Jeremy Kyle show - should it be permanently axed?

[Squiff70]

The Jeremy Kyle show has been taken off air indefinitely due to the apparent suicide of one of its guests.

Is it a 'harmless' but controversial show or is it time it was axed for good?

Personally, I'm on the fence. I don't watch the show (I used to, years ago, but stopped after questioning what I was doing with my life!) and can't stand the show any more. In the show's defence, it seems they have good before, during and after care for the guests and they are scrutinised by three mental health nurses and a clinical psychologist before going on the show. This SUGGESTS to me that they are/were taking responsibility for the welfare of their guests but this man seems to have somehow slipped through the net after being apparently ousted on a lie detector test for infidelity.

On the flip-side of the coin, ITV News have reported that "Tory MP Charles Walker, a vice-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on suicide and self-harm prevention, branded it “cruel television”."
He said: “I think that the we all should have done more to flag up this type of television, the problems with this type of television.

“When you take highly strung - often vulnerable – people, you put them under a huge amount of pressure.

“Yes it makes good television but it also makes for cruel television as well.”

Is the show preying on some of the most vulnerable people in society? Is it cruel telecision or do guests appear of their own free will, being made full aware of the potential consequences of appearing on the show?

What do you think?

I think there's already been loads of threads and discussion on this

@TrixieFranklin I looked at the first two full pages of Chat and didn't see a single one. Apologies!

Nobody is forced to go on the show.

And the bloke who died failed the lie detector, and his girlfriend dumped him for it. So surely it appears to have been being dumped that sent him over the edge, rather than the show? And didn't his fiancée ask him to go on it anyway?

I get the feeling there’s a lot more to this.

I heard the MP on Jeremy Vine. He was brilliant and I agree with him. It's a revolting programme and as for the screening/aftercare, as he said, what kind of telly programme requires people to be psychologically screened and given counselling after, for a 15 minute appearance? That's a blatant acknowledgement that participation can be harmful. In which case, it shouldn't be happening.

Imo it was only a matter of time before a tragic event such as this would play out. Having vulnerable people with learning disabilities, addiction issues etc berated by a bully in front of a jeering crowd isn't entertainment; it's abuse.

Of course it should be axed. It is a modern-day Bedlam visit, every damn episode.

The old "people choose to go on it" line is a fallacy. Choice is a loaded thing.

Surprised its still going to be honest completely agree with the MP who raised the fact that in this day and age with the awareness of mental health this sort of show should not be allowed its preying on the vulnerable for entertainment

I think it's high time it was axed. It originally made for interesting viewing, when Jeremy was mildly straight talking and the guests were genuine ordinary folk with some sort of issue to talk through - but gradually Jeremy became an insufferable, obnoxious arsehole blatantly bullying vulnerable and dysfunctional people.

It is now just a shit show of shouting with Jeremy endlessly repeating the same tired old bollocks, and now some poor sod has died.

Of course the show is not directly responsible for the death, but it undoubtedly is part of the sorry story. I hope it is the catalyst to get the show off the air.

The researchers target deprived areas. Sell it as a holiday, all expenses paid. Get "chaperones" to wind the "guests" up/get them to send texts then build up the arguments etc.

Some colleagues have seen years of hard work go down the drain after a "holiday" and then struggle to find out why until one colleague who was off sick had fallen asleep with the tv on and woke up to her client on JK.

Nobody is forced to marry into the Royal Family either yet they also know what they are getting into but steps are taken to prevent press intrusion.

Yes it should be axed for good. I dont watch the pile of shit Ive never liked him.

Yes.

I was on the Vanessa show in 1997 It was a very calm debate. Completely different to JK

Some studies say the lie detector is only about 61% accurate. Yet it’s held up as incontrovertible proof. It’s entirely possible that those deemed to be lying are in fact not.

Jk is nothing but an opportunity for those not blessed with intelligence, common sense, or any type of moral decency to get nationwide attention. The audience are not much better.

It originally made for interesting viewing, when Jeremy was mildly straight talking and the guests were genuine ordinary folk with some sort of issue to talk through - but gradually Jeremy became an insufferable, obnoxious arsehole blatantly bullying vulnerable and dysfunctional people.
This ^^
A straight talking version of Trisha (I think it was Trisha he took over from) was mindless viewing but fair enough for daytime TV. He has become an arseholes with his same old lines that he shouts across the stage.

