Celeb Big Bro

[Artemis]

Just for the sake of clarity, it's not the Lubbock family lawsuit, it's some lawyer who seems to either have a very personal chip on his shoulder or is being paid on the side by Lubbock senior, but apparently the case is being brought entirely by the lawyer, and in the lawyer's name only. It's all very bizarre.

[danielreal2k]

Just for the sake of clarity, it's not the Lubbock family lawsuit, it's some lawyer who seems to either have a very personal chip on his shoulder or is being paid on the side by Lubbock senior, but apparently the case is being brought entirely by the lawyer, and in the lawyer's name only. It's all very bizarre.

Well it cant be his dad because Barrymore has met him

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1210712,00.html

[gazzyk1ns]

The inquest in 2002 heard he had suffered severe internal injuries which could have been the result of a serious sexual assault.

But they could have been caused by a temperature probe inserted into him at least 14 times by a nurse, The Sun reports.

Er... yeah, cheers for not elaborating on that in any way, it's not really important. It doesn't sound like there's any more info to be divulged anyway, the amount of insertions has only been narrowed down to "at least 14". Very vague indeed, there's probably nothing ambiguous about the case at all.

[Neil]

Fucking hell, look at this bit!

Over the weekend Terry Lubbock, 61, from Harlow, met Barrymore in private in a London hotel for two hours, according to The Sun.

Mr Lubbock apparently told him: "I don't hold you responsible for Stuart's death, I never have. I don't believe you had anything to do with what happened to him."

Barrymore was said to have responded: "It haunts me every day. I feel so sorry for your loss. I have wanted to meet you for a long time. I feel a huge weight has gone from me."

It's a private conversation, yet they have quotes from both of them.  It reminds me of that chat Faria and Barrymore were having that night.   To recap, they were talking about all the seedy ways newspapers got their info, like tapping phones and the like.

[danielreal2k]

Seems a bit of a turn around from when he wanted action and was blaming just before he went in the BB house.

A Bruno public opinion U-turn by the papers, surely not

[TraceyQ]

An absolute U turn by the papers, it seems. The Sun is claiming the reports were altered after witnesses were offered money by a newspaper to show Barrymore in a bad light. And nothing has been said about the court papers at all, that I can see.  I wonder if we will see an apology by the press this week?

[weirdbeard]

http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,7558,1697628,00.html?gusrc=rss

Endemol boss Peter Bazalgette explains why the latest series of Celebrity Big Brother made such a big media impact - and how Jeremy Paxman got to appear on the show

Brotherly love

The telephone rings in the office of Tim Hincks, chief creative officer at Endemol UK. It is the editor of Newsnight. Can they put Jeremy Paxman in Big Brother's diary room chair for that night's programme?

What an extraordinary request. In the preceding days Newsnight habitués, of whom I am one, had seen Paxman affecting complete ignorance of Big Brother every time George Galloway popped on to a front page during his end-of-programme newspaper review. Here was a chance to make Paxman, Mr Raised Eyebrow himself, he of the Withering Look, determined inhabitant of the Higher Ground, mix with the rest of us. It was also an opportunity to renew Paxman's infamous clash with Galloway in the early hours of the last election night programme. It seemed irresistible. But Big Brother rules are inviolate: only the housemates sit in that chair during the run. The answer had to be no.

Yet it was too good an opportunity to pass up completely. So we offered Newsnight's boss, Peter Barron, the chance to record Paxman inviting Galloway on to his show, which we would play during Davina McCall's post-eviction interview with the Respect MP. A neat compromise: all that remained was for Barron to sell it to the grand inquisitor. What would he say? Would he take the bait? Unknowingly, Barron had hit the redial button on his mobile and we at Endemol got an inadvertent open line to the scene.

Unusual collaboration

Boldy, Barron pitched the idea. Dead silence. Nervous shuffling of paper. Then, suddenly, there was an enormous peal of laughter. That is when we knew that we would have him contributing to our show a few hours later.

This had to be a most unusual collaboration between two rival channels. And it was part of an even bigger event that played itself out, revealingly, on both traditional and digital media. The wall-to-wall coverage of this year's Celebrity Big Brother repays a certain scrutiny because it tells us quite a lot about the media involved.

