The Jeremy Kyle Show

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The Jeremy Kyle Show
The Jeremy Kyle Show titles
Format	Talk Show
Presented by	Jeremy Kyle
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Production
Producer(s)	ITV Productions
Running time	65 minutes (including adverts)
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Picture format	16:9
Original run	2005 – present

The Jeremy Kyle Show is a daytime television talk show presented by Jeremy Kyle which has been running in the UK on ITV since July 2005.^[1] The show is filmed at the Granada Television studios in Manchester, England,^[1] and broadcast each weekday at 9:25 am on the ITV Network, and repeated later in the day on ITV2; this edition is immediately followed by a repeat of an older episode of the show. It is also sometimes shown in the early hours of the morning on ITV channels. The show first appeared as a replacement for Trisha Goddard's talk show which was moved to the channel Five.

The show is also shown outside the UK on TV3 Ireland weekdays at 10:30am and on TV2 (New Zealand) weekdays at 12:30pm.

The show is distinctive for its confrontational style, which sees guests attempt to resolve issues with others that are significant in their lives, such as family, relationship, sex, drug, alcohol and other issues.^[2]^[3] Frequently, guests display strong emotions such as anger and distress on the show, and Kyle is often harsh towards those that he feels have acted in morally dubious or irresponsible ways, whilst strongly emphasising the importance of traditional family values. This has led to both criticism and parody of the show in newspapers and on television, and even led to the show being described as "human bear-baiting" by a Manchester District Judge, during a prosecution after guests had been involved in a violent incident on the show.^[4]

1 Background
2 Style
3 Criticism and controversy
4 Parodies
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Background

In late 2004, Trisha Goddard left ITV to move her Trisha talk show to the channel Five, so as a stopgap, Jerry Springer was drafted in to host the talk show The Springer Show until a permanent replacement could be found.^[5] The Jeremy Kyle Show, which was first broadcast on 4 July 2005,^[1] fully replaced The Springer Show in August, and since then the show has been the sole occupant of ITV's weekday 9:25am slot.

During the launch week of the programme, the show was overshadowed by news coverage of the London tube bombings. Earlier in that week, a transmission breakdown disrupted one of the first three showings.^[6] In 2007 the show was nominated for the "Most Popular Factual Programme" award at the National Television Awards,^[7] although lost in that category to Top Gear.

[edit] Style

Jeremy Kyle presenting the show

The guests typically include couples, families and friends who are concerned about a person or people close to them with a problem that they would like to be resolved. Guests on the show have been stereotyped as representing an ignorant underclass.^[8]^[9] Kyle discusses the problem with the guests and mediates with all the involved parties, trying to help them reach a solution; he regularly offers backstage and after-show support and counselling, which is guided by Graham Stanier, Kyle's in-show psychotherapist and director of aftercare.^[4] With other guests, lie detectors and DNA tests are frequently used to determine whether an individual has been lying, or to reveal whether a man is the biological father of a child.^[10]

Frequently, when friends or relatives of the show's guests enter the stage having heard backstage what has been said, vicious arguments and fights break out on the show, although the latter are not broadcast on television, the camera instead giving a view of the audience and Jeremy Kyle until his security team restores order. This has led to the show being compared with Roman gladiatorial combat in its brutality.^[11] As a talk show host Kyle is known to react with hostility and anger towards those who he sees as having acted immorally, is seen as having a patronising, "holier-than-thou" attitude towards many of his guests, and is accused of exploiting the vulnerable.^[12]^[13] However, he does claim that he is acting in the best interests of his guests and is intent on helping to solve their personal problems.^[12] There have been success stories as a result of guests being on the show, such as the case of a morbidly obese young woman who lost a lot of weight after her appearance on the show.^[14] Graham Stanier told The Observer that he was "immensely proud" of the help provided to the show's guests, with "full shows of people coming back on the programme who have been successful in overcoming drug, alcohol or relationship problems, through the care that we have provided".^[4]

