'I can't face life without you': Last text of grandfather, 62, who 'killed himself with morphine overdose' after being dumped over failing Jeremy Kyle lie detector test - as ITV takes show off air

  • EXCLUSIVE: Steven Dymond, 62, left feeling suicidal after filming for the show
  • The programme was due to air this week, but was pulled from TV schedules  
  • The digger driver was found dead in his bedroom on Thursday last week 
  • ITV will be carrying out investigation into episode, which will not be broadcast 

Steven Dymond was said to have been left in tears and feeling suicidal after filming

Steven Dymond was said to have been left in tears and feeling suicidal after filming

A 62-year-old grandfather was found dead days after being 'humiliated and traumatised' on The Jeremy Kyle Show when he failed a lie detector test on the programme, his landlady has revealed. 

Steven Dymond died in a suspected suicide a week after filming an episode of the controversial ITV daytime chat show, which he had gone on with his on-and-off girlfriend Jane Callaghan.

He is said to have been left devastated and feeling suicidal after being confronted in the TV studio at MediaCity in Salford about allegations of infidelity.

Mr Dymond, who had been living in Portsmouth, Hampshire, was also asked to sit a lie detector test, a regular feature of the show. According to friends, he was labelled a liar after he failed the test.

The guest, who had just found out he was a grandfather, called his friends in tears after filming the show, which had been due to air yesterday.

In a dramatic move, ITV halted the scheduled broadcast, suspended filming of the show and removed all past episodes from its catch-up website. MPs called for the show, on air since 2005, to be scrapped because it exploited vulnerable people.

Last night Mr Dymond's tearful ex-partner Miss Callaghan recounted how she told him to 'get his stuff and go' when they returned to their home. 

Steven Dymond, 62, (pictured) was said to have been left in tears and feeling suicidal after filming for the show with his on-and-off girlfriend
Jane Callaghan with Mr Dymond

Steven Dymond (left), 62, was said to have been left in tears and feeling suicidal after filming for the show with his on-and-off girlfriend Jane Callaghan (right, with Mr Dymond)

The Jeremy Kyle Show has been pulled off air by ITV and suspended indefinitely (file image)

The Jeremy Kyle Show has been pulled off air by ITV and suspended indefinitely (file image)

She told The Sun: 'He also kept texting me, leaving voicemails. In one text, he said, 'I can't live without you. I just wanted to come and see you. I just wanted to say sorry before I go. My life is not worth living without you'. 

The programme, which was due to air this week, was pulled from the TV schedules after the digger driver was found dead in his bedroom on Thursday last week following a suspected suicide. 

How the lie detector tests on the show work 

Lie detector tests form a regular part of The Jeremy Kyle Show, and are run by polygraph examiners Guy Heseltine and Tristam Burgess from Manchester-based UK Lie Tests.

The polygraph works by tracing changes in a person’s physiological conditioning

The polygraph works by tracing changes in a person's physiological conditioning

The test involves a qualified examiner who is a member of the British Polygraph Association asking pre-agreed questions to the person taking the test.

The polygraph works by tracing changes in a person's physiological conditioning during questioning, which is done by attaching various components to the subject.

These include two rubber pneumograph tubes placed around the subject's upper chest and abdomen to measure breathing and movement.

The examiners also measure galvanic skin response (GSR) by placing two finger plates or adhesive pads across the subject's hand or fingers, which trace changes in sweating during the examination.

They also measure heart rate with a cardiosphygmograph which traces changes in the subject's relative blood pressure and pulse.

Bruce Burgess, the founding examiner of UK Lie Tests, has been on many TV shows

Bruce Burgess, the founding examiner of UK Lie Tests, has been on many TV shows

The tests normally take about two hours, and involve a pre-test interview, the collection of charts and then the analysis of these charts.

UK Lie Tests claims no test process can be guaranteed 100 per cent certain, but all its examiners have had anti-countermeasure instruction to try to avoid cheating.

