After ratbag Michael Barrymore’s cringeworthily car-crash interview on ‘This Morning’ with dozy Josie Gibson, complaints are unsurprisingly made to Ofcom and in a Change.org petition; it is time for this outdated show simply to be cancelled
In the wake of disgraced entertainer Michael Barrymore’s cringeworthily car-crash-like ‘interview’ with bleached blonde bimbo Josie Gibson and Craig Doyle on This Morning last Thursday, complaints have been made to Ofcom and a Change.org petition has been established calling on ITV plc to scrap this frankly reprehensibly mismanaged show.
The 9:49-minute feature, which aired at a time when the majority of the viewing public would have been parents with young children and elderly folk, was frankly quite rightly described as nothing but a “car-crash” of epic proportions and it was an ‘interview’ that should actually have never been aired.
Our questions to This Morning’s head honcho Martin Frizell – whose presenter wife Fiona Phillips has been a “very good friend” of Michael Barrymore for at least 30 years – are:
- Why did you so irresponsibly place Michael Barrymore on air when he was clearly not in a fit state to be interviewed in the wake of the outrage over the way in which Kerry Katona was allowed on air in 2008 whilst suffering mental health issues?
- Why was Barrymore allowed to be placed before a viewing public looking so dishevelled and as if he’d slept on a park bench?
- Why did cackling hyena-like Josie Gibson and her drippy sidekick Craig Doyle not intervene when Barrymore slurred his words, failed to realise who he was talking to, etc.?
- Why, when Gok Wan intervened clearly realising the car crash disaster going on, was the segment not stopped?
- Why did Josie Gibson and Craig Doyle not ask any questions about what occurred when Stuart Lubbock was raped and murdered at the then home of Michael Barrymore on 31st March 2001?
- Why was Craig Doyle also allowed on air when he had earlier admitted to being in a hungover state after a night out on a bender with a rugby team given he said he’d had to spend significant time in make-up?
- What is the current state of relations between your wife, Fiona Phillips, and her friend of 30 years plus and Michael Barrymore and why is Barrymore given the opportunity to appear on your programme so frequently in such a nepotistic fashion?
- Why, Mr Frizell, didn’t you as chief-of-the-municipality, not intervene yourself?
Responding on Instagram to Matthew Steeples’s discussions with Shaun Attwood on his channel during their growing in popularity ‘Royals & Rotters’ segment over the weekend, a lady named Dianne Rocks remarked:
“I firmly believe Barrymore is finished. There’s definitely no place for him anyone’s life, never mind on their 60-inch television… I’ve had the luxury of working in fine dining and luxury hospitality for 35 years and I’ve had the misfortune of being in the same hotel as Barrymore. He’s definitely up there with the ‘rotters’… and let’s just say, he’s a difficult guest.”
Given this disgraceful episode has come so soon in the wake of the Phillip Schofield and #queugate scandals, it is now time only for one thing. That thing? It is time for ITV to cancel the outdated programme completely irrelevant to the modern generation that is This Morning for once and for all.
Please sign our Change.org petition titled: “Make ITV scrap ‘This Morning’ after disgraceful car crash interview with Michael Barrymore,” by clicking here. Please support it and share widely.
Editor’s note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.
A message from our editorial team – Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus and the cost-of-living crisis impacts our advertisers.
If you haven’t already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by supporting our work via Patreon.
The full text of our Change.org petition
“ITV1’s ‘This Morning’ aired an ‘interview’ (if the car crash of epic proportions presented could be called such) with the disgraced ‘entertainer’ Michael Barrymore – an oddity who has previously appeared on a television show dressed up as Hitler and in an episode where he worshiped at the feet of the now late paedophile Jimmy Savile – on Thursday 3rd August 2023 at 12 noon GMT.”
“Conducted by a toady bleach blonde named Josie Gibson and her sidekick a one-time rugby commentator called Craig Doyle (who announced earlier in the show that he’d had to be caked in makeup as he’d been out on a booze-a-thon the night before with a rugby club and had a bit of a hangover), the 9:49-minute interview (available to view on YouTube) was beyond shocking.”