The validity of the help that is provided to guests has been called into dispute, as a professional psychotherapist who was offered the chance to work on the show claimed that he believed the ratings were more important to the show's producers than solving the guests' problems.^[4] A former producer for the show claimed that the production team encourages guests to react angrily to one another.^[11] It has also been alleged that the producers "plied an alcoholic guest with beer before he appeared on the programme".^[15] ITV has denied these charges, claiming that "two of the guests were given alcohol to counteract withdrawal symptoms while the third had not mentioned a drink problem", that "guests are not deliberately agitated before appearing", and that the show provides to its guests "proper, professional help, funded by the programme, which has really and undeniably helped hundreds of people".^[4]^[11]

[edit] Criticism and controversy

The headbutting incident on the show that led to a court case

On 24 September 2007, a Manchester District Judge, Alan Berg, was sentencing a man who headbutted his love rival while appearing on the show. Judge Berg was reported in the Manchester Evening News as saying: "I have had the misfortune, very recently, of watching The Jeremy Kyle Show. It seems to me that the purpose of this show is to effect a morbid and depressing display of dysfunctional people whose lives are in turmoil", and that it was "a plain disgrace which goes under the guise of entertainment". He described it as "human bear-baiting" and added that "it should not surprise anyone that these people, some of whom have limited intellects, become aggressive with each other. This type of incident is exactly what the producers want. These self-righteous individuals should be in the dock with you. They pretend there is some kind of virtue in putting out a show like this."^[16]

An ITV spokeswoman responded in defence that "we take the safety and well-being of studio guests extremely seriously. It is made clear to all guests prior to going into the studio that no violence is ever tolerated."^[17] Jeremy Kyle responded by saying: "Some people will always think I've got the eyes of Satan. Others will think I'm a TV god. People have the right to criticise. Sometimes people need to be stripped bare before they can be helped".^[12]

On 29 September 2007, Learndirect, the government-backed sponsors of The Jeremy Kyle Show, cancelled their £500,000 a year deal over concerns about its content following a letter of protest from Welsh MP David Davies.^[18] Ufi, which runs the Learndirect adult learning service, said continuing the deal would not "protect and enhance" its reputation.^[19] However, the sponsor of the show in Scotland is Shades Blinds, who have retained their association with the programme although considered withdrawing their sponsorship.^[20]

Newspaper columnists subsequently exchanged mixed views about The Jeremy Kyle Show. Fiona Phillips, writing in the Daily Mirror, accused Judge Berg of being out of touch and claimed those appearing on the programme knew exactly what they were letting themselves in for.^[21] However, Carole Malone at sister publication the Sunday Mirror claimed Kyle was only interested in helping his own ego.^[22] In The Times newspaper, columnist Martin Samuel described the show as "a tragic, self-serving procession of freaks, misfits, sad sacks and hopelessly damaged human beings" and its guests as "a collection of angry, tearful and broken people, whose inexperience of talking through painful, contentious, volatile issues leaves them unprepared and inadequate for a confrontation of this nature" whilst noting that they "can only appear intellectually inferior to the host, too, with his sharp suit and well-rehearsed confidence".^[10] However, Derek Draper writing in The Guardian defended the good points of The Jeremy Kyle Show, mentioning that Kyle "effectively projects himself as a strong father figure, setting boundaries and trying to teach responsibility and restraint" to those on his show.^[23]

[edit] Parodies

The Jeremy Kyle Show has been the subject of parody by at least two BBC comedy shows. In the programme Dead Ringers, a parody of the show has appeared.^[24] Also, in October 2007, the BBC began broadcasting The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle, a sitcom starring and co-written by Jennifer Saunders. The show makes no reference to Jeremy Kyle, yet it parodies his show and private lifestyle.^[25] BBC Saturday morning show TMi did a weekly parody show which involved the same graphics and a similar set although it was renamed to "The Sammy Kyle Show" with Sam Nixon dressing up as Jeremy. This was for celebrities to air their 'differences'.^{[citation needed]} The show will even be indirectly referenced in an upcoming cartoon series of Dennis the Menace, on which Dennis appears with his mother on a programme resembling The Jeremy Kyle Show in order to discipline him for bad behaviour.^[26]