Ryan ‘Brickman’ McNaught is one of the world’s leading LEGO® brick artists. He is one of only twenty-one LEGO® certified professionals globally. Like a Jedi Knight of all things brick related! He is known to many this side of the world as judge of Channel Four's LEGO® Masters Australia The exhibition is inspired by his bestselling book ‘The Bricktionary: The Ultimate LEGO® A-Z’, and the exhibition. The immersive exhibition developed by Ryan and The Brickman team features over 150 models, made from over 1,000,000 LEGO® bricks The exhibition also includes brick models from the imaginations of The Brickman team, ranging from anime to life-size animals animals, fashion to fantasy and tabletop games to TV shows, It has taken more than 6,500 hours to build the complete exhibition, all built by hand by Ryan and his team. He told Alison Curtis on Weekend Breakfast all about it from his LEGO den in Melbourne, Australia!:

Alisha Weir has been in Matilda, Wicked Little Letters and now Abigail – and she's only 14! It wasn't Alison's first time chatting with Alisha, so the pair caught up on how the last two years have been going for her and whether the films are affecting her school life. Alisha shared how she handled the news that she was in Matilda with her school mates and Alison had to find out, was Alisha even allowed to watch Wicked Little Letters? Plus, what's it like becoming a vampire ballerina for Abigail? Well, press the play button on this page to find out!

National Treasure and Irish acting legend Brendan Gleeson on Weekend Breakfast. Alison has not hidden the fact that Brendan is one of her absolute heroes. She spoke to him about his brand-new documentary, ‘Brendan Gleeson's Farewell to Hughes’ and why he felt it was so important to record this period in his life and what trad music and a creative space is so important to humanity and Irish people in particular. He is a proud fiddle and mandolin player. Brendan also revealed his thoughts on the current Irish acting renaissance, Paddington 2 "I nearly sliced the finger off meself!" , Harry Potter, Smurf Movie, Joker 2 (he was amazed by Joaquin in first movie and signed by straight away to Folie A Deux once he knew Phoenix was attached) and loads more! ‘Brendan Gleeson's Farewell to Hughes's’ documentary will make its world premiere at the Dublin International Film Festival on Friday 1st March followed by a Q&A with Brendan Gleeson. It will be released in the Lighthouse Cinema and Pálás Cinema Galway on March 2nd. For more see diff.ie.

Laura de Barra is a Cork-born property portfolio developer and illustrator working in the competitive London rental market. Her first book, 'Gaff Goddess', was a No.1 bestseller. Now she has turned her hand to clothing. She reveals all the helpful hacks and advice from things to consider before we buy an item of clothing, changing room cheats, trying to buy sustainably and on a budget, parental clothing tips and loads more Her new book is 'Garment Goddess' - Buy well, mend well, wear well, life changing advice from the queen of the household hack' It's out now.

Former model and Mother of 3 Award winning content creator Sunday Times bestselling author, campaigner - Louise Boyce is better known online as Mamasstillgotit_ She pivoted from plus size positive modelling to comedy content creator during Covid and never looked back. On Instagram she has built up a following of over 500k and on Tik Tok nearly 400k Followers and 6.5M Likes. Her campaign called 'Push It Out' exposed how the fashion industry didn't play fair when selling maternity wear. (later when she became pregnant she was dropped by her agent!) A pregnancy was seen as "damaged goods" She got them to change their adverts to come with disclaimers. She has always been wary of aspects of the fashion industry and In 1998 she quit the business due to an eating disorder. She said she was "extremely unhealthy (mentally and physically) and was told I could never have children." Louise told Alison Curtis on Weekend Breakfast all about it. The paperback of her book Mamas Still Got It – How to make it through the Calpol years without losing yourself - is out 29th February. In the chat with Louise Boyce mentioned she had suffered with an eating disorder – if you or someone you know is looking for help or advice – there is the Eating Disorders Association of Ireland, a national voluntary organisation supporting people affected by this – get more at bodywhys.ie

Billy Dee Williams was born and raised in New York City. He has starred in forty movies, seven Broadway plays, and has made more than forty television shows and tv movies combined! In a Galaxy far, far away … okay maybe just L.A. over Zoom! Alison Curtis spoke to this living legend on the show --- He is best known as outlandishly handsome rogue Lando Calrissian on Return Of the Jedi and The Empire Strikes Back but he has had an INCREDIBLE career over SIX decades! He told Weekend Breakfast how he the biggest star in the world once turned up to his first Broadway show, how George Lucas made the biggest call of his life, leading to his iconic role, how he dealt with Star wars fans when they thought he double-crossed Han Solo plus his Irish connections! At one time Billy’s circle of friends included included Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, and Marvin Gaye! HIs autobiography ‘What Have We Here: Portraits of a Life’ BY Billy Dee Williams is out now.