On BBC1's 10 O'Clock News last Wednesday, Galloway's eviction was third in the running order - deemed less important than the Palestinian elections and Afghanistan, but weightier than the BNP leader trial, Google in China and the education white paper. At 10.30pm ITV News put the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow below Afghanistan and Gordon Brown, but above Google and Palestine. And over on Radio 4 he was once again beaten by Palestine and Afghanistan, but he trumped the education white paper. More to the point, his participation in Big Brother was everywhere, dominating the news. Conclusion number one: is reality TV dying? Is it hell!

I have read speculation about the demise of reality TV in many places, not least in the pages of MediaGuardian. So mark my words, freelance media journalists: so-called "reality" is one of the ways we now make television.

Young readers

It is no more going to disappear than news programmes or sketch shows. Big Brother (merely one example) launched its sixth series in Italy last week with a share of 37%, up on Big Brother 5. Spanish Big Brother 7 is nearing its end this month, with a dominating share just under 30%. In Brazil the show still peaks at an 80% share. While in Germany, as its current series nears the end, they are inviting Chantelle over as a Paris Hilton lookalike. Fear not, dear reader, I will not go on. The point is made - the genre is here to stay.

Let us now take the temperature of the newspaper coverage. Despite a glut of gay Liberals and the discovery of a new planet, seven dailies had Big Brother on their front pages. The other three, including the venerable FT, reported it copiously inside. Even the Daily Mail, the snootiest about Big Bruv up to now, found room on the front. Like all television producers, we are delighted to attract widespread coverage. But the benefits flow both ways. Conclusion number two: facing declining circulations and a loss of young readers many newspapers are obliged to cover Big Brother in an attempt to attract its phalanx of young fans. Maybe I am wrong, but the Daily Mail's change of heart happens to coincide with a reversal in its circulation numbers.

Finally - digital media. When John de Mol and his colleagues launched Big Brother in 1999 it was a piece of serendipity. Here was an entertainment property that combined television, the telephone and the net. In the market frenzy of the times it was a dotcommer's wet dream. But, of course, the story continues. Channel4.com has already exceeded 50m page impressions this month, twice the figure for this time last year. And it does not even include the fans flocking online to share their views in the heated chatrooms. The typical duration of a visit is 15-20 minutes. This greatly boosts the channel's online advertising proposition.

That is one part of the digital space. Telephony is another. We do not yet have the latest statistics for 3G downloads of Celebrity Big Brother. But the past three series of Big Brother in the UK, Italy and Australia alone generated 6m paid-for minutes of streaming. Those buying catch-up packages pushed the figures even higher. Enabling fans to get an extra piece of the action wherever they are, at any time of the day, is a genuinely revolutionary development. We have not yet begun to imagine where this will eventually lead us.

Then there are digital television channels. We have all heard how they are carving up the poor old terrestrial networks by grabbing up to 30% of the viewing. But it is dawning on the scribblers and analysts that much of the digital growth is coming from channels owned by the ancien régime - in particular, ITV2/3/4, BBC3 and E4. Big Brother, along with the likes of Pop Idol and I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!, plays a pivotal role in this. With spun-off streaming, talkshows and behind-the-scenes formats they allow the digital channels to double or treble their normal share.

Once again, let us take the day of Galloway's eviction last Wednesday. E4's overall share in 2005 was 1.6%. But for much of that day, between 11am and 4pm, CBB streaming delivered a share of 4%. Later on, via the silkiest of symbioses, the C4 main show handed over half a million viewers at around 10pm to enjoy CBB's Big Mouth on E4. This gave the digital channel a primetime share of over 3%. During Big Brother E4 more than doubles its all-hours share. It is via strategies like this that the channel has grown its year-on-year slice of the 16-34 year olds by an extraordinary 33% (transmission on Freeview has been the other major factor).

Half full

OK, that is enough statistical trainspotting. Time for conclusion number three: we constantly hear about how digital media are about to destroy terrestrial television's business model. The truth is that the new digital platforms rely hugely on traditional media for their content. For the old guard the glass is beginning to look as much half full as it is half empty.