Fees for a lie detector test at one of its offices in Britain start at £400.

The company's founding examiner Bruce Burgess has also appeared on TV shows including Trisha, Loose Women and This Morning.

Police and government agencies in Britain have been generally slow to adopt lie detector technology compared to other countries such as Canada, the US and Belgium.

While the technology is now used by police in the likes of London, South Yorkshire and Hertfordshire and the Home Office primarily for sex offence cases, it is implemented by internal staff after being trained as examiners.

Miss Callaghan said Mr Dymond was determined to go in front of the cameras despite health fears and had a doctor's letter confirming he was OK to appear.

He had been diagnosed with depression for the first time in February when their relationship broke down, and was prescribed anti-depressants.

But a doctor later said he looked 'fine and happy' despite him not taking any of the tablets, and he was provided with the letter which gave him the all-clear.

In the days before his death Mr Dymond had reconnected with his estranged son, who told him he had become a grandfather, although he never got to see his son again or meet his grandchild.

His ex-partner said that he had obtained a doctor's note so he could go on the show to prove his innocence, despite having some health concerns.

Miss Callaghan said: 'I know we split up a week ago but we were together for two years. He was still my fiancé. 

'I still loved him. As much as he was a pig to me I still loved him.

'We got engaged Christmas Day 2017. He was crying, the love was real. He was the most generous and loving person. 

'He was quietly struggling, and we didn't know at the time. He cheated on me, I know he did. I can't forgive but I just want him to be alive.'

Miss Callaghan added she had a notification she is about to receive a parcel, and thinks it may be from Mr Dymond.

She said: 'I can't see Steve taking his life without explaining it to me first. But he always said he would never love someone else.

'The doctor had prescribed him morphine for his severe arthritis. But he had stopped taking it in case it affected the lie detector. 

'We didn't know if it would but he didn't want to touch anything just in case.'

She added the show's aftercare team were 'brilliant' and made repeated attempts to contact Mr Dymond.  

Days before the show was filmed, Miss Callaghan shared posts about infidelity, reported the Daily Mirror. 

One said: 'Cheating doesn't start with sex, it starts with sneaky conversations.'

This morning, Kyle left his £3million home in Windsor, Berkshire, in a chauffeur driven Audi with blacked out rear passenger windows and refused to answer questions from reporters.   

The presenter wore a white T-shirt and baseball cap pulled down to hide his face. 

Neighbours confirmed that the car was driven by a personal assistant to the presenter.

The assistant had earlier collected a rubbish bin left outside the gated development and wheeled it back to Kyle's modern three-storey home.

Kyle's £3million house in Windsor is pictured today after he left the property this morning

Kyle's £3million house in Windsor is pictured today after he left the property this morning

Mr Dymond's landlady, who wishes to be known as Shelley, said he was 'sobbing and distraught' when he returned to her home in Portsmouth after filming for The Jeremy Kyle Show on May 2.

She told the Daily Mail last night: 'Four days later he was dead. I really believe it was the show that tipped him over the edge.'

Shelley, a hospitality worker, 55, said Mr Dymond moved in with her and her son after breaking up with his girlfriend in February amid cheating allegations.

She said he was still in love with Jane Callaghan – who he previously described on Facebook as his fiancee – and had been desperate to prove his faithfulness by taking a lie detector test on the show. 

But after Mr Dymond failed the test, he told Shelley that the studio audience had turned on him and he thought about suicide in the hours afterwards.  

