ITV’s juggernaut is set to air again just two days after the tragic death of former presenter Caroline Flack. Surely a pause – and a lot of reflection – is required
Last year, when a guest on The Jeremy Kyle Show killed themselves in the week following the show’s filming, ITV acted swiftly. Kyle’s show spent its entire 14-year existence weathering controversy – a judge once described it as “human bear-baiting” – but when a person directly connected to the show had taken their own life, a quick decision was made. The show was taken off air, never to return.
Love Island is not Jeremy Kyle. It may be manipulative, it may even cross a line at times, but it does not seize on and then amplify serious, complex and often tragic issues in people’s lives in the same brazen way. Yet it has been associated with the suicides of two former contestants – Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis – and now its longstanding host, Caroline Flack. Gradon’s partner, Aaron Armstrong, also killed himself shortly after her funeral. Rather than cancel the show following Flack’s death, ITV2 plans to continue airing the current series tonight after only two nights off. Is that really something it should even consider?