By Elliott West
“Give me a week”.
Dougie Donnelly
Introduction
Anyone who has watched snooker on British television for a number of years will remember the very familiar face of Dougie Donnelly. His instantly recognisable velvety Scottish accent graced our screens for a number of years in many sports’ presenting roles including bowls, darts, football, golf, rugby and as the presenter of Grandstand. A rare breed, Donnelly was one of those presenters that you felt you were in the studio with. He had a laid back manner but was comfortably in control of any sport he took charge of. Someone who you welcomed into your living room and distracted you from the changing British weather outside.
Career
Born in Glasgow in 1953, Dougie Donnelly followed his father, who was a BBC Scotland producer into working in broadcasting. Beginning his career in radio, Donnelly worked for Radio Clyde in the 1970s, working on the Mid Morning Show from 1979-1992. He also later presented the Donnelly File Show on Sunday evenings between 1987 and 1988, a show that reviewed a famous musician/band each week. In later life, he would also work on Clyde 1 and Clyde 2.
Joining the BBC’s sports department in 1978, Dougie went on to present programmes such as Sportscene Live which broadcast the Scottish Cup final and Scottish internationals, the World’s Strongest Man on ITV, Grandstand from Scotland, rugby union and the World Cup in 1990 and 1998. He also presented Grandstand between 1992 and 2002 and a host of Commonwealth Games and Summer and Winter Olympics, a total of seven Olympic Games.
Dougie will also be remembered for being a crucial component of the BBC snooker team during the 1990s. A calming voice before and after the snooker storm, Donnelly would present the action, statistics and post-match reaction in such an articulate way but one that was laced with humour. Unbiased and professional, Dougie always managed to capture the moment in joy or defeat with a voice that relaxed you but enthused you at the same time.
In later life, Donnelly has travelled the world working on various golf projects and has a very successful career in after-dinner speaking. In the recent lockdowns, Dougie commented that he had not spent so much time at home in 30 years. A situation that he joked about caused his wife to first google divorce lawyers and a few weeks later, hitmen. In fact, many people think that Donnelly is no longer with us, as Monty Python would say, “he has ceased to be” but far from it. Dougie continues to work with longstanding work being now on the European Tour. A man who trained to become a lawyer but ended up working on something that he just adores, sport. Someone who didn’t know much about some of the sports he worked on especially bowls and curling but he always embraced a new project and if you give him a week, he will become proficient at it.
