When I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me out of Here! was launched 20 years ago the impact of creepy crawlies and public scorn on the mental wellbeing of Christine Hamilton and Nigel Benn was barely given a thought.
Two decades on, however, and the closing credits of the ITV show feature prominent references to psychological consultants and heads of welfare.
“We have improved,” Dame Carolyn McCall, ITV’s chief executive, said when asked about the “duty of care” the organisation owes competitors on its audience-participation shows. “We have definitely ramped it up, take it very seriously and review it constantly.”
McCall joined the broadcaster in 2018 shortly before the suicides of two former Love Island contestants. She oversaw the demise of The Jeremy Kyle Show after the suicide of a former guest. Caroline Flack, a presenter of ITV’s The X-Factor and Love Island, killed herself in 2020.
The incidents led to a revamp of duty-of-care protocols. Love Island contestants, for example, are now given training on how to deal with the press and social media, as well as being offered therapy for 14 months afterwards.
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And yes, even Matt Hancock can avail himself of post I’m a Celebrity psychological assistance. For ITV though, it goes beyond Hancock’s half-hour sessions.
McCall said that when she joined the broadcaster she launched a review into its “social purpose”, adding that it “became really, really clear that one of the things we could make a difference on is mental health, mental wellbeing”.
One of ITV’s key partners in a series of initiatives promoting mental health, McCall said, is the charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).
CALM is one of three charities chosen for The Times and Sunday Times Christmas Appeal this year.
In spring 2021 a campaign called What Gets You Through — using social media platforms as well as its television channels — was aimed at the 16 to 34-year-olds whose mental health had suffered during the lockdowns.
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The broadcaster and the charity also combined forces for the Invisible Opponent campaign featuring Tyson Fury, the boxing world champion. The campaign was intended to illustrate how mental health problems were often hidden.
Last year the charity worked with ITV’s This Morning on what McCall termed a “harrowing” project when 50 portraits of smiling people were unveiled on London’s Southbank. Two days later the programme revealed that they were the last photographs of people who had taken their lives.
“They were all smiling and had all committed suicide,” McCall said. “It makes me feel ill and had such an impact on viewers.”
She added: “One of the things we realised was that to get through to people we had to be quite disruptive, quite bold.
“Everything we do with CALM is action-based. One of their key things is to always drive the action rather than just make people think: ‘Oh my God, how awful,’ ” she said.
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ITV’s daytime shows interview bereaved people to “encourage people to get talking” while on their flagship show Britain’s Got Talent, “Ant and Dec broke the fourth wall and spoke directly to viewers telling them to start talking with each other”.
Its soaps were able to “cover a whole range of storylines” with the aim of “getting people to talk about what they see on the telly”.
McCall said the pandemic had “accentuated isolation, depression, loneliness” and that “it affected everybody to some degree”, adding: “Which is why I think our focus has been right.
“It is about the whole of society. All of us have to look after our mental health. We have to get people to realise they can help themselves but also that they can reach out and use CALM and [other charities].”
She said: “Our shift was in making sure that everybody looked after their mental health and started to see it like physical health. To see it as a standard thing.”
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To donate to The Times and Sunday Times Christmas Appeal visit thetimes.co.uk/christmasappeal or call 0151 284 2336. Every £1 donated to CALM will be doubled up to £300,000, thanks to £200,000 from The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust and £100,000 from an anonymous donor. To kick off its two-year charity partnership with CALM, MoneySuperMarket Group has also donated £25,000 towards The Times and Sunday Times Christmas Appeal.
Calls are charged at normal landline rate. Charges from other networks may vary. Donations will be administered by the Charities Trust on behalf of the chosen charities. Donations may be refunded only in exceptional circumstances. Ts&Cs apply