A tearful Miss Callaghan (pictured with Mr Callaghan) said: 'I know we split up a week ago but we were together for two years. He was still my fiancé. I still loved him'

A tearful Miss Callaghan (pictured with Mr Callaghan) said: 'I know we split up a week ago but we were together for two years. He was still my fiancé. I still loved him'

Steven Dymond was said to have been left in tears and feeling suicidal after filming for the show with his on-and-off girlfriend, Miss Callaghan (pictured)

Steven Dymond was said to have been left in tears and feeling suicidal after filming for the show with his on-and-off girlfriend, Miss Callaghan (pictured)

Kyle is a father-of-four who became engaged to Vicky Burton, 37, his children's former nanny, in February 2018. They are pictured together at the Cheltenham Festival the following month

Kyle is a father-of-four who became engaged to Vicky Burton, 37, his children's former nanny, in February 2018. They are pictured together at the Cheltenham Festival the following month

The mother-of-one, who did not attend the filming herself, said: 'He was sobbing, he said, 'it's all gone wrong,' and said he had failed the lie detector.

Judge: Show is a human form of bear baiting 

The Jeremy Kyle Show was branded a 'human form of bear baiting' by a judge sentencing a man who headbutted his love rival during filming.

Security guard David Staniforth shocked the studio audience when he attacked bus driver Larry Mahoney, leaving him with blood pouring from his nose. 

He had been invited on the show to describe how Mr Mahoney had an affair after moving into their home as a lodger.

Security guard David Staniforth shocked the studio audience when he attacked bus driver Larry Mahoney, leaving him with blood pouring from his nose in 2007

Security guard David Staniforth shocked the studio audience when he attacked bus driver Larry Mahoney, leaving him with blood pouring from his nose in 2007

He claimed he had been riled by Mr Kyle. The programme was aired with the attack edited out, but Mr Mahoney complained to police and Staniforth was arrested. 

He admitted assault and was fined £300. An ITV spokesman said the programme's security guards had 'reacted as swiftly as possible to defuse the situation'.

But district judge Alan Berg told Manchester Magistrates' Court: 'I have had the misfortune of viewing The Jeremy Kyle Show and it seems to me that its whole purpose is to effect a morbid and depressing display of dysfunctional people who are in some kind of turmoil.' He said it was 'a human form of bear baiting'. 

Another show guest killed himself ten months after going on TV to discuss problems in his relationship. Roger Irons, 21, went on the show alongside his partner Matthew Millington in 2007. 

A spokesman for the programme said at the time: 'His death was not linked to the show and came well after his appearance.'

'He was distraught and devastated. He was traumatised. Steve said it got quite nasty on the show.'

She added: 'He told me that he had wanted to kill himself when he was being driven back to Portsmouth by a taxi that the show had booked. 

'He said he thought about overdosing on his medication and throwing himself out of the moving car. He was just a mess and he was just humiliated.'

Mr Dymond told his landlady and her son that he had told some lies but was adamant he had not cheated on his partner.

Shelley said: 'I tried to calm him down and sent him to bed with a hot drink.'

Over the next few days Mr Dymond was said to have been 'obsessed with the lie detector test' and started to spend more time in his room. 

When the family had not seen him for a few days they began to worry, but were initially reluctant to disturb him.

But on Thursday – after seeing that his car had not moved – the mother opened the door to his room and found him dead in his bed next to a number of handwritten letters.

Mr Dymond may have died from a morphine overdose - which he was prescribed for his painful arthritis, but friends suspect he may have committed suicide, as reported by The Sun.

She said he had been desperate to get back with his girlfriend and felt the show would give him the support he needed.

'All he did was talk about her,' she said. 'Everything was about his girlfriend. 

'He really admired and loved her to the core. He was like a lost puppy. He was desperate to prove himself.

'When he first said he was going on the show, I jokingly said, 'don't be so stupid'.' 

She added that Mr Dymond 'naively' thought he would get professional help.

'He genuinely thought he was going to get some counselling and some therapy from the show. He said, 'we will get all the care we need',' she said.

'His words were, 'They will help us and they have got the best teams in the country. They have got all the best counsellors'. He was naïve and really thought that.' 

