Laura Whitmore stars in the latest stage adaptation of The Girl on the Train, which is based on the hugely successful thriller by Paula Hawkins. John Byrne catches up with her ahead of the Irish leg of the show's tour
Who is Laura Whitmore? Or - more to the point - what is Laura Whitmore? As well as doing stuff mere mortals also do - like falling in love and having children - she’s also something of a one-person entertainment industry.
She’s a successful radio and television broadcaster best known for hosting on MTV and the Bafta-winning Love Island, the I’m A Celebrity spin-off show, Celeb Juice, and her own breakfast show on ITV.
She launched the documentary series Laura Whitmore Investigates in 2023 and is currently working on a new documentary series, Britain's Killer Teens. That's about as far removed from Love Island as it can get.
Also: she currently hosts BBC Podcast, Murder They Wrote alongside Iain Stirling, aka her husband.
Not content with all of that, in March 2021 she released her first book, the best-selling No One Can Change Your Life Except For You.
Oh yeah, Laura's also an actor.
She trained at the Leinster School of Music and Drama, studied Shakespeare at RADA and has worked on stage as well as the small and big screens.
She wrote and starred in the award-winning short film Sadhbh, toured in Peter James’ Not Dead Enough, and has several film/TV acting credits to her name.
In 2022 she made her West End debut as Jenny in 2.22: A Ghost Story and returned home to play Lauren in its Dublin run in 2024.
Now she's on her way back to the Irish stage - two of them actually; the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin and Cork’s Everyman Theatre - to perform in the smash-hit production of The Girl on the Train.
The gripping thriller, based on the internationally acclaimed number one best-selling novel by Paula Hawkins, sees Laura star as the show’s central character, Rachel Watson.
Catching up with Whitmore ahead of the show’s arrival here, the obvious first question is about her outrageously versatile career . . .
John Byrne: Hi Laura. I have to say that I read your CV earlier and there was so much there I had to lie down afterwards. I was exhausted. You’re obviously a highly motivated individual . . .
Laura Whitmore: "It doesn’t feel like work, if you love what you do. And I’ve been lucky to have quite a variety . . . which makes life not boring. And I think, once I feel excited and I feel challenged, that’s always been really important to me.
"Sometimes I'm better off not thinking (laughs) how am I going to get through next week? That’s my mindset. I get really excited by everything that I’ve done so far and everything I still have to do."
Is this all part of a plan, or do you just do whatever you fancy next - or is it maybe a bit of both?
"I have a masterplan . . . Honestly, things change as well. When I first started in television, doing Pick Me MTV, and doing the auditions for that, and getting the MTV gig. That was just a year’s contract, which ended up becoming seven years.
"Then I went to do ITV stuff and radio, and the BBC. But the landscape changes constantly. One of the most consistent things is I do a BBC podcast. And, to be honest with you, I think I'd always prefer radio over a podcast, but actually at the moment I prefer podcasting because it pays better (laughs), and I can record it from anywhere in the world.
"And we’ve got our own audience that we’ve created ourselves, rather than being the host of a particular show that already exists. You create your own space. I find the world fascinating, how it’s constantly changing. And then there’s a lot of things that I’ve always loved to do.
"Anyone who knows me - like all my ex-school friends, when they see me coming back to Dublin to do a play - says: 'This is you! This is you!' Life happens very quickly, but I’ve always had these things that I wanted to do."
The Girl on the Train - you read the book and now you’re in the play. That must be quite a buzz?
"I was a huge fan of the book when it first came out. And the character of Rachel, and [the author] Paula Hawkins, who I met this year. She’s written this beautiful - beautifully flawed - character, who I think anyone in the acting world would jump at to play, because there’s so much to her.
"I’ve done a bit of acting before. I’ve done a few roles for telly, and some films, and theatre before - but this one in particular . . . there’s just so much on the page.
"She goes on such a journey that I’d be mad to turn it down, because I think it’s really challenging. And it’s scary. But I feel there’s so much there that you have, if you give it the time. And I’ve been doing it for a few weeks over the UK.
"I might have been the person who suggested it coming to Ireland (laughs). I had a feeling that the Irish audiences will - I hope - love it. The book did really well over in Ireland.
"And I think what the director Loveday Ingram and the whole creative team, the people who worked on the stage screenplay, have created is a beautifully adapted version for the stage."
Turning a novel into a play makes it a very different experience for an audience - people who've read the book saw the story unfold through their mind's eye . . .
"The question I’m most asked is ‘How do you get a train on the stage?’ (laughs) It’s very cleverly done. There’s a lot of lighting; there’s a lot of movement. You feel immersed in it. It’s very stylised. It’s very minimal. It’s a minimal set. There’s not a lot to it.
"But you don’t have a second to think, because it’s constantly moving. And it really represents what’s going on inside this character Rachel’s head.
"I’m so proud of it. I think it’s so clever. I wish I could take credit for the production side of it. I can take credit for my version of Rachel, but I can’t take credit for the production. But I think it is very clever and that people will love it."
You’ve played around the UK, but will it feel a bit different for you when the time comes to play Dublin and Cork? These are your own people - you know what we’re like!
"The aunties will be there, John. My aunties will be there. The real judges! I think Irish people have a high standard when it comes to theatre. And I look at some of the people who have graced our stages.
"I actually spoke to someone about this recently - because I do a lot of presenting, and I present TV shows in front of millions of people, and I presented at Wembley and big things - but theatre is particularly intimidating. You can practically hear people breathing. They’re that close.
"You’re very vulnerable - but then you have the joy of being vulnerable as a character. So that almost lets your guard down a little bit more."
And you kind of play a character when you’re presenting, I’d imagine? Maybe a larger than life version of yourself?
"Especially on different shows. I’ve hosted everything from Love Island and I’m a Celeb, MTV and documentaries. And obviously, the Love Island version of Laura . . . it’s still Laura - but it’s very different to the documentary-making version of Laura."
For another example, you’ve Britain’s Killer Teens coming up on TV in September. There’s a totally different tone required for that, as opposed to, say, Love Island.
"And it’s also very real.
"A lot of these families have gone through real-life trauma and it’s very hard. But it’s also really important issues that I feel strongly we should be talking about. And I admire anyone who is willing to put themselves out there and talk about something so raw and emotional.
"Sometimes it’s a similar skill set, in some ways, but I love having time with people. Some of the shows I’ve worked on in the past, you don’t have time to kind of talk . . .
"We live in a world where everything is like, 'That has to fit into an Instagram page', or go a certain direction, and I love being able to have time to get to know people.as much as you can."
The Girl on the Train runs at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from Monday 25 August until Saturday 30 August. Tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster.
