As she returns for a new season of the Today show, Maura Derrane talks to Claire O'Mahony about embracing middle age, dipping her toe into radio and why women should put their health first.
"It's amazing, I have to say," says Maura Derrane about her new role as interim host of The Nine O’Clock Show on RTÉ Radio 1. "But it really is a learning curve. I know that I'm at the bottom of the stairs and there's a long way to climb up to get to the level of real-life radio presenter person. I'm enjoying it so much, but it’s so different to television."
On the day we speak, Maura has only been 48 hours in the hot seat, taking over from other rotating hosts, Oliver Callan and Brendan Courtney. And it’s a very hot seat, probably the most talked about radio hosting in radio right now.
It’s quite the baptism of fire for someone who, despite years of experience in television, had never been in a radio studio before. However, radio has always been something that interested her.
"I've had my eye on radio for a while, in my head. I thought, I really want to do this. Then the opportunity just arose, as all great opportunities do, when you least expect them, which I love. Sometimes that's meant to be, and I really believe it was meant to be, at this time, for me to do these two weeks. I didn't procrastinate. I didn't think about it. I just did it."
The most immediate challenge for Maura has been to adjust from the fast pace of the Today show, which she has co-presented for 12 years. "Today is packed. It's got a lot going on, but interviews are shorter and that's just the nature of television. On radio now, I'm getting to do interviews that are 20 minutes as opposed to 10 minutes long. I have to almost rejig my brain to slow down my pace and know that I don't have to rush the person in front of me. People get to breathe longer and you get to tease out the matter more."
The other major challenge has been, of course, making her radio debut under a hefty amount of scrutiny.
"I could have flown under the radar somewhere else much more easily," she acknowledges. "It would have been a simpler process to just slip in there and maybe not a lot of people would have their eyes on you in the way that there are eyes on me now. It is a big, huge role, but I'm not in there to take over the role. I'm just in there to get my wings.
"I'm in there for two weeks and that's it and I'm so lucky to be given such a prestigious show to train myself up on. I'm really thankful to the bosses in Radio 1 who decided to put me on air and had the confidence in me. Hopefully, they will be happy with their decision at the end of this fortnight."
Presenting The Nine O’Clock Show is not the only development on her career front. In 2020, Maura moved from presenting Today five days a week to three, in order to spend more time with her young son Cal. Following the news that Sinead Kennedy, her fellow presenter on Today, is pregnant and will take maternity leave this autumn, Maura is set to return to working on the show full time.
"I'm really happy to do it because Cal is a little bit older now, but I'm only doing it up to Christmas, and I'm looking forward to it. But like everything else, I just have to make sure I'm organised before I depart and go down to Cork for the week," she says. Maura, her husband former Fine Gael TD John Deasy and Cal moved from Dungarvan to a Dublin home with seaside views during the pandemic.
"The reason I said I could work until Christmas full-time again was because John has been away an awful lot the last couple of years in America for work, but now at the moment, he's not travelling so much. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to step back in, full-time."
Her son Cal, who is nine years old, started in third class this year and he’s happy to be back in school with his friends, although like every child, he wishes that summer holidays could go on forever. "The little thing!" she says. "But he’s not so little any more; he’s actually very tall for his age and he’s nearly up to my ear now."
Cal, his mother says, is quite technical minded and loves editing, and he is building his own game online. "Because I only have one child, I've immersed myself in his world, and I know everything about everything he's into. I could actually almost give a speech on Minecraft now," she laughs. "I've always enjoyed the world of children and I love kids' TV. When I go to the cinema with him, I enjoy the movies as much as he does, to be honest."
As she gets a bit older (she’s now 53) Maura is embracing this stage of her life. "I just feel I've got a lot to give now and I feel that women in middle age should be more positive about the future and not look at aging as a negative thing," she says. "Even if your body is changing or you're looking a bit more wrecked or you're not going to be so fresh in the morning, there's a lot that we can do for ourselves."
She’s increasingly conscious of the importance of looking after herself and to this end, she has a good skin routine, eats well, cycles and walks and takes probiotics, while still partaking of the occasional glass of wine.
"Let’s be honest, it’s so easy to look good when you’re 30. I was so lucky; up to my 40s, I didn't put on a pound of weight ever. I didn't have lines, I didn't have anything. Now I just have to take care of myself but you can make the best of yourself. I want to look in the mirror and be happy with the person looking back at me. I’m not trying to be 25 again but I want to be the best version of me now."
September is Irish Heart Month and Maura is the ambassador for the Irish Heart Foundation’s 'Her Heart Matters’ campaign, which aims to increase awareness of the risks of heart disease and stroke in women, as well as the fact that this risk increases as women enter menopause.
"One in four women die from heart disease and stroke every year in Ireland and I got such a shock when I saw that statistic," she says. "The reality is you need to listen to your body if you're feeling unwell.
Oftentimes, heart issues present themselves in women differently than they do in men. It could be pains and aches. It could be massive fatigue. It could be gastro issues. But if you're not feeling right, just go to see a doctor. Women put this on their long finger because they run around taking care of everybody else and forget about themselves. So what I want to say to women, especially middle-aged women, is to think of yourself for once, especially when it comes to your heart health."
If she is to look back over the last ten years, in what ways does she think she has changed?
"I suppose I've become more confident in myself, which I guess is the positive side of getting older. I had a child in my 40s so I certainly have changed a lot. But looking at a decade ago, I I'm still doing the same show, which is, I think, wonderful. It says a lot about what we do and about Today and the team behind us that it's still going from strength to strength every year.
"So I'm very happy with what I'm doing career-wise. I feel I've achieved a lot and I feel that I'm happy with what I've achieved. And now that I'm dipping my foot into the world of radio, I'm very, very happy about that new challenge, too."