However, I'm not sure he is responsible for what happened. Someone who knows their actions signs up to a lie detector task on national TV, gets caught out. There are many people with problems in most towns in the country. Most people don't call up a TV show to air their laundry in public.

The absolute faith in that lie detector test has always worried me. You can clearly tell that some people are not lying, yet are viciously accused. They look completely shell shocked. Awful

It exploits quite a vulnerable group of people. I think yes it should be permanently cancelled now.

I agree with Sneaky. A guy failed a lie detector. He's committed suicide. No-one forced him to go on the show and we can assume he didn't like being outed as a liar? But why are we holding the JK show to blame? Yes, people suggest there should be better care for the participants but who was to say there wasn't in this circumstance? We know very little at the moment, to make a judgement.

Jeremy's show seems to be taking the brunt when a huge percentage of TV viewing is reality TV genre stuff. Like many have mentioned on Twitter - Love Island stars have died since the show, but no-one's pulled the plug on it?

"The Broadcasting Act of 1990
ITV logo, 1989–1998

Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government spent much of the 1980s privatising and deregulating British industry, and commercial broadcasting was no exception. The Broadcasting Act 1990 paved the way for the deregulation of the British commercial broadcasting industry, which was to have many consequences for the ITV system.

As a result of this Act, the Independent Broadcasting Authority was abolished, and replaced by two new 'light-touch' regulators: the Independent Television Commission (ITC) and the Radio Authority. The small Cable Authority was also abolished, its powers transferred to the ITC. The act also changed the system of licence allocation for the franchises now legally known as Channel 3: the previous system where applicants needed to show good programming ideas and fine financial controls was replaced by highest-bidder auctions to determine the winner of each ITV regional franchise. This element of the ITV franchising process was very controversial; the press and the existing ITV companies lobbied to have it changed and the ITC agreed to introduce a 'quality threshold' to prevent high bidders with poor programme plans from joining the system. Another safeguard was the 'business plan' which determined if a bidder could maintain the payments due and still retain money for programme making.

Other changes were also made as part of the act: ITN, the news provider for ITV, was no longer to be exclusively owned by ITV companies. Additionally, Channel 4, which had previously been an independent subsidiary of the IBA, was now to become a government-owned corporation, patterned after the BBC. It would also begin to sell its own advertising – a function previously provided by each ITV company as a return for subsidising the channel.

One further change in the 1990 Act related to the way the ITV networking system was run. Since the 1960s, the Independent Television Companies' Association's Programme Controllers' Committee, representing the 'Big Five' network companies (Thames Television, LWT, Central Independent Television, Granada Television and Yorkshire Television) had decided which programmes had aired in network programme time slots. This had the effect of excluding smaller ITV companies, as well as independent production companies. Following lobbying by independent producers and TVS, the Act required that ITV's scheduling be performed by a nominated person independent of the regional companies, and that a 25% threshold of independent production be required. This led to the creation in 1992 of the ITV Network Centre, a central body in charge of the network schedule, with, for the first time, a single ITV Director of Programming"

Its very easy to avoid reality TV so your post has as many holes as a lump of cheese Planet Earth.

I like my vintage retro TV so i watch Talking Pictures TV Forces TV and i use you tube a lot.

Yes, bullying and humiliating vulnerable people with low intelligence, learning disabilities or mental health issues/addictions for entertainment is not acceptable. The fact those 'lie detector' tests are inaccurate is enough, I wonder how many lives have been ruined by false results.

I understand that nobody is forced to go the show but I find it be a freak show. Rather like the old circus freak shows. On that basis I think it should be axed.

@Gingervitis I couldn't agree more about Jeremy himself being "an insufferable, obnoxious arsehole blatantly bullying vulnerable and dysfunctional people." I know I said I was on the fence but you hit the nail right on the head with that statement.

I'm surprised that Graham, who is apparently a mental health professional, has anything to do with it. Why has he never spoken out about the dodgy lie detector?

No it shouldn't be axed. The guests know exactly what to expect when they go on it.