Jeremy Kyle will have to reinvent himself in the wake of the cancellation of his TV show following the death of a guest, an industry expert has said.
Talk show host Kyle, 53, said he and his production team of 14 years were “utterly devastated by the recent tragic events”, which resulted in ITV announcing the end of The Jeremy Kyle Show.
It followed the death of Steve Dymond, 63, who had appeared as a guest on the controversial daytime programme.
Public relations and branding expert Mark Borkowski told Press Association: “He has to reinvent himself because clearly that type of programme is no longer fit for these times.
“We’re in sensitive areas – that programme might have been at its peak post-Springer, 2005, I’m personally surprised it’s been going so long.
“The mood of the nation has been evident but I guess because of the cost of the programme, the audience figures, the difficulty of actually maintaining that level of programme for that mid-morning telly is going to be tough so how ITV replace it or what sort of genre of programme takes over which has been quite a fixture is going to be tough.
“So, for Jeremy Kyle, it’s a case of watch and wait and hopefully the skill of your agents and your relationships with the broadcasters and the belief in you as a talent is going to sustain but it is a case now of there’ll have to be total reinvention.”
ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall said the broadcaster would continue to work with Kyle on other projects.
He has previously stepped in as a guest presenter on ITV’s Good Morning Britain and has fronted two series of Jeremy Kyle’s Emergency Room for ITV.