It's all great news for Phil

Published on Saturday 15 November 2008 10:04

THERE'S no escaping the fact that Phil MacHugh is Edinburgh's very own It Boy. Turn up to any event and he will be there, champagne flute in hand, working the room. He knows everyone. Everyone knows him – even if it's just his face. And now, the 23-year-old from the New Town has just become the Scotland correspondent for Five News, so everyone will know his name too.

"It's all very exciting," says Phil, who studied journalism at Napier University. "I was working at the Edinburgh Festival doing coverage for E4 and when Soho House (exclusive London Member's Club] came up to the Capital for August and took up temporary residence in Charlotte Square, Channel 4 invited everyone who is everyone in television.

"I went along one night and ended up chatting to Kate Garroway of GMTV and she introduced me to Isla Traquair, the Five News anchor. We got chatting and she told me they were looking for new talent – for younger, fresher presenters. She asked for my details but afterwards I thought nothing of it."

But the following week he got a call. Five wanted his show reels – check out his website, www.philmachugh.com, to see an example. Channel 4 liked what they saw and, in September, Phil was flown down for a screen test.

"The new show was launching in October and even then they weren't sure what they were doing with it. It had very much been anchored by Natasha Kaplinsky and she was heading off on maternity leave. In the end they decided to go with the idea, which was to bring a younger, edgier element to it.

"It launched on October 20 and I actually got the "You're In" phone call on October 23. On the 25th I was told that morning they wanted me on air on the sofa with Isla and I had to get down to London.

"I was running around my flat trying to get ready while my flatmate was printing off all the entertainment news from the internet. In the airport, I think I bought every single newspaper and celebrity magazine possible.

"So my first job was doing the news with Isla. It was so exciting actually as it was the start of the whole Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand saga. It was breaking news while we were on air and it was so exciting, especially as I'd never done news before."

He continues: "Usually the news is very controlled. I never knew it, but a lot of what we see on the television is pre-recorded so even though it's a live news segment, a lot of it – like the introduction, the end – are done in advance. It's as live as possible."

And so on his very first day he was bumped up from doing pre-recorded Scottish segments to being on the couch with the 28-year-old anchor. "I was talking about Britney and her comeback at the MTV awards," he says.

"But that's what they want – and that's what's needed. Five News at 7pm is more entertainment led news. If you want hard news watch Channel 4 at 7pm, if you want something younger, fresher and quirkier then that's us. I think Five are really tapping into something exciting.

"People are bored of hearing about all the doom and gloom, the credit crunch and the like, and the show offers something fun. They're kind of positioning it like E! Entertainment in America. And why not? We live in a celebrity and entertainment driven world and the sales of magazines alone show that this is what people are interested in. A little bit of escapism. We still have three of the top stories of the day on though."

As the Scotland correspondent Phil will be contributing to Five News from Edinburgh and Glasgow as and when entertainment stories happen. And, every two weeks, he will be in London presenting the show with Isla.

"Initially I was only going to be on when they had a Scotland story and I was going to be the Scotland correspondent, but they decided to bring me down and have me on the sofa too," he says, beaming. "So I got the best of both worlds. And it's such a great learning curve for me."

Presenting and television has always been part of Phil's life, having gone to Glasgow Gaelic School which enabled him to present a Gaelic programme at just 14. "Even at school I was very much into performance, acting and putting on shows. It gave me a great training ground. So I was involved with the BBC doing the programmes."

At 17, Phil got involved with BBC Choice and worked on Future World, presenting alongside Gerry McCulloch who now works on STV's 530 Show. This was his first presenting venture in English.

"I just thought 'wow, this is what I want to do'. I really enjoyed it, loved the industry and the people who worked in it. I got a taste for it and I loved that taste."

Did his uncle – Mick MacNeil – of Simple Minds have anything to do with it?

"Absolutely," he says. "If you've got someone whose hugely successful talking about their lifestyle it does rub off on you, and you do think 'I want that'. I remember growing up going to all these lavish parties and meeting all these people. It has helped – especially the contacts. Now that I'm older he tells me a lot more about his time there. It's fantastic and I'm so proud.

"My whole family are involved in the industry – we all got a creative role within the industry. It's the next generation of the MacNeils."

He then adds, laughing: "We're ready to take over."