Seven studio albums with Wet Wet Wet. Twelve solo albums. Millions sold. He has starred on Broadway and the West End. "Love Is All Around" reached number one in 1994 It then remained there for 15 weeks! Throughout its chart run, some radio stations banned the song, as many listeners were fed up of hearing it for so long. Apparently - The band themselves eventually took the decision to delete the record from sale. However, it didn’t make it to number one in Ireland … and guess what kept it off the top spot? Alison chats to Marti about dealing with fame as a teenager, Scotland's link with Canada, and what does 'No Marti, No Party' mean! Can we get our own Marty's Whelan and Morrissey involved!? The WWW debut album ‘Popped In Souled Out’ which established Marti and the band as one of the greatest talents to ever come out of Scotland. The record earned him a BRIT Award and four platinum discs in the UK alone. He will play it in full with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra @ 3Arena Dublin on 10th March 2024

Ryan O'Sullivan is 30 and is a Culinary Studies graduate of MTU (Munster Technological University) He is originally from Gurranabraher in Cork City He had previously worked in the Maryborough and River Lee hotels in Cork city before relocating to the US to further his career, landing a job at the Mirasol County Club in Florida in 2018. He fought off 17 other highly talented chefs to take the top prize of $250,000 and a head chef role in Gordon Ramsay's famous Hell's Kitchen Las Vegas restaurant. Winner of season 22 – it took seven weeks of intense filming. He had to keep the outcome a secret the whole time!

A young Cork entrepreneur who first started with bringing his homemade energy balls to college lectures has signed a contract worth €1 million with supermarket chain ALDI. Matthew Collins is from Ballydesmond in Cork and he founded The Sibly Food Co. in 2018. After years of making product for friends, then selling at markets he recently has signed a 12 month contract to supply ALDI’s 161 Irish stores with its popular Energy Balls product. He started making his own homemade energy balls and bringing them to college lectures at the age of 21. After classmates encouraged him to sell his produce, Matthew set up a stall at a Christmas Market in Kanturk where his energy balls proved a big hit with customers and his business has grown hugely since then. He applied for the ‘Grow with ALDI’ programme in 2022 and was selected as one of five winners of the supplier development programme. He told Alison his story.

Spring has nearly sprung and we are looking to emerge from hibernation and looking for things that we can do with the kids that don’t involve screens!! Lilly Higgins is a TV chef, a crafting genius and a Mum to 3 kids - she shares her best tips for keeping them off screens and doing achievable activities that will empower them and also are loads of fun. Some suggestions by Lilly include: Toad Stool Centrepiece Jewellery Tree Tie-dye tees All are available in her book ‘The Homemade Year’ by Lilly Higgins Follow her on  Insta:  lilly_higgins_

One of our very favourite people in TodayFM and ever joined Alison Curtis for a chat! Paula is usually heard Sunday to Thursday evenings from 7 on TodayFM. She joined Alison to chat wardrobes and why 'dopamine dressing' is so important especially this time of year.

Holiday prices are rising but that doesn’t seem to be stopping us booking holidays at home or abroad. A survey of Irish holidaymakers found over 43% are planning to take three or more holidays in 2024. Whilst over 60% of claim that rising living costs will impact their travel plans, fewer than 2% say they will not travel at all. Irish Independent, Travel Editor - Pol O Conghaile joined us to talk about Ireland's obsession and need for breaks no matter how big or small - home and abroad. He tells us all about the Irish Independent Reader Travel Awards - Best holiday county? Best hotel in Ireland? Best overseas city break? The best holiday spot abroad? and much more

