‘I think the geezer’s dead, mate’: New documentary will air chilling 999 call made from Michael Barrymore’s house saying Stuart Lubbock’s body had been found in TV star’s swimming pool
- Stuart Lubbock, 31, found lifeless at Barrymore’s home in Roydon, Essex in 2001
- Six years later the TV presenter was arrested but later released without charge
- Channel 4 documentary ‘Unexplained’ will air party-goer’s call for the first time
A new documentary will air the chilling 999 call made from Michael Barrymore’s home after a body was found floating in his swimming pool.
Stuart Lubbock, 31, was found lifeless at Barrymore’s mansion in Roydon, Essex, in 2001.
Nineteen years on, Channel 4 plans to broadcast the party-goer’s phone call that first alerted emergency services to the tragedy.
The unknown reveller tells of how he had just stepped out into the TV presenter’s garden when he spotted Mr Lubbock’s body.
He rushed over and pulled him out of the pool and told the call handler while he waited for an ambulance to arrive: ‘I think the geezer’s dead mate’.
Barrymore, 67, was arrested in connection with the case six years after Mr Lubbock’s death but was later released without charge. He spent several years out of the spotlight.
Stuart Lubbock, 31, (right) was found lifeless at Michael Barrymore’s mansion (he is pictured left on Good Morning Britain in June last year) in Roydon, Essex, in 2001
An aerial view shows the swimming pool at Barrymore’s Roydon mansion
The Channel 4 programme, which has the working title Unexplained, has been 18 months in the making and features never-before-seen material from inside the unsolved Essex Police case.
Pictured: Stuart Lubbock
The documentary will include the call to the emergency services from Barrymore’s home alerting them Mr Lubbock’s body had been found in the swimming pool.
Audio of the call was played to journalists at a press conference in London today as Channel 4 unveiled its programming for 2020.
It comes after Barrymore, 67, was forced to pull out of Dancing on Ice because of an injury.
Channel 4 director of programmes Ian Katz said: ‘This remarkable film, with never-before-seen police evidence and exclusive interviews with those involved in the investigation, reminds us that, 19 years on, no-one has yet been held accountable for the tragedy.’
The programme will piece together the perspectives of the Lubbock family, as well as those of the detectives, forensic pathologists and eyewitnesses to explore what happened that night at Barrymore’s Essex bungalow, and the events that followed.
Mr Lubbock’s father, Terry, said: ‘This documentary is about the questions around what happened to my son, Stuart Lubbock.
Finally. The story has become so distorted and confused over the years. So much has been said and written.
‘It’s time to put all the facts together in one place.’
Channel 4 commissioning editor Alisa Pomeroy said: ‘This film is a reflective piece that tells the story of an unexplained tragedy that unfolded in the glare of an unforgiving media.
‘It sheds light on the complex relationship between celebrity, the criminal justice system and an all-powerful tabloid press in the early Noughties, but, most of all, it’s the deeply moving story of the Lubbock family’s continuing quest for answers and justice, nearly 20 years on.’
Barrymore last year spoke out about the death of Mr Lubbock, telling Piers Morgan’s ITV show Life Stories that he ‘couldn’t be more sorry’ for his behaviour that night, and that he is ‘100 per cent innocent’.
Barrymore last year spoke out about the death of Mr Lubbock, telling Piers Morgan’s ITV show Life Stories that he ‘couldn’t be more sorry’ for his behaviour that night, and that he is ‘100 per cent innocent’