Miss Callaghan (pictured) recounted how she told him to 'get his stuff and go' when they returned to their home
Miss Callaghan was the on-off girlfriend of Mr Dymond

Miss Callaghan (pictured) recounted how she told him to 'get his stuff and go' when they returned to their home

Days before the show was filmed, Miss Callaghan shared posts about infidelity, it was reported. One said: 'Cheating doesn't start with sex, it starts with sneaky conversations'

Days before the show was filmed, Miss Callaghan shared posts about infidelity, it was reported. One said: 'Cheating doesn't start with sex, it starts with sneaky conversations'

A neighbour of Miss Callaghan's home in Gosport, who did not wish to be named, said: 'He lived here the last two or three months, they seemed happy, they were always friendly.'

Lord Sugar defends Apprentice aftercare 

Lord Sugar today defended the aftercare on the BBC's Apprentice following criticism of how The Jeremy Show helps its guests.

Lord Sugar on ITV's Good Morning Britian

Lord Sugar on ITV's Good Morning Britian

He said there was a recruitment process which begins by whittling down thousands of people to about 30. These candidates then talk to a psychiatrist about their life and whether they can take the stress of being on the show.

Lord Sugar told ITV's Good Morning Britain: 'At the BBC, and I'm sure ITV are the same, they have a duty of care to make sure no one enters the process if there's any chance of it causing them any trauma.'

He said there is a 'house team' on the show which is 'keeping their eyes on people all the time' and watching out for them if they become ill.

But he added: 'The Jeremy Kyle Show is a different kettle of fish unfortunately. The format is completely different, as you know. It is brought to TV as it is good television. It's not perhaps what I think it is good television.

'Love Island, I have got no idea why it drove those people to die, I mean I don't know whether there is any correlation between that or not. But certainly on our show, these people are looking after very, very well.'

The neighbour added that Mr Dymond had recently bought a second hand car and had been pleased with it.

Another neighbour said: 'A while ago in the garden, I heard her say 'you have never kissed me like that' so they obviously had problems.

'They were pleasant people, they never really rowed. It's all been a bit of a shock.'

The family said they believe that Mr Dymond killed himself after they last spoke to him on Monday night. 

That was the last time Mr Dymond's son was able to get hold of him. 

Shelley and her adult son described Mr Dymond as a 'gentle giant', adding: 'He was a very quiet and charming.'

Shelley said she is 'outraged and angered' by how Mr Dymond was treated by ITV and The Jeremy Kyle Show.

She said: 'It's disgusting. Jeremy Kyle is paid so much, and for what? To destroy people for entertainment?

'How many people has the show emotionally destroyed? We don't know how many people who may have killed themselves.

'There is no proper after-care because if there was, would he have killed himself within four days off going on there? 

'They could have prevented this. They should be held to account.'

The mother said the show's directors rushed down to Portsmouth on Saturday after she reported his death. 

'They didn't come down when he needed them,' she added. 'The show tipped him over the edge. They humiliated him.'

The mother said she and her son now struggle with being inside their home since discovering Mr Dymond's body. 

She said: 'My home will never feel the same again. I cannot get it out of my head.'

Miss Callaghan said she had a notification she is about to receive a parcel, and thinks it may be from Mr Dymond
Miss Callaghan said she loved Mr Dymond

Miss Callaghan said she had a notification she is about to receive a parcel, and thinks it may be from Mr Dymond

Mr Dymond's friend Michael Bradley claimed he had told his landlady he was feeling suicidal after the show.

DAVID WILKES: Jeremy Kyle, ringmaster of the lurid TV circus 

Jeremy Kyle and his fiancée Vicky Burton

Jeremy Kyle and his fiancée Vicky Burton

Asked what he would choose if he could bring something extinct back to life, Jeremy Kyle once replied: 'Common decency.'

Anyone who has seen his show will know that is a commodity in desperately short supply amid its tawdry tales of family feuds, dysfunctional relationships, bad parenting, adultery and addictions.

