start of lots of opportunities for us to work together.”
She added: “People might think he got the job because I was on the show but I had nothing to do with it. He smashed his interview out of the park and worked really hard to get where he is today.
“He took a totally different route to get here and it’s a coincidence the job came up while I was still working here.”
Before Lewis, covering for Laura McGhie who has gone to Five Live on attachment for a year, went into journalism he was a footballer, in boyband Rewind and opened for Little Mix at the SEC.
He said: “I played for Heston Rovers, Queen of the South and dad had me in at Gretna once but because I was splitting my time between my mum and dad’s, playing every weekend was not an option.
“When I was 18, I joined a boyband. It was an incredible experience and although the band broke up, performing on stage gave me the confidence to be a presenter. I went to uni to study journalism and the rest is history.
“I got ribbed a lot at the SFA, especially by players like John McGinn, who used to bring it up every now and again to make sure I didn’t forget.”
The Irons presenting duo could one day become a trio with younger brother Luke, 20, also interested in becoming a commentator.
Amy said: “Luke has a flare for commentating and has shadowed Lewis a few times. We could end up with an Irons dynasty at this rate.”
As well as settling her brother into his new job, Amy is busy preparing to take her podcast Sacked in the Morning to the Edinburgh Festival and filming a new series of The Adventure Show.
She said: “Craig Levein and I are doing the podcast live on August 14 and have Dick Campbell and Jimmy Nicholl already confirmed. It’s my first time at the festival and I’m buzzing.
“I’ve nearly finished filming the last of eight episodes of the Adventure Show, the first is out in October. Life is pretty busy but it is all good.”
Lewis added: “Working with my sister doing the job I’ve always wanted to do really is the icing on the cake. It’s like a double dream come true.”
The Nine host Amy on how working with brother is a dream come true after honing their skills as kids