Nine-year-old Charlie Brunton is getting the opportunity of a lifetime, going behind the scenes at The Late Late Toy Show to work as a stage hand this Friday night after writing a charming letter to host Ryan Tubridy.
Charlie is from Mountnugent, Co. Cavan and wrote Tubs a letter earlier this year asking if he could make one of his dreams come true and let him help "set up the stage" at this year's Toy Show.
Charlie is the youngest of four boys and mum Breege Reilly said he 'rules the roost'. He loves the Toy Show and is fascinated by how television is made.
Charlie's mum said, "Charlie always thinks about how things are done with a particular interest in filming and special effects like how they make actors cry. He absolutely loves the Toy Show - with recordings and YouTube we have weekly viewings.
"He is very handy with a hammer and we have lots to evidence with hammer prints on window boards, missing pieces off tables and no plasters left!” she said.
The family record The Late Late Toy Show every year and watch it repeatedly well into spring. Breege said that Charlie was watching it one evening when he decided to write a letter to Ryan Tubridy himself.
"He looked at the muscles on his arms and decided they were definitely ready for that job! When I was rushing out to work one morning he produced a sealed envelope and asked me to write Ryan Tubridy’s address. I hastily spelled Donnybrook, Dublin 4 for him and posted it. Every so often he would ask ‘did Ryan Tubridy ring me?’ We can’t believe that we did get the call," she said.
When the family were contacted by The Late Late Toy Show team to invite him to take part in the show, Charlie was left speechless.
A very happy Charlie Brunton
Breege said: "After getting the call I finished work early to pick him up from school to tell him the big news. He was speechless driving home. Then the phone calls and messages started and it hasn’t stopped since. He still doesn’t believe he will be on it. He has become a local celebrity. Everyone in our rural parish knows. He went around to each classroom in school (Scoil Bhride in Mountnugent) to tell all the students and spoke at assembly about it. We have looked at every Toy Show recorded. Our lives at the minute are all arranged around Friday and he is enjoying every minute of it!"
And who would Charlie like to be when he grows up? "Ryan Tubridy!" laughed Breege.
The build up to this year's Toy Show continues on RTÉ One tonight with another episode of the The Toy Show Unwrapped at 7pm, looking back at some of the classic highlights from Ireland's favourite TV show of the year.