“Barrymore – whose then bungalow home in Roydon, Essex was the scene of the brutal rape-murder of father-of-two Stuart Lubbock on 31st March 2001 during a drug fuelled party attended by a total of nine – appeared looking disheveled in a stained jumper. He slurred his words, did not seem to know quite who he was talking to and what he was talking about and came across as heavily medicated or having been out on a bender in the hours prior.”
“At one point, another presenter, Gok Wan, attempted to intervene to move on to a different segment, but a cackling like a hyena Gibson and the drippy Doyle continued. Here, one can surmise, was a nothing but a repeat of ‘This Morning’s’ condemned as ‘irresponsible’ 22nd October 2008 Kerry Katona interview in which the since disgraced presenter Phillip Schofield made a fool and mocked a lady suffering with very visible mental health issues.”
“Gibson and Doyle and the production team of ‘This Morning’ – headed by Martin Frizell, a man called out for mocking the Schofield scandal by comparing it to his dislike for aubergies – ought to have known that Barrymore was unfit to be placed on air when he arrived at their studio. They ought to have intervened and never even placed him in the green room; they should never, ever have allowed him on air.”
“Aside from inflicting the substantial familial viewing audience (including children and elderly folk) with this scary spectacle of mentality, Gibson and Doyle also failed to use this ‘interview’ for public good. They did not ask one single question about what Barrymore knows – and he has stated he has knowledge he hasn’t previously shared in the past – of what occured the night Stuart Lubbock was raped and murdered at his then home. They did not ask him why he fled the scene of the rape and murder before the police arrived even. Instead, this useless pair of toerags banged on about how much their families loved Barrymore and encouraged him to spout frankly nonsensical drivel.”
“In the wake of Martin Frizell – a man whose presenter wife Fiona Phillips has most curiously been a longstanding close friend of Michael Barrymore – and his team being dragged before Dame Caroline Dinenage’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee for a grilling over the channel’s handling of matters sexual concerning Phillip Schofield, how on earth was this allowed to happen?”
“Formal complaints have been made to Ofcom concerning Gibson, Doyle, Barrymore, Frizell and ‘This Morning’ by a number of individuals, but it is now time that ITV acted and cancelled this toxic show for once and for all. ‘This Morning’ has had its day and it is now time that this ghastly show was replaced with something actually relevant to a contemporary viewing audience.”
The full text of Matthew Steeples’s complaint to Ofcom
“Yesterday, ITV1’s bosses failed to intervene when ‘This Morning’s’ dimwitted dunce-like ‘presenters’ Josie Gibson and Craig Doyle were ‘interviewing’ (if their actions could be deemed such given Gibson especially spent much of the 10-minute slot cackling like a hyena) the disgraced ‘entertainer’ Michael Barrymore.”
“Mr Barrymore was completely disheveled in his appearance and was wearing a stained jumper. He may have been on a bender and had clearly not been through the make-up department (earlier Doyle had banged on about how he’d needed so much makeup himself as he’d been on a boozy night with a rugby team the night prior).”
“He slurred his words and made utterly no sense in his answers to anything asked; as such, the slot should have been stopped.”
“In a situation similar to a previous ‘interview’ with a medicated and most definitely out-of-control Kerry Katona, here was an ‘interview’ subject who should not have been allowed on air in the first place as he was not in a fit state.”
“In addition, Gibson and Doyle found themselves interupted by another presenter, Gok Wan. Mr Wan, realising the car crash being presented to the viewing public, attempted to intervene to move the show on, but Gibson and Doyle shockingly failed to act.”
“The section of the show was utterly irresponsibly mismanaged and frankly producer Martin Frizell should be dragged before Dame Caroline Dinenage to explain yet another failure in the wake of the scandal relating to the equally disgraced Phillip Schofield. Have the ‘This Morning’ team not learned any lessons from that national scandal?”
