Darren SmithAfter leaving school with stunning Leaving Cert* results in the early 90's Darren Smith spent eight years in the Irish music industry for a crime he didn't commit. Since leaving music he's dedicated his life to providing entertainment to the people of earth. Mainly involving television but with a few detours into talent management, theatre production and mime**. He has either created, written, directed, produced or exec produced all of Kite's output since setting it up in 2004.
In 2008 he co-wrote Dustin The Turkey's hauntingly beautiful Eurovision losing "Irlandé Douze Pointe", shortly afterwards he retired from songwriting. *Not in a good way. **Not true. Contact: darren.smith@kiteentertainment.com |
Mairéad WhelanMairéad was first attracted to the showbiz lifestyle with a glitzy job that involved reading the death notices on local radio. Since joining Kite in 2016 as Head of Development, she has single-handedly turned it into one of the most successful production companies in Irish television history. This isn’t true but it makes for good reading on LinkedIn.
As a Series Producer, Mairéad has been at the helm of popular Entertainment formats like 'Ireland's Fittest Family' and ‘Celebrity Bainisteoir’, as well as award winning Documentary series such as ‘The New Irish’. She's has also produced lots of things that didn’t win awards, like ‘A Story With Me In It', ‘Bad Fellas - The History of Organised Crime in Ireland’, and "Power In The Blood', but they were critically acclaimed, and that’s good enough for her… honest. Contact: mairead.whelan@kiteentertainment.com |
Audrey FarrellAudrey has been part of the Kite family since 2018 but you could say that stretches back another 14 years as during her time in Animo Television, the two companies co-produced on Irelands Fittest Family, Anonymous, Celebrity Bainisteoir, Just for Laughs and the award winning Connected. So it was a natural progression that Audrey would make the move across (read: Darren begged her!).
Audrey has worked on successful programmes across all genres from original series to critically acclaimed documentaries and as Head of Production, oversees all projects that are produced by Kite, helping to ensure budgets and timelines are met. Contact: audrey.farrell@kiteentertainment.com |
David NobleThe first piece of advice David got in his television career was to always say yes. When this quickly saw him jumping off a 5-metre diving board in a thong for an ITV game show, he decided it was ok to start asking more questions. A love of producing entertainment and comedy series has since seen him make a number of shows for the BBC and Channel 4 with the likes of Matt Lucas, Rhod Gilbert and Greg Davies.
He co-produced CBBC’s first ever comedy panel show, ‘The Dog Ate My Homework’, which was nominated for two BAFTA’s… and won neither. After making a lot of telly in the UK for nearly a decade, David returned home and is now the Series Producer of Gogglebox Ireland and Last One Laughing Ireland. He has since joined full-time as a Senior Producer. Contact: david.noble@kiteentertainment.com |
Sharon DaltonAfter working her way through pretty much every job in Telly, Sharon is now one of Ireland’s most experienced Series Directors. 3 series of Celebrity Bainisteoir and 11 (yes, 11!) series of Ireland’s Fittest Family only prove the point. Regardless of the show, her passion revolves around making engaging, must see TV and if she keeps her biggest fan (Mammy Dalton) proud too, then everyone’s a winner. Proving she can make telly for readers of the fancy papers too, a sabbatical from the Entertainment genre saw her spend some time in the RTE Factual Department, spawning Veronica Guerin: A Legacy and Better Off Abroad, both of which she Produced/Directed and both of which rated extremely well, not that she’d brag about such a thing.
Since joining the Kite team full time in 2022, her development slate has seen new shows like Brian & Arthur's Very Modern Family, Arthur's Dance Refuge and Life, Actually brought to life… actually. Contact: sharon@kiteentertainment.com |