Jeremy Kyle Show: Death on Daytime

[Fanoftv]

I’ve just finished watching the Channel 4 documentary looking into the production culture and effects on the guests of the Jeremy Kyle Show and it’s made me quite angry.

I love TV and have a passion for the production and design of it (as we all do on here), but this highlighted how the top bosses (whether production or higher in the network) cared more about the ratings than the lives of those participating in their programme. Exploiting the vulnerable by sugar coating it in the application of help and support. Whilst I’m sure that there was a high level of support (such as the rehab clinic that was provided as pointed out in the documentary), the guests were mocked, ridiculed and verbally abused beforehand. I feel for all of the guests, and the junior production staff who believed this to be the right thing at the time to assist the production.

The programme features unseen footage from backstage and balanced arguments well with discussion of support that was offered whilst also criticising the way in which the programme was produced. The comparisons to Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake, etc. and the differences between broadcasting regulations is explained how the shows in the UK had to use real guests. The inclusion of Trisha felt fitting as The Jeremy Kyle Show was not the first show to exploit guests in this way, even though Jeremy’s way of belittling the guests was a different approach to Trisha’s.

Twitter reaction from some discusses how Love Island is allowed to continue when JK was cancelled.
There is a long statement at the end of the programme from ITV proclaiming the various support services that were on offer to all guests.

I’m hopeful that not all broadcast production is this exploitive and simply chasing ratings.

[London Lite]

I haven't watched the second part of the documentary yet which I believe looks more in-depth at the poor conditions that production staff at the bottom of the ladder were worked to call-centre conditions to get a booking for the show at any cost, which is believed to be in-part the reason why Steve Dymond died after attending a recording of the show.

There has always been some form of younger staff at the bottom of the ladder having over 12 hour shifts and doing dogsbody work, but if true, the JK production staff were trained in a manner where it appears they'd do anything to get that booking if it meant they could fill ITV's quota per year for JK episodes regardless of the morals being brushed aside. My estimate is they produced at least 200 shows per year.

It's also worth noting that a JK employee also died who was the booker for Dymond and his fiancee.

[DAS]

I've often wondered if/when the subject of TV production environments is due its moment in the spotlight. I've heard so many horror stories from people who have worked on even the most innocuous of productions. People expected to work near-impossible numbers of hours, or for several days without rest. Various stories of senior production staff with track records of bullying or harassment, who are seen as more important than the sum total of staff who then refuse to work with them again on new series. It's like the industry feeds on the passion of those at the bottom rung who want to get into the industry but are then almost trapped in a self-fulfilling cycle where you need to keep hanging on to make the small number of senior jobs that are available.

[London Lite]

I've often wondered if/when the subject of TV production environments is due its moment in the spotlight. I've heard so many horror stories from people who have worked on even the most innocuous of productions. People expected to work near-impossible numbers of hours, or for several days without rest. Various stories of senior production staff with track records of bullying or harassment, who are seen as more important than the sum total of staff who then refuse to work with them again on new series. It's like the industry feeds on the passion of those at the bottom rung who want to get into the industry but are then almost trapped in a self-fulfilling cycle where you need to keep hanging on to make the small number of senior jobs that are available.

The last production story that comes to mind is the Noel Clarke allegations where numerous female employees at his productions accused him of sexual harassment and more and that's before you get into the stories of overworked male and female staff at the bottom of the ladder.

Screenwipe had an excellent piece where Charlie Brooker explained what it was like for an employee starting at the bottom of the ladder in tv and film.

[Inspector Sands]

It was a fascinating watch, I thoroughly recommend it to everyone with an interest in TV, which is most people here.

So much to take away from it, but one thing I found surprising was that they were struggling for guests. I always found it odd at the time that anyone would want to go on TV and air their dirty linen, but it seems that actually there wasn't a massive demand.

One thing I didn't think was that fair about the documentary were the outtakes of Jeremy in the studio. I'm no fan of him or his show, but it's quite easy to misrepresent someone by using off-camera comments out of context.

[Inspector Sands]

Twitter reaction from some discusses how Love Island is allowed to continue when JK was cancelled.

Yes with a lot of people pointing out that JK had one suicide when Love Island has had 3, which is both inaccurate and also, its not really something we should be keeping score of.

TalkRadio put up a clip of Jeremy taking about the documentary on Twitter yesterday and the reaction was all negative. I'm sure his job is safe there going by some of the other people they employ, but I wonder what effect this will have on what's left of his career. The inquest into the death starts in the next few weeks

[Jon]

One thing I didn't think was that fair about the documentary were the outtakes of Jeremy in the studio. I'm no fan of him or his show, but it's quite easy to misrepresent someone by using off-camera comments out of context.

