Ben Frow has been sweating buckets all week. That's the reason he is ignoring the plate of biscuits that arrive with our pot of tea in Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel.

"I'm on a diet," he explains, with a smile. "I hate gyms, so I've started going to Bikram Yoga twice a week. I pose for 90 sweaty minutes in sweltering heat and that's my workout."

Right now, the British-born dressmaker-cum-TV executive has very little to sweat over in his capacity as director of programming at TV3. Just days before sitting down with Weekend, the news emerged that TV3's version of The Apprentice, starring Bill Cullen, had overtaken RTE's Nine O'Clock News in the ratings with almost 500,000 viewers, while the show's spin-off, You're Fired, hosted by Brendan O'Connor, was just 20,000 viewers off trumping its chief competitor, The Frontline with Pat Kenny.

What's more, the new Irish version of Deal or No Deal debuted to some 300,000 viewers, while the daytime show Midday now draws in four times more viewers than two years ago. Those figures are all-time highs for TV3, and are indicative of how much Frow has shaken up Irish television since he arrived here in June 2007.

"I've made five great decisions in my time with TV3, and one of them was deciding to do The Apprentice," he states. "I felt very strongly that Irish content was of value and I felt we had to do it, as long as we positioned the show correctly and matched the production values of the UK. It was a brave commission, because it could have been a disaster. This year's show is brilliantly cast, more so than last year, and I think people are more familiar with it."

Frow himself appears to have a bit of a Midas touch when it comes to programming. Prior to his appointment at TV3, he was a commissioning editor at Channel 4, with credits including How Clean Is Your House? and the zeitgeist-tapping Property Ladder and Location, Location, Location.

He is also the man who helped to bring Nigella Lawson, Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver to our screens. "A lot of it is instinct," he says. "You hear or read something; you feel what's in the air; you see somebody special. I think I'm good at being a TV viewer. I ask myself, 'What would I watch? When would I watch it? Why would I watch it?' Other times you just have to grit your teeth and prove the sceptics wrong."

Frow has a reputation for being opinionated, competitive and driven; he once remarked that he would sell his soul for good ratings. But throughout the course of our interview, Frow also comes across as surprisingly self-deprecating, insecure even.

He assiduously eschews the glitzy lifestyle that one assumes is available to him thanks to his job. "I'm very shy. I don't go out. I don't like parties, I don't like networking," he says. "I can never go up to someone and say, 'Hi, I'm Ben'. I'd be way too embarrassed."

Similarly, despite his recent triumphs at TV3, he doesn't seem to entirely enjoy, or even trust, success. "I think I'd always rather be at the bottom of the mountain than the top," he says. "At the bottom the only way is up; at the top the only way is down. The part I enjoy most is the bit at the beginning when it's not really working, and I get to be like, 'So, what are we going to do? How are we going to fix this?'"

That was certainly the attitude needed when he came to TV3, by way of a short stint as the controller of features and entertainment at Channel Five. "When I arrived here, TV3 was the Five of Ireland," he states. "It was quite naff -- an acquisitions channel with a lot of US and UK buy-ins that was finding it hard to punch above its weight."

In order to get some sense of the task ahead, Frow immediately set meetings with the five leading advertising agencies in the country to gauge the industry's perception of TV3. "The one thing they all said was that it didn't have any unique programming," Frow says. "Therefore we had to make our own Irish content. That was the second big decision I made at TV3: creating our own in-house production department to make factual shows like Ireland's Crime Capitals and Lawless Ireland.

"The other key decisions were producing more documentaries and bringing in Vincent Browne, commissioning Midday to re-transform the daytime schedule and the decision to 'supersize', showing programmes like The Xtra Factor and You're Fired."

Interestingly, Xposé, arguably TV3's most high-profile show, is the one that has surprised Frow the most. "I'll be really honest about Xposé -- I can't believe it's still on-air," he says. "I gave the show six months when it started; I was sure it would run out of content. It's been a phenomenon. The brand is enormous, and it's very important for us now."

Still, it can't be easy to work for a television station that is entirely dependent on advertising for revenue, particularly in the current climate? "It's difficult, but I do think it stops you being indulgent," he says. "I can't afford to spend money on something that I'm not pretty damn sure about.

