The starry world of celebrities

THE threat of canning much of BBC4’s schedule along with swingeing cuts to BBC3’s funding has sparked numerous ‘save’ campaigns in other media outlets and online. And why wouldn’t they? Catering for the notoriously difficult 18 to 35-year-old market, between them they have given us cutting edge comedies such as The Thick Of It, Little Britain and Gavin and Stacy, great music programmes, riveting dramas and insightful documentaries.

The hacking scandal that recently engulfed News International (and which doesn’t appear to be over yet), highlighted the increasing fascination with the world of celebrities. BBC3’s Sex, Lies and Gagging Orders, presented by former Heat editor Sam Delaney, is a timely exploration of this obsession. He asks how ‘gossip got serious’ and while he admits to be a fan of celebrity gossip, the world of phone hacking and super injunctions has pushed the boundaries on both sides of the fence.
The argument is set that sneaking about and poking your nose in has always been part of a journalist’s role but that News of the World (NOTW) took it too far.
The only dissenter in the documentary, apart from members of the paparazzi, who unapologetically defended phone hacking was former NOTW reported Paul McMullen stating it was fair game to “get a result at all costs”. Claiming he wanted to always get the best story he could, he believes the likes of Hugh Grant and Sienna Miller are justifiable victims to have a free press.
He raised an interesting point in all of this. Hints of phone hacking first emerged back in 2005 but the public didn’t concern itself with it then, as it only involved “silly celebrities”. The situation only changed in July when it emerged that murdered schoolgirl Millie Dowler’s phone was hacked in 2002 with the possibility that 7/7 victims and their families were also targets. McMullen argued that NOTW carried what the public wanted to know. It raised the question then about complicity – the public lapped up salacious activity with little care as to how the story was put together, until they found out ordinary people were also being targeted. More interestingly, however, is the fact the public continue to follow celebrity gossip despite all the recent disclosures.
Speaking of disclosures, the documentary spoke to a familiar bunch when it comes to revealing all. Famous for all the wrong reasons, Abi Titmuss acknowledged that she and the media mutually made money off each other but thinks they took it too far. Claiming her phone had been hacked for years, she is in the middle a lawsuit against NOTW.  Helen Wood, who got a public flogging by the press over trysts with Wayne Rooney and, allegedly, a famous actor who I can’t mention due to the presence of a super injunction, said her life was destroyed when she was outed as a prostitute to her family and friends.
So how to decide then who has more of a right to privacy?
Max ‘finger in every pie’ Clifford took a quite rational approach – when you flagrantly use the media, you can’t be too upset when they use you.
Some of the funnier interviewees picked up on the surge in internet celebrity websites with Holy Moly creator Jamie East more than willing to give a famous person a kicking, moreso if they actually have no talent at all. Believing being a celebrity is a stupid job, he likes to point it out regularly to them.
But the internet has created its own monster in celebrity showbiz. A nugget of gossip can now go global in minutes thanks to Twitter, whether it’s true or not. To this end, social media has been flaunting privacy laws with, as yet, little gagging ability. But this may be about to change and with celebrities threatening more and more to sue tweeters, it could only be a matter of time before the site that gave us the news in 45 characters or less feels the strong hand of the law.
Speaking of secrets though, before I check in for the latest buzz from Perez Hilton, what happens when you find out a something you should never have known. That was the premise behind Donor Mum: The Children I’ve Never Met on BBC1. Sylvia was one of Britain’s first egg donors in 1991 at a Harley Street clinic and as anonymity was part of the deal, she presumed that would be the end of it. However a news report on Joan, who was pregnant with twins from a donated egg, would change all of that as Sylvia realised she was the donor.
The complex emotions Sylvia felt at the time was enormous but not wanting to intrude on the new family, she waited until the twins were 18 before she decided to make contact. Her case was complicated in that she had a son herself through a sperm donor and he was also trying to find his ‘father’.
Sylvia was one of the luckier ones though in that the recipient was receptive to having contact with her. The audience went through the rollercoaster of emotions of both families. Finding your biological mother is not always the easiest of moments and while one of the twins was exceptionally eager to meet her, the other was less keen and took a long time to come around to the idea.
Joan’s story in particular was heart-breaking in that her two children had tragically died when they were on holiday. The rawness of it even after 20 years was very close to the surface. She was 41 when they were killed and with a lot of internal injuries, she was unable to conceive again, which is where Sylvia’s donation comes in. Joan’s gratefulness to her was overwhelming and shows how much the process changes people’s lives.
The most shocking thing was the hint to the amount of donors looking for their biological offspring and vice versa with children looking for their biological donors. The numbers are phenomenal and with the tag line at the end of the documentary that the only agency authorised to help them, UK Donor Link, is facing closure in October due to lack of funding, it begs the question as to where they will all turn to then.