While delving into the lives of the desperate and often degenerate, the show is punctuated by angry arguments between guests. Episodes have included 'My husband slept with my daughter' and 'My sister's a teenage prostitute'.

Kyle is the ringmaster of this lurid circus, filmed before a studio audience with security on hand should the protagonists find themselves incapable of abstaining from violence. He sometimes appears to enjoy ratcheting up the drama and is quick with sanctimonious advice for guests.

The Jeremy Kyle Show has become a phenomenon since it first aired in 2005. It is the most popular show on ITV's daytime schedule, regularly attracting more than 1.5million viewers. It has also become a byword for particularly tacky situations, as in 'it was like something off Jeremy Kyle'.

But there have also been disturbing signs that Kyle and his show reflect something far darker by glorifying life in the grimiest recesses of the sewer of 'broken Britain'.

Two years after it started, District Judge Alan Berg called the show 'a form of human bear baiting' to titillate bored viewers. Then in 2009, Judge Sean Enright said it exploited the 'foolish and gullible'. Both had heard cases involving violence connected to the show.

Kyle, 53, has become a household name and amassed a sizeable fortune from his brand of car-crash TV. He signed a new three-year contract with ITV worth a reported £2million a year in 2014, making him one of the country's highest-earning daytime hosts.

He favours an accent verging on 'mockney' on the show, but Kyle enjoyed a comfortable middle-class upbringing. His mother worked as a clerk at the royal bank Coutts, while his father was accountant and personal secretary to the Queen Mother before he retired.

The young Jeremy was sent to Blue Coats School in Reading, where fees stand at £5,565 a term.

In his autobiography, I'm Only Being Honest, Kyle revealed he suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder and gets up at 2am to mop the kitchen floor. He also said he licks his mobile phone 'to make sure it's clean'.

Before finding fame on TV, he was a recruitment consultant – and a gambling addict. 'Gambling is the mistress that truly seduced me,' he has said.

His first wife was Kirsty Holt, a secretary. They had a daughter, Harriet, who was five months old when the marriage fell apart. Since then, Kyle's personal life has become so tangled it could almost rival those of guests on his show.

He first met his second wife Carla Germaine, a model, when the local Birmingham radio station BRMB where he worked ran a competition in which two strangers would marry on air. Carla was one of the winners but when the radio marriage ended after three months she turned to Kyle for consolation. They married in 2002, had three children and set up home in Windsor, Berkshire.

When he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2012, she supported him through his operation and chemotherapy. They eventually separated after 13 years and divorced in February 2016.

Last year Kyle announced his engagement to Vicky Burton, 36, who used to work for him and Carla as a nanny.

Despite making a name for himself by airing other people's dirty laundry in public, Kyle has been reluctant to speak about his own love life.

He has, however, shared his views of the controversy that surrounds his show. 'We hold a mirror up to a certain part of society and that makes some people uncomfortable,' he once said in an interview. Elsewhere, he has described the show as 'conflict resolution – and the resolution is massive'.

He has defended his show for the 'after-care' offered to guests, including psychotherapy. It remains to be seen, however, how it will recover from the tragedy that has now apparently befallen it.  

Mr Bradley told the Daily Mirror: 'He told her, 'I've had enough, I'm going to kill myself.' He failed the test but was adamant he hadn't done anything wrong, saying, 'I'll come up with flying colours, I've never cheated.'

'He got made out to be wrong but he wasn't. Those lie detector tests aren't 100%. Steve said he'd recently split with his fiancee but was getting reconciled.

'He contacted Jeremy Kyle himself to prove he was innocent. That's how confident he was.'

ITV has wiped all episodes of the programme from its on-demand service the ITV Hub.

Episodes will not be airing on ITV2, although show's official YouTube account still has clips from the programme available to watch.

An ITV spokesman said: 'Everyone at ITV and The Jeremy Kyle Show is shocked and saddened at the news of the death of a participant in the show a week after the recording of the episode they featured in and our thoughts are with their family and friends. 

