The Jeremy Kyle Show axed by ITV after death of guest

“The ‘all important results’ are in – and this time it’s Jeremy Kyle himself leaving the stage to a chorus of boos.

His daytime talk show has been axed by ITV after 14 years following the death of a guest.

Steve Dymond had taken a lie detector test during a programme about infidelity, and was later found dead.

It’s the end of a show best known for its rowdy atmosphere, DNA tests and episode titles such as Have I Been Having Sex With My Brother?.

When Chris Tarrant first showed clips of the raucous Jerry Springer Show to British audiences in the 1990s, it was a shock to viewers used to the more serious tone of Kilroy or Vanessa.

You might have been forgiven for thinking it would never happen here.  But in 2005, ITV plucked ‘Jezza’ from late night radio to front its own Springer-style programme.

Within two years, a Manchester judge memorably described it as “a human form of bear baiting which goes under the guise of entertainment”.

Beyond the pale it may have been to the chattering classes, but its consistently strong ratings made it valuable in an era of growing multi-channel and on-demand options.

ITV has always insisted that participants are properly taken care of, before during and after the show’s recording.

However, the reality of putting such a programme together – with producers obliged to scour obscure Facebook groups for any sign of a row that could be turned into TV entertainment – mean that it has featured people perhaps ill-equipped to deal with their brief moment in the spotlight.

In the short-term, ITV is filling the time slot with episodes of Dickinson’s Real Deal.

For a while at least, we can expect tabloid TV to give way to gentler fare.”

Full story

Richard Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Journalism and Media at the University of Huddersfield