Galloway may have wanted to connect with a new generation. Chantelle's crowning was a victory for classic Channel 4 irony (aka postmodernism). But for me the whole imbroglio was about something different. And, dare I say it, something even more profound.

[Ambient Sheep]

The inquest in 2002 heard he had suffered severe internal injuries which could have been the result of a serious sexual assault.

But they could have been caused by a temperature probe inserted into him at least 14 times by a nurse, The Sun reports.

You heard it here first.  I just wish I could remember where I heard that.  Private Eye?

Also, I just read this on the DS forum:

To be fair...I live near the Lubbucks so I get a lot of stuff about this in my local paper.....and Mr Lubbuck has always said he doesnt think MB killed his son, he just wants him to tell them anything he knows that might help them catch who did.

Its just the nationals, that like to sensationalise everything, have printed otherwise.

I hope they can all finally start to get a bit of peace now :)

[Ambient Sheep]

Apparently Dennis is already back in the States and will be sharing his experience of doing UK Big Brother on Jay Leno tonight.  Now that I'd like to watch!  (Info from this DS post.)  Apparently it's on CNBC Europe (Sky 510, NTL 124) every night at 10pm, not sure how far behind we are from the States.

Meanwhile it seems that Jodie Marsh does seriously need mental help, and quickly.  From her blog, as reported on DS forum here, emphasis mine...

"Apparently I am contracted to go to the last eviction winner's night. Filth. I have tried desperately to get out of it but it's a no-win situation. If I don't go then I won't get paid for the whole thing and I AM NOT going to allow that to happen."

"So, it looks like I will be at the final night, with about 4 minders (to keep the evil b@stards from getting any where near me) and an entourage of friends who will also look after me... I honestly don't want to see any of them again (except Chantel and possibly Preston) and still cannot sleep at night for thoughts of being raped and beaten by three ugly old men (which is what it felt like).

Nurse, the screens!!!

Poor girl.

[Utter Shit]

She is a loon. Does she really think Galloway and Barrymore are going to try and beat her up on live TV in front of a watching nation? What a nutter.

[danielreal2k]

still cannot sleep at night for thoughts of being raped and beaten by three ugly old men[/b] (which is what it felt like)..

Pity, would of made sensational live tele

[Almost Yearly]

There just seems something unbelievably nasty about the show and what it represents

So do you have absolutely no truck with the suggestion that BB could be seen as a postmodern morality tale, reminiscent of the courtesy manuals of the renaissance? Ahem, heh, that came out pretty pseudy, but I think it's quite a compelling argument. Someone was making it on the wireless.

[Artemis]

Loon, undoubtedly. But she hardly did anything to warrant the abuse she got either inside or outside the BB house in my opinion.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

So do you have absolutely no truck with the suggestion that BB could be seen as a postmodern morality tale, reminiscent of the courtesy manuals of the renaissance?

Aagh, God.

[Artemis]

Referencing Stuart Lubbock's death while reporting MB meeting with Lubbock senior....

The inquest in 2002 heard he had suffered severe internal injuries which
could have been the result of a serious sexual assault.

But they could have been caused by a temperature probe inserted into him at
least 14 times by a nurse, The Sun reports.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/30012006/344/don-t-blame-barrymore-death.html

Bloody hell.

[danielreal2k]

The paper reported that Barrymore and Mr Lubbock had now joined forces to demand that Stuart's death be reinvestigated in the light of new evidence.

That has screwed up the general thread of the gutter press then

[ffogems]

But they could have been caused by a temperature probe inserted into him at least 14 times by a nurse,

My God, really?

The Sun reported

Oh.

[danielreal2k]

But they could have been caused by a temperature probe inserted into him at least 14 times by a nurse,

Sorry every time I read that I keep hearing Cartman from South Park's voice in my head

[mook]

14 times! Am I missing something here? how difficult can it be to stick something up a dead mans arse that you have to do it 14 times before you get it right?

[Cardinal Tit Storm]

It was mentioned on the radio that the anal injuries may have been caused by a mortury attendant with a "known history" of abusing bodies.

!

Well it makes more sense than a nurse ramming a probe up there 14 times for no good reason.

[Ambient Sheep]

It was mentioned on the radio that the anal injuries may have been caused by a mortury attendant with a "known history" of abusing bodies.