Matty Edgell's life changed the minute he was crowned Great British Bake Off Winner 2023. Although he gained instant fame after winning one of Telly's biggest shows he has remained grounded and as normal as he can. He is 28 and works as a P.E. and Science teacher in Peterborough, UK and is one of the nicest, genuine people we have interviewed on the show. When the first episode of the series was aired on Channel 4, Matty had to apologise to his friends who were only just finding out “his best kept secret”: that he is an undercover home baker! Matty beat fellow finalist Josh and Dan to be crowned Bake Off Champion 2023 – the people’s champion. He described himself as the “official underdog” He watched the final in his local and when Alison Hammond (who he ADORES!) made the announcement it was like a cheer in a football match! Judge Prue Leith said: "I've never met a more cheerful, smiling uncomplaining and willing baker," Matty told Alison Curtis all about the Bake Off WhatsApp group, making friends for life, his upcoming wedding - will he make the cake, behind the scenes goss and who he loves the most inside the tent! (Clue: she made him laugh so much he had to steady himself to bake!)

She has been described as the Irish Stacey Solomon! And she has even worked with Stacey's team from 'Sort Your Life Out' and trained under Dilly Carter from the show! However, the Stacey similarities don't stop there; as Hazel admits herself she is the head off the English presenter who is one of her heroes. Hazel from 'The Home Reset' joined us last year and we got such a good reaction to our chat and follow up podcast that we thought with it being January and all, it is a great time to have her back on! We love Stace... I mean Hazel! Enjoy

Arthur Gourounlian is one of The Holy Trinity of judges on Dancing With The Stars! And we LOVE HIM! AG joined us again for a fab bubbly chat to talk the first week of DWTS, who has really impressed him, who surprised him (clue: he spent his career riding and now he has to keep up his form!) and the rest of the goss! Arthur also reveals his dance lessons with husband Brian! Plus, loads more.

The days are colder, but this news really warmed our hearts. One of our favourite shows The Great Pottery Throwdown starts again on Channel 4.  12 potters, 10 weeks of passion, creativity, imagination, humour and maybe even some tears! Friend of the show Keith Brymer-Jones is the head judge on this fabulous show and he spoke to Alison about being back with his BFFs Siobhan and Rich, his brand new tour, his love for the show and the contestants, being friends with a young Shane MacGowan, the new Canadian version of Pottery Throwdown featuring Seth Rogen plus loads more Catch The Great Pottery Throwdown every Sunday on Channel 4 @ 7.45pm

January is not the easiest time of the year. All the build-up in December is released and we have to restart again! The weather is cold and it can be a bit bleak – we are the equivalent of a squeezed tea bag perched on the edge of a sink – So, what better way to lift our spirits than to grab a cup of tea and a blankie - put our feet up an watch some quality uplifting, inspiring happy television.   Producer Lenny is here with his Telly picks for January.   Here is his list in full: Dancing With The Stars - RTE 1 Sunday nights Sort Your Life Out with Stacey Solomon - Originally on BBC      -    Repeats are showing now on W – and you can also search in your Sky or Virgin provider, and it should show up to download or record.  Junior Bake Off – available to stream on All 4 through your smart tv    Gravity Falls - the best animated show EVER! Only Murders in the Building - Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez – star as three true crime podcast addicts whose lives begin to imitate art.  Modern Family  - watch this brilliant comedy described as the real life Simpsons from the start or just go back and watch classic episodes - or if you have never watched START NOW!! All 3 above are available on Disney + Queer Eye - JVN, Tan, Antoni, Karamo and Bobby, travel around the world and help people get their lives together. From personal grooming, home renovation, style, food, and life, Prepare for tears of joy. Nailed It! – the hilarious Nicole Byer  presents this anti-baking slice of brilliance Derry Girls – why not? Go back to the start - pick a fave or introduce a friend! Above three available on Netflix

From how to make the best roasties to an insight into his own plans, Neven Maguire is full of tips and ideas for making the Christmas dinner! To hear the full chat, press the play button on this page.

The final episodes of The Crown are coming out this week on Netflix. How have Dominic West and Olivia Williams found playing Charles and Camila? Well, Alison Curtis finds out – and Dominic tells her about all of his Irish connections!

Jenny Kelly and Mairéad Ronan from the 'Jenny & Mairéad Now' have been doing the podcast for almost a year now, and joined Alison to chat all about it! They also went into what they're looking forward to this Christmas and chatted about their time at TodayFM. For the full chat, press the play button on this page.