Boyzone docuseries is a reminder of how dangerous it was to be gay and in the spotlight

Boyzone, who achieved musical world domination over 30 years ago, offered teenagers in their bedrooms the chance to live the fairytale they’d once dreamt of. From their conveyor belt of hairstyles to their charming choreography, they appeared to have it all.

But three decades on from their success, the new docu-series Boyzone: No Matter What following Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Shane Lynch, Mikey Graham and Stephen Gately reveals what life was really like behind the rose-tinted glare of boyband fame, and more potently how their personal lives were cannon fodder to the British tabloids.

Created by the makers of Reclaiming Amy and Caroline Flack: Her Life & Death, the three-part series lays bare the lack of boundaries that existed between the boys of Boyzone and the worldwide press, but most damningly uncovers the puppeteering of the boys' personal lives by the band's managers to propel them into stardom.

Louis Walsh, creator and former manager of the band, appears throughout the documentary revelling in the press splashes that helped secure the boys' commercial success during the mid to late '90s – one infamous headline being the front cover story by showbiz reporter at the time Rav Singh, proclaiming ‘Boyzone Stephen: I’m Gay and I’m In Love’.

When Stephen Gately’s sexuality was exposed by The Sun in 1999, it proved a turning point for the band and their relationship with the press. When an unnamed source leaked to the tabloids that Gately was gay, his sexuality became the story that every tabloid wanted - no matter what.

Nothing was going to stop the story being published and Gately’s only option was to write his coming out letter as if it was his plan all along.

But for the then-23-year-old Irish born singer, his experience of fame had been one that consistently rendered him on high alert since the very beginning. He became a heartthrob for teenage girls across the world, partly orchestrated by Walsh but partly as a result of the deeply constricting heteronormative world that existed at the time. Audiences didn’t question his sexuality because they had no reason to. Not being straight and in the public eye, at this level of fame, was unheard of.

Growing up in Sherriff Street in Dublin, Gately and his four siblings lived in relative poverty during the late 1970s and early '80s. With homosexuality only being decriminalised in the Republic of Ireland in 1993, the whole of his youth was spent with his sexuality being deemed criminal. His dreams of stardom were granted at just 17 when he auditioned for ‘Ireland’s version of ‘Take That’, landing him a place in the group that went on to become Boyzone.

Gately’s sexuality was something known to the rest of the band, as well as the group's management - however publicly it was something Walsh looked to disprove, creating rumours of relationships between Spice Girl Emma Bunton and Gately to continue the ‘perfect boy band illusion’.

Episode 2 of the docuseries titled When the Going Gets Tough shows Gately’s main focus being on the future of the band even as the news broke in The Sun. Duffy and Graham both explain how Gately shut himself away, fearing the crowd's reaction at a sold-out gig post-outing in Hyde Park.

He saw his sexuality as a potential catalyst for the group's demise, echoing again the homophobic narratives that existed at the time.

In one scene in the new documentary, Walsh even gleefully reacts to seeing the front page again, exclaiming how exciting it was for the band to be front page - searingly out of touch with the human beings behind the story even 30 years later.

So have times changed now?

Although we’ve made major leaps and bounds in regards to LGBTQ+ representation and success in the music industry, and across the whole chasm of ‘celebrity’ since 1999, both the public appetite and press interest in ‘who is gay?’ still exists.

American singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes and Heartstopper star Kit Connor have both spoken out to criticise intrusive press speculation and social media pressures to ‘announce’ their sexuality as a result of questioning rather than to affirm one's own identity.

Underneath the fame and the drama, No Matter What acts as a deeply heartfelt and honest look at how despite fame and success, Keating, Duffy, Lynch, Graham and Gately suffered for their craft, bravely getting the chance to tell their side of the story once and for all in 2025.

Boyzone: No Matter What is available to watch on Sky Documentaries and NOW. Find out more about how to sign up for Sky TV.

Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.