The Jeremy Kyle was nothing all that new when it first aired back in 2005, having essentially been the replacement for the similarly themed Trisha that had preceded it. It had been a watered-down version of The Jerry Springer Show in the U. S.. Although the baton was handed to Kyle after Trisha ended, he adopted a more confrontational and aggressive way of handling his guests than Trisha Goddard. Who as opposed to him took a more laid-back, semi-objective approach. And then for fourteen years, guests with personal issues and grievances with friends, relatives, etc. Would be wheeled onto the show in front of a baying audience, who it wouldn't be uncharitable at times to be called idiots. Who like those who would regularly tune in would sit and watch as guests would get into verbal onslaughts, with Kyle wading in and giving his two cents. And like a gladiatorial arena, this was for the entertainment of its spectators.
It wasn't until the death of Steve Dymond from an apparent suicide, who had previously been a guest on the show that due to the media backlash against the show in the wake of it, the show was ultimately canceled. And not before long. What this documentary attempts to lift the lid on, and largely succeeds in doing so is the dishonesty, and the exploitative culpability of the show's producers, as well as ITV who broadcast the series. Past guests on the show as well as former employees who worked on it, give their accounts of the unsavory and morally questionable methods, the show's producers would implement to coax guests onto the series. This was with the promise to offer professional support and care to those who appeared on it.
Of course, this raises the immediate question as to how exploitative the show was given that the guests had agreed to appear on the show. After all, it would be extremely naive to think that not one of Kyle's guests was aware of the nature of it, and Kyle's, brash and overbearing style. But then it does beg the issue of vulnerability, as well as the mental health of some of them. Particularly as it pertains to the outcome of the much-vaunted lie detector tests, where the potential mental or emotional instability of those taking them may affect the outcome. The fact that some critics of this documentary are wilfully ignoring the point, that the documentary clearly makes is very telling, in so much that there are fans of the series who don't seem to care about the lives it may be ruining, so long as they can get their dose of inane, bear baiting drivel. That having been said, I question the motives behind those who used to work for the series, and how they couldn't have been aware of how much they were getting their hands dirty. One of the former production team goes so far as to say, that she doesn't believe the series ever helped anyone, although I have to begrudgingly admit that it did indeed do so, as there have been former guests who have said that it did. One therefore wonders if she hasn't got her own axe to grind against the show's producers, and Isn't out to get her own pound of flesh. In this respect, I think the documentary does lose some of its objectivity, and let's its clear bias show.
This being said the fact that a former cameraman who blew the whistle on the show and had concerns over the emotional distress of one of the show's male guests is more than enough to raise a few eyebrows. Not forgetting that one of the show's producers during an inquest into the ethical actions of the show, outright claimed that the lie detector tests were 100% accurate, only to then backtrack, and concede this not to be the case after being challenged on the veracity of his assertion.
Admittedly though, when it comes to the suicide of of one of the young producers, Natasha Reddican after the series ended. I find it possibly hard to have much sympathy for her, over the alleged guilt, that her ex-fellow employees have claimed that she had for the lives she was complicit in helping to ruin. Especially, as her suicide happened after the series ended, and she lost her job. Was she not aware of what she was doing while still employed with ITV? It's here that the documentary kind of loses me because let's not forget the suicides and lives crushed of those whom she was partly responsible for.
As for Kyle himself, we get painted a picture of a man who is as irksome, as the one I found him to be on his TV show. One with a transparent God complex, who lords over the proceedings of his show with smarm and arrogance that is borderline narcissistic. One wonders, if a man who had a privileged upbringing (his father was an accountant and personal secretary to the Queen Mother), and has since gone on to have a successful career in broadcasting, could truly relate or have any empathy towards people, who did not have the same social upbringing as he did. With practically all of his guests, and dare I say most of his viewers coming from working-class backgrounds.
Channel 4, overall presents a damning picture of the show, which was rightfully axed, and whose producers should be held accountable for their actions. Even if it Isn't as entirely objective, and a bit too one-sided, it still offers enough damning evidence that convinces me that when the plug was finally pulled on it, it was long overdue.
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