Yes, although he came across as a bit unpleasant many of those clips came across as being tongue in cheek. But on the whole a very good watch and a bit of an indictment on the whole process.

[Brekkie]

It was a fascinating watch, I thoroughly recommend it to everyone with an interest in TV, which is most people here.

So much to take away from it, but one thing I found surprising was that they were struggling for guests. I always found it odd at the time that anyone would want to go on TV and air their dirty linen, but it seems that actually there wasn't a massive demand.

Didn't it generally air new episodes every day too - I remember them making a big deal out of that rather than showing repeats. And of course it never took breaks either.

I always think though the trouble with documentaries like this is probably one they shared with the JK Show too - the producers and commissioners have gone into it with the conclusion then formed the documentary from there. I'm not saying the conclusion is wrong, but do find it a bit off putting along with the sensationalist "Death in Daytime" title too. They've basically used Jeremy Kyle Show style tactics to make and promote a show about how bad The Jeremy Kyle Show was.

[Johnr]

I haven't watched the second part yet but wasn't it essentially just a direct replacement for Trisha? I remember she went off to Channel 5 with a 'nice' version of her show which totally flopped, then they started adding the drama back in and it still flopped, so then she went to America and that didn't last too long either!

The 'unseen footage' of Jeremy is pretty typical if you go to be in a studio audience for a show, Chris Tarrant for example certainly used a few choice words when filming Millionaire! (Partly tongue in cheek, partly this is now the 5th take stress!)

[Steve Williams]

I haven't watched the second part yet but wasn't it essentially just a direct replacement for Trisha? I remember she went off to Channel 5 with a 'nice' version of her show which totally flopped, then they started adding the drama back in and it still flopped, so then she went to America and that didn't last too long either!

They tried various things after Trisha defected to Channel 5 - after they finished the huge stockpile of new episodes, and several weeks of repeats, there were a few months where they tried out a couple of series in that slot, including a few weeks of UK-based Jerry Springer shows, and an adaptation of the US series People's Court with Carol Smillie, plus a few weeks of Kyle. And Kyle was successful enough in those first few weeks to get commissioned to run all year round, but presumably had it not taken off they'd have carried on alternating shows until they found something that did.

Trisha's defection took ITV by surprise a bit, and they didn't have any replacement ready, so they really strung out the remaining episodes and when Trisha started on C5 she was initially in the afternoons because she was still on ITV in the mornings, and then when they launched the new ITV Day branding in 2005 with what was supposed to be a radical revamp, it kicked off with Trisha repeats, which was a bit embarassing. When it finally finished on ITV, C5 moved her to the mornings, at which point she was pretty much forgotten about when Kyle took off.

[Spencer]

Maybe I've remembered incorrectly, but I always thought that People's Court UK *was* the official permanent replacement for Trisha on ITV, although it was delayed due to 'technical difficulties' by a week, hence the Trisha repeats. I'm sure the UK Jerry Springer shows came later after People's Court flopped, shortly followed by Jeremy Kyle which used the same set as Jerry Springer, albeit relit.

[XIII]

The Springer Show IIRC was a pilot series which was filmed on the same set as Jeremy Kyle so I wonder if they would had gone for The Springer Show full time had the Jeremy Kyle Show not been successful.

[XIII]

The 'unseen footage' of Jeremy is pretty typical if you go to be in a studio audience for a show, Chris Tarrant for example certainly used a few choice words when filming Millionaire! (Partly tongue in cheek, partly this is now the 5th take stress!)

I don't think Jeremy comes across too badly in the unseen footage bits, I imagine when you're doing that many shows a day and someone in the audience ruins a take then it's no surprise you get a bit narky. I've heard much worse stories about presenters not being exactly nice when recording a show.

[Jon]

I thought the actors in the programme were pretty good. To the point I kept forgetting they weren’t the people they were portraying.

I thought the cameraman who agreed to be filmed but didn’t want his face shown was a bit strange surely anyone who knew him, would know who he was.

[Fanoftv]

The 'unseen footage' of Jeremy is pretty typical if you go to be in a studio audience for a show, Chris Tarrant for example certainly used a few choice words when filming Millionaire! (Partly tongue in cheek, partly this is now the 5th take stress!)

I don't think Jeremy comes across too badly in the unseen footage bits, I imagine when you're doing that many shows a day and someone in the audience ruins a take then it's no surprise you get a bit narky. I've heard much worse stories about presenters not being exactly nice when recording a show.

That’s interesting, where as I viewed the clips as rude and unprofessional. If that is how most of the big stars behave on sets, there’s a much bigger issue. I understand that a few of them were tongue in cheek, but others made him look vile.