Ah good, this thing I keep posting to myself has got on the radio then?  Excellent!

[danielreal2k]

mortury attendant with a "known history" of abusing bodies.
.

Eh? at what point did the people who employ or regulate this mortury decide, "Ah I think now that Bill has rogered about 20 stiffs, its about time to put a stop to it" Surely if the history was known, wouldnt they sack the person responsible or send them to the loony bin.

[Cardinal Tit Storm]

Ah good, this thing I keep posting to myself has got on the radio then?  Excellent!

Hehe, missed your previous posting(s) - sorry 'bout that. I do wonder if there's any truth to the theory though, because I didn't hear any reliable source quoted on the radio. Still, if the press really want to exonerate Barrymore, I expect they'll find out for us!

Edit: To Daniel - yeah it's probably nonsense

[Ambient Sheep]

Aha!  I'm not invisible after all!  I was starting to wonder.  :-) :-)  It wasn't just you, either!  

I do wonder if there's any truth to the theory though, because I didn't hear any reliable source quoted on the radio.

I have a feeling it was someone in the hospital leaking the info to Private Eye, but I could be wrong.  Any other Eye readers here remember this?

Maybe he just had a bit of a dodgy history abusing bodies in THAT hospital...i.e. he'd been seen by co-workers larking about with them before, but nobody had reported him.

[Ambient Sheep]

More on the Barrymore/Lubbock business.

A Guardian blog[/url]"]The Sun's forgiven him and, after a week of writ-chasing, so has Stuart Lubbock's dad, so is this the signal for Michael Barrymore to return to England and the sort of Strike it Lucky TV role that helped make him famous?
::
::
Almost as stunning as the Sun's U-turn on Barrymore is the paper's volte face on the evidence. Across two pages a Sun investigation claims to have 'unearthed "lost" evidence'. Except that most of this missing evidence has been in the public domain for some time, it just depended upon where you looked for your information: as can be seen in a three-year-old piece by Mark Simpson.

And if you follow that last link, you get a very interesting article, it's very long, but I've tried to cut it down as much as I can, and emphasised some bits in bold:

IF YOU'RE GOING to drown in a celebrity swimming pool, choose carefully. Not all celebrity swimming pools are equal. In March last year Daniel Williams a 23-year-old fireman drowned in another male celebrity's pool. But while Lubbock, a butcher by trade, became a household name, Williams became yesterday's news.

As with the events surrounding Lubbock's death, there was a party, Williams amused himself in the pool at the London house, while the other guests drifted indoors. No one saw him drown. He was found submerged dead, or dying, in the early hours of the morning. The toxicologist's report showed that Williams had consumed the same quantities of alcohol (nine pints), ecstasy (four or five tablets) and cocaine (a line or two) as Lubbock. Likewise, there was no forensic or witness evidence of any struggle.

Unlike the Lubbock case, the press didn't find Williams's death mysterious or even particularly interesting. They accepted the results of the police inquiry (which, as with Lubbock, ultimately produced no charges) and the Home Office pathologist's conclusion was that he had died by drowning. They didn't splash each day's (carefully selected) inquest "highlights" across their front pages, printing speculation as scientific fact, or constantly interview Williams's family and friends. Nor did they lynch his host's career from the lamppost of public indignation. Instead they treated the death for what it was, a terrible accident.

Why? What was the difference? Was it in part that Williams drowned, accidentally, in a swimming pool belonging to a married film celebrity - the actor Art Malik - instead of a very famously gay and off-the-rails television celebrity called Michael Barrymore?
::
::
For example, the papers, tabloid and broadsheet, told us repeatedly how Lubbock was found floating face down in Barrymore's pool. Untrue. All the witness statements agree that Lubbock was found at the bottom of the pool face up. Apparently, the image of a "handsome", "heterosexual father-of-two" floating dead, face down, and arse up - literally drowning in passivity – in the pool of Britain's most famous 'arse-bandit' was just too seductive for the press to resist.
::
::
In fact, the pathologists were divided as to how the injuries were caused. It was not even established that the injuries were caused by sexual activity. Indeed, DNA testing showed that Lubbock had not had sexual contact in the hours before he died.
::
::
How many of the guests were actually gay? "None. Just me and my boyfriend," says Barrymore.
::
::
(A senior editor on a liberal broadsheet, explaining shortly after the inquest why no, he definitely would not be running an article anatomising the press' distortions, told me in no uncertain terms that Barrymore was 'low life'.)
::
::
...the summing up of the coroner, Caroline Beasley-Murray, seemed to assume, despite evidence to the contrary, that Lubbock's injuries must have occurred at Barrymore's house, and appeared to criticise the partygoers and the host for not being able to explain them. This and the open verdict – itself not uncommon in inquests – provided the press with enough rope with which to hang Barrymore again and again.

