Back in the 1990s, before reality TV hits such as The X Factor took over Saturday night TV schedules, Barrymore had been the “clown prince of primetime”, fronting game shows such as Strike It Lucky, which regularly attracted audiences of 17 million viewers.
I did this interview way back in 2013. Listen to it and make sure you watch the documentary this Thursday.
This morning I woke up to reading.
Why did he flee his home? He shared with me in 2013, that he had no idea how that body got in the pool.
Michael has shared his reasons for fleeing the scene. How one ill-advised action cost him his career.
This Thursday Channel 4 will screen a new documentary called Barrymore: The Body in the Pool, and from the title alone most people in Britain over the age of 30 will know exactly what it’s about. That title, however, is also telling: while people remember Michael Barrymore, the fallen TV entertainer, the man who was found dead in his swimming pool 19 years ago has remained largely anonymous.
Stuart Lubbock The Body In The Pool
Stuart Lubbock was 31 when he met Barrymore and his entourage at a Harlow nightclub on 31 March 2001. They got chatting and Lubbock, a divorced factory supervisor, and father of two ended up going back to Barrymore’s house in Roydon for an after-party. Three hours later, a 999 call from one of the guests said that a man had drowned in the swimming pool. The body in the pool was Lubbock’s.
As soon as the news broke, a tabloid feeding-frenzy began. Barrymore was the quarry. Questions abounded: had he hosted a drug-fuelled gay orgy? (Barrymore had come out six years previously). Why did he flee his home?
Would his gilded TV career ever recover?
It will never until the truth is revealed.
I truly hope for Stuart Lubbock family and Michael Barrymore it does.
