Louis Walsh and Boyzone remember Stephen Gately in new documentary on Sky

Sky has announced a new three-part documentary series entitled Boyzone: No Matter What on the Irish boyband Boyzone which is set to drop on 2 February.

The trailer, which was released this morning, shows the four surviving members of the band and their estranged former manager Louis Walsh speaking to camera about their meteoric rise to fame in the nineties, as well as their bandmate and friend Stephen Gately.

Gately, who tragically died in 2009 of a congenital heart defect aged just 33, was famously forced to come out in 1999 after learning that an acquaintence was planning to sell a story on his sexuality to The Sun newspaper.

“Stephen was living the dream – but he had a big secret,” Walsh is heard saying in the documentary’s trailer. “He got the front page!”

“It’s absolutely scandalous what the newspaper did to Stephen,” Keith Duffy can be heard saying.

Later in the trailer, Ronan Keating says: “I made choices that I’m not proud of. I think now after 30 years is the time to talk about it.”

The documentary follows the release of Boybands Forever, a three-part documentary series produced by the BBC which came out last year and covered the rise of a plethora of boybands including Take That, Westlife, Blue and East 17.

“It wasn’t cool then to have a gay guy in a band”

Following Gately’s coming out in 1999, Walsh admitted in an interview with the Irish Independent that he may not have selected him for the band had he been aware of his sexuality as “it wasn’t cool then to have a gay guy in a band.”

Boyzone enjoyed tremendous success during their initial run, achieving a record-breaking sixteen consecutive Top 5 singles in the UK. Following the band’s initial split, Gately also achieved success as a solo artist, with his debut single ‘New Beginning’ reaching number three on the chart.

Boyzone: No Matter What drops on Sunday 2 February on Sky Documentaries and streaming service NOW.