On this episode we discuss one of the most famous and contentious true crime cases this century; the death of Stuart Lubbock. Now this case is still unsolved and in the UK and Ireland it was a huge deal and was covered incessantly by the news and tabloid media because of the association with celebrity tv personality and comedian Michael Barrymore. Lubbock died in the swimming pool of Barrymore’s house after a drink and drug fuelled night out in the local nightclub but, as yet, the killer or killers havn’t been brought to justice.
The nature of Stuart’s death has led the public to believe (with the help of the ghoulish reporting of the tabloids) that this was some sort of gay orgy gone wrong or some other sort of violent sexual death. The injuries Stuart Lubbock sustained were severe and undeniably sexual in nature but the focus was not really on finding actual justice for Stuart; it was on Michael Barrymore himself and it was front page news for weeks, months and years.
Michael Barrymore shocked a fairly conservative nation when he came out in 1995 and was, for the most part, loved and adored for who he was and for his wonderful ability to entertain rather than his sexual orientation. His career skyrocketed and he had the highest watched TV shows in the country. This gay lifestyle and the unconscious bias and uninformed rumour of LGBT sexual practice among the wider members of society at the time was then used against him in the salacious and macabre reporting of Stuart Lubbock’s death by TV and Newspapers. Even after all this reporting and attention, The Lubbock family still seek justice and Terry, Stuart’s father, took up a very public campaign, against Barrymore personally, to find answers about his sons death.
A Channel 4 documentary called ‘Barrymore: The Body in The Pool’ from 2020 revisits and details all the facts and details about the case and while we can infer who possibly could have had a hand in the violent death of Stuart Lubbock at that party that terrible night; we regrettably cannot say for certain. What we can say is; a beloved and talented celebrity had his career and reputation irreparably destroyed and was the subject of a relentless tabloid media news cycle about this case which fascinated the nation for nearly two decades.
This show has some honest and serious chat in it about Barrymore and our memories of the case and the reporting from the time and I would love to talk more about this case to anyone who is willing to join a LiveChat and discuss (that includes you Michael if you’re listening!)
Joining me on this episode is actor and comedian Patser Murray. You can find Patser on his website https://www.patsermurraycomedy.com/ and he is gigging all over the country on the regular.
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There is an extra 40 minutes in the ad-free Patreon version of this show available here https://www.patreon.com/posts/michael-ad-free-76802222