"RTE have more money through the licence fee, and it means they have more freedom to be experimental. I take my hat off to them because they are trying new things. RTE2 is getting a lot of slagging over its comedy schedule, but something will stick and then they'll start building on it, and then I'll be crying into my tea because they'll have turned a corner.

"I'd much prefer to see that experimentation than watch something like The All-Ireland Talent Show. I think it's derivative.

"The only thing I disliked about Irish TV -- and I don't see it as much anymore -- is the ripping-off of other formats, or not doing the proper version of established formats like Britain's Got Talent."

Frow's own entry into television came by way of the British theatre. His mother (and grandmother) were actresses and his father a writer, so Frow studied dressmaking, and stage and costume design, touring the world with productions such as The Phantom of the Opera. His first job in TV was doing "the washing and ironing" for Richard and Judy on This Morning.

"I earned more in television than I did making dresses, it's as simple as that," he laughs. "I'm a very good dressmaker and I miss it very much, but it was quite lonely and the pay was crap. I wasn't confident enough to go out and sell myself as the great new designer.

"I wasn't pretty enough to be a presenter, though I'd have really liked to be one. I'm from a very theatrical family, but I was always slightly embarrassed about performing. Ultimately, I like being in control. I like sitting on my side of the desk where I have the power. I'm really bad at rejection. I don't like failure. Yes, there is failure sometimes in this role, but in the final analysis I get to call the shots, I can hire and fire. It's about being a control freak."

He admits that it wasn't an easy decision to move to Ireland. "I wasn't going to take the job, I really didn't want it," he says. "Myself and some colleagues were all leaving Five, and I could have gone to ITV or BBC. I was 46 at the time and I decided to do something different. I'm a Cancerian. I like my stability, but every few years part of me yearns to rip everything up.I don't ever want to be predictable."

He adds that the move did necessitate a "hefty" pay cut -- "and an even heftier cut since then".

Funnily enough, Frow says he bought a cottage in west Cork two years before the TV3 job offer ever came about. "I wouldn't have bought there if I knew I'd be working in Dublin," he laughs. "It's a hell of a drive on a Friday night, and first thing Monday morning. It's knackering, but that is my home."

His connection to Ireland runs even deeper: Frow's partner Nigel Boyd is Irish, though he works for the better part of the year in Los Angeles as a movie costume designer. "We're together 12-and-half years -- this time," he explains, smiling. "We first got together when I was 18. He was my second-ever boyfriend. We were both working at the National Theatre in London. We went out for a year.

"He moved back to Ireland and wanted me to come with him. I basically said f**k off. I was horrible. I was very thin then and not unattractive, so I thought, 'Why the hell would I hitch myself to you and go back to Ireland? Forget it?'

"He was understandably pissed off, and for the next 17 years there wasn't a word of contact between us. Then Nigel was over in London working on a movie, and he had something of mine that he wanted to return. He phoned, we had a conversation, met a week later and have been together since."

Ben and Nigel were joined in a civil partnership in Chelsea two years ago. "It was the most fantastic day of my life," he recalls. "I wore the most beautiful suit that I'm now too fat to wear. It was just a great day. It's not easy being so far apart. I'm going to take a few extra weeks off at Christmas. I can just about manage to go three months with two phone calls a day. But then it just gets difficult, so I'll either go over there or, if he can, he'll come back here.

"This has been our best year for seeing each other actually. It works, but as we get older we are questioning how much longer we can do it this way. There's going to be five more years of this and then we'll re-evaluate."

So, how much longer does Frow think he'll be in his role at TV3? He smiles slyly while stirring a fresh cup of tea. "I feel like I have another good 10 years of work in me," he replies.

"But I've warned [TV3 boss] David McRedmond that someone shouldn't be director of programming for more than three years. My three-year anniversary is next June," he points out.

"I think it's important to have new blood in a TV channel, people who can take the station to the next stage, and the next generation. Personally, I don't ever want to get bored. I've never planned a career before. I just go wherever I can be creative and where's there's a challenge."

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- Declan Cashin

Irish Independent