Late Late Toy Show theme revealed as Patrick Kielty thrilled 'to be doing it in December'
Patrick Kielty with Louis Hanna (6), Dublin from Spotlight Stage School on set of this year’s Late Late Toy Show. Pictures: Andres Poveda
Christmas movie favourite Home Alone has been announced as this year’s Late Late Toy Show theme.
Stepping into the Toy Show set feels like being transported into the much-loved movie, with iconic features of the Home Alone house taking centre stage, including the famous staircase, the Christmas tree full of baubles, a fireplace decorated with Christmas stockings, the treehouse, and Buzz’s bedroom.
The stunning creation by RTÉ production designers will take all the big kids among us back in time and have us reminiscing about Christmases spent watching mischievous Kevin McCallister winding up in trouble.
This year’s show promises to be an extra special one, as we wait in anticipation for Patrick Kielty to return with a host of little Kevins and Wet Bandits, as they come together to protect the McCallister home.
Speaking at RTÉ studios ahead of tonight's show, Kielty said: “We’ve managed to squeeze the entire Home Alone house into our set.
“We think it is the perfect setting for our kids this year. We’ve had more applications for the Toy Show this year, kid-wise, than ever before.
“We’ve had over 100,000 applications for the 250 seats in there which is just crazy stuff.
"If we moved the Toy Show to Croke Park, you still couldn’t fit everybody in but we’re delighted that we’re in here.
"It’s lovely to be doing it in December, it’s lovely that Home Alone takes you right into that Christmas moment and I can't wait until I get out there and I hope you guys enjoy it.”
This year's Late Late Toy Show will feature 250 toy testers and performers, and the much-loved book section is back with young readers sharing mythologies and histories.
In a first for the show, kids from every county in Ireland will take to the studio floor to show their local pride in a special Toy Show County Parade.
There will also be surprises revealed throughout the night as RTÉ marks the fifth year of the Toy Show Appeal, which has so far raised €21.3 million and provided support to 302 different charities and impacted 1.1 million children, young people, and their families.
To make the show more accessible, Irish Sign Language (ISL) will be broadcast live for the second year by presenters Sarah-Jane O'Regan and Jason Maguire working with hearing interpreters Ciara Grant and Lisa Harvey-Coleman.
Speaking about the importance of ISL on the show, Ms O’Regan told the Irish Examiner: “It’s so important to have ISL access on the show - visual representation by not just interpreters but deaf interpreters which is really important. Deaf children need to be able to see themselves in the future, they need to have those role models.
“It's the magic of the Toy Show in their first language and it’s a really beautiful night for deaf children and for the children of deaf adults and deaf adults themselves who never had ISL access growing up. The inner child in them gets the opportunity to really access the show.”
The Late Late Toy Show ISL will be available to stream shortly after the live broadcast and will be repeated in the ISL block on Wednesday, December 11.
Audio Description (AD) will also be available for the repeat show on Sunday, December 8 and Monday, December 9 on RTÉ One and on the RTÉ Player.
The Late Late Toy Show will air tonight on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player at 9.35pm.
