Dublin-based creative with a successful career across stage, radio, and screen.

After an award-winning career as a comedian, promoter and freelance scriptwriter, he was appointed TV Producer/Director with RTE in 1984 and directed two TV films with U2 (1985 & ’87), a David Bowie special and the 90-minute film Self-Aid: Behind The Screens (voted Best Irish Documentary 1987 Dublin Film Festival).

In 1988 Billy departed RTE to direct Completely Pogued with Windmill Lane Films and join a new C4 rock series. The story of The Pogues was filmed during Patrick’s Week in London, and the following week Billy joined the BAFTA-winning WIRED (TX on C4/CBC Canada/USA Network) as location director, where he travelled the world filming with David Bowie, Prince, Annie Lennox, David Byrne, Crowded House, Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash, Frank Zappa and more. Completely Pogued had its world premiere at the London Film Festival in 1989, and now back in Dublin he directed Ireland’s biggest selling VHS – Que Sera Sera (Warner Bros./Windmill Lane Films, 90 min. feature) following the Irish soccer team as they qualified for the World Cup Finals in 1990; the hour-long documentary Clannad in Donegal (RCA Films); and 9 Days in Leningrad (WLP/Rossike Video) – the first English-language documentary exploring the impact of Perestroika on home-based artists. Billy also directed two iconic Irish music videos – ‘Put ’em Under Pressure’ (Italia ’90), the biggest-selling Irish single of all time, and Harry’s Game (Clannad), the first-ever Irish-language single to crack the British UK charts.

Comedy is always a passion, and for pioneering the growth of Irish stand-up, Billy was awarded the 1992 National Entertainment Award for Comedy. He also co-managed the career of comedian Sean Hughes (1991-93) EP script editing for all live/TV shows, and designed Screen Training Ireland’s 1st ever course aimed at new Irish comedy writers. His 1st feature script, ‘Rippling the Moon’, won a European Script Award in 1997, and the TV drama series ‘RÍ RÁ’ was developed on the European SOURCES screen workshops (1998). But a call from Dublin put his writing ambitions on hold. At Ireland’s 1st ever commercial channel, TV3, Billy was appointed EP of New Programming and Talent, and in 2000, RTE’s 1st ever Commissioning Editor for TV Entertainment. Billy’s proposal to develop the hugely popular Brendan O’Carroll LIVE stage shows into a sitcom for RTE was rejected by the programme controller. After departing RTE, he created the street magic series Close Encounters with Keith Barry (Midas Productions/RTE). It remains one of the most successful international exports for an Irish entertainment format. In 2004 he established Sideline Productions (with Gerry Kelly) to create/produce/direct a wide range of programming for TV, radio, DVD and digital. Sideline was the first (Southern) Irish-based prodco to have a series commissioned directly for UK TV. Secrets of Great British Castles was commissioned by the Viacom-owned Channel 5 and still shown on Netflix around the globe. Both remain the most successful original Irish factual TV series sold internationally. Sideline Productions also emerged as Ireland’s most successful radio comedy producer, winning multiple Celtic Media and New York radio awards. In 2019 Billy wrote/directed Citizens of Boomtown (the story of the Boomtown Rats). COB premiered at the 2020 Dublin International Film Festival and was broadcast on BBC2’s Imagine Arts documentary slot.

During COVID in 2020/2021, Billy gained a 1st Class Hons in Screenwriting from IADT in Dublin and now committed to creating original screenplays across a range of genres. In 2022 he work-shopped a one-man theatre show GUSTO before a weeklong run at Dublin’s Project Arts Theatre in April ’23. The theme was clear – embrace your 3rd act in life! In 2024 Billy wrote, produced and directed Ballroom Blitz – a 2-part RTE series presented by U2’s Adam Clayton exploring the rise and the fall of Irish showbands. An 85-minute feature length version (titled Ballroom Boom) was launched at MIP in Cannes in October 2025 for the international market and screened at festivals worldwide including the 36th Galway Film Fleadh in July 2026.

He is currently writing/editing a series of scripted projects and developing a feature-length doc on the late great Sean Hughes. See www.sideline.ie