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10th November 2025
11:53am GMT
shpat@joe.co.uk

Once it goes on Reeling in the Years, it’s etched in our brains forever.
On January 8th 2010, the landscape of Irish pop culture was changed forever when a mystery man walking hurriedly on an icy pavement lost his footing in a gravity-defying fall.
To this day, the man who slipped on the ice has never come forward to identify himself, but that hasn’t stopped Irish artists across all mediums creating iconic work inspired by the scene. We’ve selected some of our faves, from watercolour paintings to comedy sketches, tattoos to death drop edits. Let’s get into it.
Mind where you step.
Three years ago, watercolourist Aine Macken was commissioned to create this artistic reenactment of the infamous scene. She’s really captured the angst and sense of drama, don’t you think?

After a shout out from James Kavanagh, this edit by producer Síomha Ní Ruairc of man who slipped on ice slipping into a fierce death drop was born unto the Twittersphere. I may or may not have watched it 800 times.
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Kildare-born painter Paul Broughall has created miniature versions of everyone from Bosco to Kat Slater, but this one of the man who slipped on the ice is a personal fave of mine.
Originally an emotive drawing by designer and illustrator Hephee, this piece now lives forever after being tattooed by fine line extraordinaire Stephen Doyle. A collab for the ages.