TV talent show winner on what happened when the fame wore off

Tommy Reilly was just a teenager when he took part in a talent show on Channel 4 called Orange Unsigned Act. At the age of 19, he entered the competition, which offered a recording contract, a cash prize of £60,000, and the opportunity to kickstart a career in music. To his surprise, Tommy, a singer-songwriter from Torrance in East Dunbartonshire, won the show. He had initially hoped that participating would help him secure some gigs in London and connect with people in the music industry. 'The next thing you know you've been on the telly every Sunday for four months,' he recalled. The experience was overwhelming for him. During the show, he had the chance to meet well-known artists like Lily Allen, The View, McFly, and Alex James from Blur. 'You'd meet all these amazing people, and they were being nice about the music - it was some buzz,' he said. Winning the competition brought immediate rewards, including a significant amount of money that was deposited directly into his bank account. 'They literally just sent you the money, it was bonkers,' he remarked. Tommy made a smart decision by using his winnings to purchase a flat, and his debut single, Gimme a Call, reached number 14 on the Official UK Singles Chart. He was living the dream, performing at various festivals and gigs across the UK and Europe. However, as time went on, he began to feel uncomfortable with the demands of being a pop star. He was 'very resistant' to requests to change his appearance and felt uneasy when people recognized him in public. 'I was maybe not cut out for that kind of thing which was a good thing to realize very young,' he reflected. Although he enjoyed the excitement of performing at festivals and traveling to places like America and Europe, he found the promotional aspects of the music industry to be overwhelming. 'It was amazing to get a taste of it and have an amazing year and a half doing all these crazy festivals,' he said, but he realized that the industry was not the right fit for him. After about 18 months, things began to slow down for Tommy. 'Not much,' he said when asked about what happened next. He attempted to create more music but found that his success was diminishing. Eventually, he returned to Glasgow, where he had always dreamed of composing music for films. He seized the opportunity to work on a Scottish indie movie, collaborating with fellow musician Roddy Hart to write the music and score for Anna and the Apocalypse. The success of this zombie musical, filmed in a former school in Port Glasgow, opened doors for Tommy and Roddy in Hollywood. They were eventually given the chance to pitch for a project involving a reboot of the classic cartoon series Animaniacs. When they received the job, they were thrilled to learn that Steven Spielberg, the executive producer of the series, had listened to their work. 'I loved the cartoon as a kid and [Spielberg] is a hero,' Tommy said. 'It's just surreal, very very odd, very amazing, just an unbelievable thing, stuff you wouldn't have thought you'd get to do. ' Their journey took an even more exciting turn when they won a Daytime Emmy for one of their compositions for Animaniacs called Suffragette City in 2021. 'It's madness, a dream,' he said. Now, Tommy is celebrating his work on a new BBC One thriller called Nightsleeper, which is set on a sleeper train traveling between Glasgow and London. This new chapter in his life is a far cry from the pop star lifestyle he experienced 15 years ago, but he is content with the balance he has found. 'The thing that has never changed is that I love making music,' he said. He appreciates the opportunity to work in film because it allows him to focus on the aspects of music he enjoys, while avoiding some of the pressures that come with being a pop star. 'You do your bit, hand it in, then the film comes out.