Culture Committee Hearings on BBC Radio
Rob discussed the House of Commons Media Select Committee hearings on The Jeremy Kyle Show in a live BBC Radio Five Live interview with Tony Livesey on Tuesday 25 June. Rob was invited on as a former Board Director of Granada Television.
On the station’s Drive programme, Rob said “The hostile and bruising atmosphere in the hearing with ITV executives was inevitable given the tragic death of Steve Dymond shortly after appearing in a controversial episode of the series.” (The episode in question will never be transmitted.)
Rob revealed that many people rehearse before appearing in front of Select Committees as most of the questions can be anticipated.
Rob pointed out that since their beginnings in 1960s America, those type of confessional programmes were known as ‘Tabloid TV’ and “Trash TV”. They had been developed by hosts such as Phil Donohue, Oprah Winfrey to a degree and famously Jerry Springer – but they had all but disappeared.
Rob commented that it was a shame Kyle has refused to appear in front of the committee as he has always argued an alternative case about how people have been helped. Rob said ITV would not go do down the road of using lie detectors on future programmes, given questions about their reliability. Lie detectors are inadmissible in UK courts and parts of the USA, a point that had been made clear at the hearings by CEO Dame Carolyn McCall.
Drive is produced from MediaCity UK and Rob was speaking live from New Broadcasting House in London.
It was Rob’s third appearance on the station since May 2019. In 1994 he hosted the first Weekend Breakfast Programme on 5Live with Jane Garvey.

Rob McLoughlin speaks about the Jeremy Kyle Show
Rob McLoughlin discussed the tragic death which led to the cancellation of the Jeremy Kyle Show by ITV in peak time radio interviews on BBC Radio Five Live and on BBC Radio Wales.
He welcomed a Commons inquiry into ‘reality TV’ saying that ‘some good may come out of this tragedy’ as he also debated Kyle’s defence of the genre in interviews on Rob’s own radio shows.
He quoted examples from guests who had appeared on similar shows and claimed they had benefited but he recalled a conversation with one celebrity who had a ‘meltdown of sorts’ on Big Brother who he had privately suggested his planned appearance was ‘ill judged’. The celebrity eventually said the experience has been ‘cathartic’.
Rob said ITV were right to cancel the Kyle Show in the circumstances and argued that it probably didn’t match the brand values that channel aspired to.
The interviews were broadcast live and he has been asked to comment further on broadcast policy for other TV and radio programmes.
Rob was a Board Director and Senior Executive of Granada Television and a former Advisor to Granada Media and ITV plc.