Boyzone: No Matter What

Before One Direction, there was Boyzone. The impact that the Irish boyband had on the pop culture landscape may be lost on Gen-Z. But for many Millennials, the group is symbolic of a bygone era, one seeped in a quixotic nostalgia that hides a toxic reality. Sky’s three-part documentary, Boyzone: No Matter What, unmasks the darkness behind that boy-next-door façade.

A villainous Svengali figure, Louis Walsh personally picked out the six working-class boys (soon whittled down to five with cutthroat ease) in 1993, and cultivated a quintessentially 90s heartthrob image for them. By his own admission, Walsh “prefer(s) ordinary people because they work harder and they do whatever you want at the start”. The surviving members – Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch – come across as affable and sincere in their reflections on this surreal time in their lives. Walsh, however, does not.

It sheds light on the cruelty of the industry and the lack of safeguarding for the quintet of teenage boys, some of whom were essentially children at the time of the group’s inception. Walsh admits to fabricating stories about his protégées to the press, supposedly to promote them. As the most popular band member, it was the late Stephen Gately who bore the brunt of this tabloid intrusion.

The series is a bleak reminder of the relentless, merciless homophobia that permeated the British and Irish tabloids in the 90s and 2000s. Gately’s forcible outing by The Sun in 1999 is one of the documentary’s most heartbreaking moments. Rav Singh, a Sun journalist, reminisces gleefully about breaking the story that caused Gately intense distress; Walsh, it seems, shares this relish. But Keating’s palpable anger on behalf of his bandmate and friend is gut-wrenching, as is the group’s grief over Gately’s sudden death at 33.

One of the series’ shortcomings is its failure to fully explore the interpersonal dynamics within the band. Graham, for instance, is portrayed as the black sheep of the group, though this is merely touched upon. The same can be said for certain members’ resentment over Keating’s post-Boyzone stardom and alliance with Walsh.

Nevertheless, Boyzone: No Matter What is a surprisingly harrowing pop culture time capsule. A poignant reminder of the ephemeral nature of fame and the brutality therein, the documentary is undoubtedly a tearjerker for Millennials and pop enthusiasts alike. 

Antonia Georgiou

Boyzone: No Matter What is released on Sky on 2^nd February 2025.

Watch the trailer for Boyzone: No Matter What here: