Boyzone docuseries to air off the back of Lancashire gig

Boyzlife, the supergroup comprised of Boyzone’s Keith Duffy and Westlife’s Brian McFadden, have just kicked off their first tour in two years which celebrates the iconic and defining hits from both acts.

The supergroup are performing at the iconic Blackpool Opera House on Janaury 31 2025 and fans can nexpect to see the duo perform a mixture of hits from both of their individual groups, including from Boyzone: ‘I Love The Way You Love Me’, ‘All That I Need’, ‘No Matter What’ and from Westlife: ‘My Love’, ‘I Lay My Love On You’, ‘Uptown Girl’.

Just two days after Keith’s performance in Lancashire however a new documentary about him and the rest of the Boyzone lads is set to be released for the first time in 30 years,.

The four surviving Boyzone band members - Ronan Keating , Keith Duffy , Shane Lynch , and Mikey Graham - are opening up about their personal journeys in three-part documentary series Boyzone: No Matter What.

With never-before-seen archive footage, emotional interviews, and even reflections from those close to the late Stephen Gately, who died in 2009, the series tells the honest tale of one of the most-loved Irish boy bands.

Boyzone: No Matter What comes to Sky Documentaries and NOW on Sunday, February 2 .

With the bombshell series soon to be released, we sat down with Ronan Keating , 47, to talk about how he's told his side of the Boyzone story.

Ahead of the series release, Ronan Keating, 47 opened up about what it was like filming the documentary so see what he had to say below:

How was it going down memory lane for this documentary?

“It has been harrowing at times. Very emotional. And fun, too.

“I mean, there's some great footage out there of Saturday morning Live and Kicking TV shows and all that, and we went through all of this content over years and years and years. It took us two years to get here and to make this film, and it was worth the wait.

“There were times when I thought: 'I'm making a mistake making this film'. I don't really want the world to see the mistakes we made and the people that, maybe, at times, we were behind the scenes. That wasn't pretty. But I realised that the truth needed to be told.

“That's why it is the film that it is. It's incredibly honest, incredibly tough to watch at times, and upsetting, very upsetting - every time I watch it I'm a mess. But I'm proud of it.”

Your estranged manager, Louis Walsh appears in the documentary, how did you feel watching what he had to say?

“I guess I appreciated his honesty, that he didn't come guarded, you know? He let his walls down, he told the truth, and as did I about this situation, about the situation between Louis and I.

“You know, I miss him. I miss him in my life. He was a father figure to me, and I would not be where I am if it wasn't for Louis. The challenges that he had in front of him, and he pushed and pushed so that Boyzone succeeded when everyone else laughed at us.

“So we owe him a lot, but too much was said afterwards, and there was a lot of hurt, not from my side, and he knew that.

“It all comes out in the documentary. So, I guess it's all been said now, it's all out in the open. And I think when people see the documentary, they'll realise that.”

Was it difficult to open up about such sensitive subjects?

It took hours, actually, it was quite a while to let my walls come down. I think all of us felt the same.

“You can't just come in cold and sit down and start talking about the silly mistakes you made, and the fool that you were, or the things you did that you regret. So it took time, but we did it for, I don't know, 15, 20 hours in front of the camera, filming...

“Sophie (Oliver), our director, she knew the questions to ask, and she got answers that nobody's ever heard before. And I think that's really what's special about it.

“There's loads of content out there about Boyzone, loads of interviews from all of us individually, but there's nothing like this on Boyzone...

“So many people have said to me, that have watched it: 'We had no idea it was like that in the band'.

And I think that's, well, that's why we made the film, because the truth needed to be told. It's the good and the bad and the ugly, I guess.”

The documentary shows just how young you all were when Boyzone started out, how did your home country inspire you in those early years?

“It was an incredible thing to be able to travel around the world and say that we were Irish.

“The door was swung open, anywhere in the world, from Japan to Mexico : As soon as they hear you're Irish, you're welcome with open arms. And it really helped us wherever we went. People loved it, and we played up to it - you know, we loved it too - incredibly proud of where we come from.”

What do you remember of how you were perceived back home, even as you were making waves globally?

“Everybody kind of looked down their nose at us in Ireland , so it was very hard for a while. We wanted to be respected in our own country, and we were laughed at for a long time. And I guess some of those mistakes were ours, because we went on the Late, Late Show and danced around like a bunch of eejits, and people just laughed at it... (we) made the whole thing worse for ourselves.

“But after a while... to go back home and play 10 nights in the arena, break all the records, it was incredible. (We were) incredibly proud, for us as Irishmen, to be able to come home and be respected like that in our hometown.”

Boyzone: No Matter What comes to Sky Documentaries and NOW on Sunday, February 2 .