"If his injuries occurred here," asks Barrymore, "why was there no blood on his boxer shorts? Why is there no blood in the house? Or in the pool?"

It's a vital question. Lubbock's anal injuries, lacerations as well as bruising and dilation, would have involved a substantial amount of bleeding and even small bloodstains are notoriously difficult to eradicate. Moreover, since the inquest, Stuart Nairn, one of the A&E nurses who worked without success to resuscitate Lubbock for over two-hours, has provided a detailed sworn statement to Barrymore's solicitor which has sparked the new investigation by Essex police and thrown the coroner's presumption about where the injuries took place into even more doubt.

Nairn's assigned task for the entire two-hours was repeatedly taking Lubbock's temperature rectally with a small, thin, thermal probe. Nairn performed this operation 16 times, pulling apart Lubbock's buttocks and opening his sphincter each time. His statement makes clear that he saw no evidence of the injuries described at the coroner's inquiry. Indeed he noticed no dilation or significant bruising (according to the pathologists' report, even if Nairn's small temperature probe were actually quite large, he would not have needed to open Lubbock's sphincter muscle at all). "I am sure that I would have noticed this," says Nairn. "Moreover, I would have reported this to the doctor." He also mentions that aside from a small smear of blood on the probe towards the latter stages, which was not unusual given the number of insertions, there was no evidence of bleeding.
::
::
Nairn was due to appear as a witness at the inquest but the police say they lost contact with him. A similar statement by Nairn was read out at the inquest, but it was dismissed by Professor Crane, one of the pathologists, who claimed that someone in A&E would not have had time to notice such injuries, and would have been preoccupied with other things anyway. Nairn's second statement makes it clear that he would have noticed. In fact, he probably spent more time observing Lubbock's anus than any pathologist.

If, as now seems likely, the injuries to Lubbock occurred after he was finally pronounced dead at Harlow General Hospital and Nairn's treatment ended, then they must have occurred in the seven hours between this time and the body's examination by the Home Office pathologist, who was the first person to record them. Essex police are unable to confirm that the body was guarded during this time. Instead they can only say that this matter, and the issue of who had access to the body during this time, is "part of the current investigation".

Does Barrymore have any idea how the injuries occurred? "Well, I have my ideas about it, but it would be wrong for me to speculate," he declares. "That's for the police to investigate. I'm not about to point fingers at anyone."

(Oh, and it's not "Harlow General Hospital", it's "Princess Alexandra Hospital".  Shame he couldn't get that right, it makes you wonder about the rest of the story a little.)

[danielreal2k]

Looks like this has been re-released again.

Prefer that to Chantelles cheap Kylie shit any day.

[Neil]

Nurse, the screens!!!

Poor girl.

I did get to see that BBLB reuinion, Sheepy, and it was indeed interesting and fun.  Did you notice her face when Barrymore went up to get his award though?  Fucking hell!  He was larking about and being quite amusing, and they switched to a shot of the rest of them...all looking quite jolly, but with Jodie Marsh furiously looking away from the whole thing.  I wish I'd taken a screenshot, the rage and hurt was palpable!  Had to delete it as I was out of space though.

[Utter Shit]

That's just reminded me, Barrymore thanking 'Mark the occasion' was the first time he's made me laugh in...well, ever, really. I quite liked Strike It Lucky, though.

[zozman]

I dunno if this has been posted, or even if it's real, but does anyone want to see Chantelle with her tits out?

http://www.totallycrap.com/media/bigbrotherchantelle/

NSFW obviously.

[Mr. Analytical]

Not great tits... nicer arse frankly.