The Irish producer of the Oscar-winning, box-office smash Slumdog Millionaire says that the worldwide success of his movie has been a consolation for the failure of RTÉ's version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Belfast man Paul Smith is the toast of Hollywood with his Indian drama grossing $200m and eight Oscars.

But back in 2002, he found himself in Montrose working with Gay Byrne on an RTÉ version of his hit ITV show.

Launched in a flurry of publicity, the show only lasted one series before the plug was pulled.

Paul said he doesn't blame host Gay for the cancellation.

"I think Gay was brilliant but he's a very different presenter from Chris
Tarrant who was doing the show on ITV. The comparison matters because so many people in Ireland are able to see UK TV and I think it was this comparison which caused the problem."

The Irish film and TV business hasn't seen the last of Paul.

The Northerner says he hopes one day to make a film at Wicklow's Ardmore Studios, home of US TV's The Tudors.

"Ardmore has been around a long time and there are no better studios for facilities or technicians to work with. For instance you don't have anything like Ardmore in the north of Ireland where I'm from."