[4] Three men, ex-Royal Marine William Bell, David Curlett and Delbert Watson were sentenced to life for the murder of Mr Kielty but were freed in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

In 1991, along with his friend and fellow student Jackie Hamilton (later a BBC and independent producer), the pair visited Dublin's new stand up club The Gasworks run by performer/producer Billy Magra/McGrath.

UK acts making their Irish debuts included Jo Brand, Lee Evans, Jack Dee, Stewart Lee, Mark Lamarr, Eddie Izzard and many more plus The Gasworks gave local acts like Sean Hughes, Jon Kenny/Pat Shortt and Ardal O'Hanlon their first headline shows in Dublin.

On 21 June 2003 Kielty hosted the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics in Croke Park, Dublin, to a reported global audience of 800 million viewers.

In 2007, he began work at the Trafalgar Theatre in London's West End on the UK production of A Night in November, written by Northern Irish dramatist Marie Jones (Stones in His Pockets).

In 2007, he also guested on the BBC's third series of Live at the Apollo; during this show he controversially referred to members of the Irish travelling community in derogatory terms.

[citation needed] On 18 May 2007, Kielty was invited to conduct a joint in-depth TV interview at 10 Downing Street in London with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to discuss the Northern Ireland peace process.

In 2016 Kielty returned to BBC Northern Ireland to present programmes, including the comedy panel game show Bad Language alongside Susan Calman and Paul Sinha.

He then hosted television documentary Patrick Kielty's Mulholland Drive which focused on the life of William Mullholland and the California Water Wars.

[13] He appeared in the film Patrick Kielty: One Hundred Years of Union, for which he won a Royal Television Society award for best presenter.

[15][16] In January 2015, US Country star Garth Brooks gave his first UK interview to Kielty for a BBC Radio 2 special from Boston, Massachusetts.

[18] Kielty performed in the play A Night in November in August 2007 in the Grand Opera House, Belfast, and also in productions in London and in 2008 in The Olympia Theatre in Dublin.

Kielty is seen and heard on his radio programme questioning the outrageous antics of spoiled spare to the British crown, Queen Georgiana, played by Catherine Tate.

"[22] Kielty married English model and television presenter Cat Deeley (his former Fame Academy co-host) in a private ceremony in Rome on Saturday 29 September 2012.

[24] Hosting the BBC Radio 5 Live afternoon show on 28 October 2020 (sitting in for Nihal Arthanayake) he talked of his relationship with Deeley saying, "first find a woman out of your league and then convince her she isn't".

[26] In 2010, he took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London on 30 March.

Kielty, who impersonated Niall Horan, directed the skit in which comedians Jack Dee played Louis Tomlinson, Nick Helm became Zayn Malik, Vic Reeves took on Harry Styles and Johnny Vegas transformed into Liam Payne.