Channel 4 set to air Barrymore 999 call

Michael Barrymore said he is innocent over pool death

Lucy Mapstone

The 999 call reporting the death of a man found in a swimming pool at entertainer Michael Barrymore's house is to be broadcast for the first time in a new Channel 4 documentary.

The call will be aired in a 90-minute programme exploring the full story behind the unexplained death of Stuart Lubbock (31), told by the people closest to the case.

Barrymore was one of the best-known TV presenters in the UK when the body of Mr Lubbock was found at his then home in Essex after a party in 2001.

Six years later, the star was arrested in connection with the death, but he was released without charge before withdrawing from public life.

Accountable

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.

The documentary will include the call to the emergency services from Barrymore's home alerting them that Mr Lubbock's body had been found in the swimming pool.

Audio of the call was played to journalists in London yesterday as Channel 4 unveiled its new slate of programming for 2020.

"This remarkable film reminds us that, 19 years on, no one has yet been held accountable for the tragedy," said Channel 4 director of programmes Ian Katz.

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 bungalow, and the events that followed.

Mr Lubbock's father, Terry, said: "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."

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 "100pc innocent".