'ITV will not screen the episode in which they featured.

'Given the seriousness of this event, ITV has also decided to suspend both filming and broadcasting of The Jeremy Kyle Show with immediate effect in order to give it time to conduct a review of this episode of the show.'  

The tabloid talk show sees host Kyle and psychotherapist Graham Stanier help the guests talk through their personal issues in front of a studio audience. 

Episode 16 of series 17 was due to be broadcast on ITV on Monday, with the blurb in the Radio Times saying: 'The host invites guests to air their differences over family and relationship issues, and provides them with his own brand of no-nonsense advice.' 

Viewers took to Twitter on Monday to ask ITV why the show was not on this morning. Ellen Briggs said: 'Where is Jeremy Kyle gone? #findjezza.'

Another tweeted ITV to ask: 'Please explain why Jeremy Kyle has been replaced this morning... inquiring minds need to know.'

The controversy follows the deaths of two contestants on ITV's Love Island. 

Sophie Gradon, 32, who appeared on series two in 2016, was found dead last June, while Mike Thalassitis, 26, who took part a year later, died in March.

After a review into their deaths, the station promised to provide 'bespoke training' to all future contestants and 'offer therapy to all Islanders and not only those that reach out to us'. 

An ITV spokesman said: 'Everyone at ITV and The Jeremy Kyle Show is shocked and saddened at the news of the death of a participant in the show a week after the recording of the episode they featured in and our thoughts are with their family and friends.

'ITV will not screen the episode in which they featured. Given the seriousness of this event, ITV has also decided to suspend both filming and broadcasting of The Jeremy Kyle Show with immediate effect in order to give it time to conduct a review of this episode of the show.

'The Jeremy Kyle Show has significant and detailed duty of care processes in place for contributors pre, during and post show which have been built up over 14 years. 

'We are reviewing this episode and not making any further comment until this review is complete.'

A source added that Mr Dymond was 'calm and collected' when he left the show and that he had not been ordered off the stage.

A spokesman from Hampshire Police said last night: 'I can confirm that we were called at 1.24pm on Thursday 9 May following the discovery of a body of a man in his 60s at an address in, Portsmouth.

'The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file is being prepared for the coroner.'

Danniella Westbrook and Chris Maloney were due to appear on a celebrity special of The Jeremy Kyle Show on Tuesday, but said it would be back on at a later date.

Former X Factor singer Maloney told Mirror Online that the suspension was only 'temporary', adding: 'It will be aired at a later date.

'I haven't been told the new TX date. It's really sad news. I'm not sure of the actual details surrounding it, but my thoughts are with the family at this time.' 

EastEnders actress Westbrook tweeted that the episode would not air tomorrow, adding: 'I'm hoping you guys get to see it at a later date.'

More than 3,000 episodes of The Jeremy Kyle Show have been shown on ITV since July 2005, when it first appeared as a replacement for Trisha.

Sophie Gradon
Mike Thalassitis

ITV's Love Island star Sophie Gradon (left), 32, who appeared on series two in 2016 was found dead last June, while Mike Thalassitis (right), 26, who took part a year later, died in March

The long-running ITV chat show is filmed at MediaCity in Salford, Greater Manchester

The long-running ITV chat show is filmed at MediaCity in Salford, Greater Manchester

The daytime programme has become known for its argumentative discussions in front of a studio audience about guests' personal and relationship problems.

Calls for JK show to be PERMANENTLY axed after death of guest as MPs brand it 'very, very unattractive TV' 

MPs have called for The Jeremy Kyle Show, which has been on air since 2005, to be scrapped over claims that it exploits vulnerable people. 

'TV companies have a duty to care to the people who take part in their programmes,' said Damian Collins, who chairs the Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee.

'Clearly it would be totally unacceptable for a vulnerable person to be exploited in the making of the show, and then left to pick up the pieces by themselves.' Simon Hart, who is a member of the same committee, said: 'Jeremy Kyle is car-crash TV which revels in people's terrible misfortune and sometimes their vulnerabilities.