“Going further, I would add – as someone who knows relations of Stuart Lubbock, the victim of a brutal rape-murder at the then home of Michael Barrymore in 2001 – I would also like to condemn Gibson, Doyle and Frizell’s team for not asking any questions to him about that. Asking about that might have made the choice to interview this cowardly individual on air actually relevant Instead, this pair of clowns simply ‘bigged-up’ this strange man and frankly presented to the public not just a comedy of errors, but also television trash that should never, ever have been aired.”
Justice for Stuart Lubbock – The people who need to man-up and tell the truth about what happened at Michael Barrymore’s home on 31st March 2001…
Michael Parker (AKA Michael Barrymore) – Allegedly loudly said: “I need a f**k” in a taxi as he left the Millennium Nightclub to return to his home, the scene of the death of Stuart Lubbock. Barrymore later lied to a coroner’s court about facilitating drug taking at his house on the night in question also.
Barrymore claimed to have been first to have discovered the body of Stuart Lubbock at 5.45am, called his manager Mike Brown before the ambulance arrived and then left the premises. He admits that was “wrong” and also bizarrely told Piers Morgan that in spite of “knowing others were hiding secrets about what happened to Mr. Lubbock” that “I am not going to say their names. I just hope they are brave enough to come forward one day.”
Mike Brown – Agent of Michael Barrymore. Called to the property before emergency services arrived.
Kelly Campbell – Had met Michael Barrymore for the first time on the night of the incident. Claimed not to have been aware of what happened.
James Futters (sometimes spelt ‘Futers’) – A paper boy turned chef. Described as “a local from the village” and a “friend and neighbour of Barrymore.” Claimed to have been the first to discover the body with Simon Shaw and stated: “[It was not] Michael Barrymore and not Jonathan Kenney [who found him].” Later, of him the Evening Standard reported: “Barrymore offered James Futters a white powder on his finger saying: ‘Do you want to try this?’ Mr Futters told the inquest that he leaned forward and licked the powder.”
Claire Jones – Then aged 17. Had met Michael Barrymore for the first time on the night of the incident. Claimed not to have been aware of what happened but told the police that she “saw Barrymore rummaging through drawers and changing his clothes before police arrived. When he left the house, he had a ‘bundle of material’ under his arm,” according to the Evening Standard. “She added: ‘Jonathan (Kenney) was rushing through the bungalow before the ambulance and police arrived. I got the impression he was hiding something.’”
Jonathan Kenney – Estate agent, drag queen and Michael Barrymore’s then lover; later arrested on suspicion of murder but never charged; known for having a “record of violence.” Claimed to have been the first to have discovered the body and is now aged 50.
Justin Merritt – A dustman from Essex. Later arrested on suspicion of murder but never charged. Later paid £30,000 by the News of the World for an interview in which he stated Barrymore had “rubbed cocaine on Stuart Lubbock’s lips shortly before he died.”
Kylie Merritt – Sister of Justin Merritt. She also alleged Barrymore “rubbed cocaine on Stuart Lubbock’s lips shortly before he died” (curiously in the wake of her brother selling his account of the night).
Simon Shaw – Described as “a local from the village.” Michael Barrymore supposedly “ran off” to Mr. Shaw’s house to “buy himself thinking time [for two hours] before he was questioned by the police [at 7.49am].”
In addition, others, who’ve never been identified could also have possibly been present. If they were, they should come forward or be named by those listed above.
Good work Matthew. Excellent summary. Have been interested in this case for some time. Very sad end for Stuart and his poor dad died not long ago. His older brother was also traumatised by the tragic passing of Stuart. Barrymore is very odd and reminds me of Jimmy Saville when he speaks. He can be very sharp and aggressive, then mumbling and nonsensical. Did you see him being interviewed by Piers Morgan and Martin Bashir? There’s a definite darknesss in him. Probably pretty pleasant enough in small doses, extremely small doses.