'We don't know what's happened in this case but people need to be looked after during and after the show.

'It's beholden on TV producers and management to satisfy themselves that people are fully prepared for what these programmes have in store for them and that people are properly looked after.'

Charles Walker, the Tory vice chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on suicide and self-harm prevention, said he would be surprised if the show returned to the air. 

'Exposing quite vulnerable people to ridicule is really not compatible with the mores of the second decade of the 21st century,' he added. 

'On reflection ITV would be best advised just to stop it. It's a very, very unattractive TV show and I'm surprised it's gone on so long.' 

The incident is likely to lead to serious questions for ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall. ITV said the episode featuring Mr Dymond would be submitted for a review due to the 'seriousness of this event'.

One of ITV's most popular daytime shows in Britain, a US version of the show was less successful, and ended in 2013 after two seasons.  

The show has faced significant criticism, including from a judge in Manchester in September 2007 who condemned it as a 'human form of bear baiting'.

District judge Alan Berg had been sentencing security guard David Staniforth who had headbutted bus driver Larry Mahoney during a row on stage.

He said at the time: 'It seems to me that the whole purpose of The Jeremy Kyle Show is to effect a morbid and depressing display of dysfunctional people who are in some kind of turmoil.'

'It is for no more and no less than titillating members of the public who have nothing better to do with their mornings than sit and watch this show which is a human form of bear baiting which goes under the guise of entertainment.' 

Producers claim guests are asked before each show how they would deal with potential outcomes to enable the team to assess their possible reactions. 

The show also has various aftercare provisions for guests, including mental health nurses, counsellors and therapists who can help them following their appearance. 

Kyle himself is a father-of-four who most recently became engaged to Vicky Burton, 37, his children's former nanny in the Caribbean in February 2018.

The couple began dating in 2016 - a year after Kyle's 13-year marriage to his second wife, Carla Germaine, 43, ended. His first marriage was to secretary Kirsty Holt.

Kyle, whose father worked as an accountant to the Queen Mother, has a net worth of about £4million and has successfully battled testicular cancer.

Kyle previously joked in an ITV profile that he would be 'unemployable' if he was not presenting the show, adding: 'There are a few people who actually think I'm alright.' 

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123, or visit a local Samaritans branch. See samaritans.org

How ITV's share price has plunged by a third in the past year

Broadcaster ITV sunk on the stock exchange yesterday after The Jeremy Kyle Show was suspended following the death of a guest.

Shares tumbled by 6.3 per cent, or 7.55p, to 111.8p – making it the biggest faller on the FTSE 100 yesterday.

ITV also dragged on the FTSE 100 overall, pulling it down by 0.6 per cent to 7163.68 points. Its share price has dropped by a third in the past year. 

This graph shows how ITV's share price has dropped by a third in the past year

This graph shows how ITV's share price has dropped by a third in the past year

It comes a week after ITV revealed another big drop in advertising revenues just months before it launches a new streaming platform.

The commercial broadcaster blamed a 7 per cent fall in first quarter ad sales on Brexit uncertainty and warned the turmoil was set to continue.

Shares dived despite a strong showing at its studios arm, which makes programmes including Line of Duty, Bodyguard, Victoria and Poldark.

ITV also warned the absence of the football men's World Cup this summer and investment in its Britbox streaming service would put further pressure on its balance sheet, with ad sales expected to fall by 6 per cent overall in the first half.

It comes after Carolyn McCall, ITV's chief executive, warned in February that advertisers were holding back spending because of turbulence surrounding the UK's exit from the EU.

ITV's share price has dropped from about 180p to 112p since former Guardian boss Ms McCall was named chief executive in July 2017. 

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Pictured: Grandfather, 62, who ‘killed himself’ a week after being 'humiliated' by Jeremy Kyle

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