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Michael Barrymore
Barrymore in 2020
Birth name	Michael Ciaran Parker
Born	(1952-05-04) 4 May 1952 (age 72) Bermondsey, London, England
Medium	Stand-up, film, television
Years active	1976–2003, 2006, 2009–2014, 2018–present
Genres	Observational comedy One-liners Improvisational comedy Character comedy Physical comedy
Subject(s)	Everyday life
Spouse	Cheryl Cocklin ​ ​(m. 1976; div. 1997)​

Michael Ciaran Parker (born 4 May 1952), known by his stage name Michael Barrymore, is an English comedian, influencer and television presenter of game shows and light entertainment programmes on British television in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. These included Strike It Lucky, My Kind of People, My Kind of Music, Kids Say the Funniest Things, and his own variety show, Barrymore. In 1993, he headlined the Royal Variety Performance.

At his peak, Barrymore was voted the UK's favourite television star several times, and he became one of the highest-paid stars on television from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. Barrymore subsequently appeared on Celebrity Big Brother and other shows including The Friday Night Project, Graham Norton's Bigger Picture, This Morning, The Sharon Osbourne Show and The Saturday Night Show. He starred in Bob Martin from 2000 to 2001, a comedy drama in which he played the title role of a failing television game-show host.

Barrymore's television career effectively ended after the death of Stuart Lubbock in 2001 following a party at Barrymore's house in Essex. Barrymore was the subject of police investigations and legal action around the case over several years.

Early life

Born Michael Ciaran Parker in Bermondsey, on Sunday, 4 May 1952, he lived on the Dickens estate for the first 18 years of his life with his two elder siblings. His father left when Barrymore was 11 and they never saw each other again. Barrymore and his siblings were raised in the Roman Catholic faith of their Irish mother, Margaret.

Career

Early career

Barrymore spent his early career working as a Redcoat at Butlins holiday camps and then in the West End theatre shows of London, where he met dancer Cheryl Cocklin in 1974. They married in 1976. With Cheryl as manager and the mastermind behind Barrymore's rise to fame, he first won a 1975 edition of New Faces, became a regular panellist on Blankety Blank and then the warm-up man for Larry Grayson on the Generation Game and also for Little and Large theatre shows. In the early days, Barrymore used to do impressions of John Cleese and Norman Wisdom, among others.

Television career (1976–2002)

Barrymore rose to fame via appearances on Blankety Blank and Who Do You Do? and his television career began firstly by having his own sketch show entitled The Michael Barrymore Show in 1983, which starred a young Nicholas Lyndhurst, and he also appeared in Russ Abbot's Madhouse as various characters in 1981 and 1982. He walked out of his contract with LWT, who produced The Michael Barrymore Show, after only one series; he then landed the presenter's role on the BBC game show Get Set, Go!. He appeared in a number of Royal Variety Performance shows, his first being in 1983. He became the host of ITV gameshow Strike It Lucky (which later became Strike It Rich) in 1986 and it grew in popularity over the years, watched by 18 million viewers at its peak.

This was Barrymore's first successful presenting role (Get Set Go! had been cancelled after only one single series), which led then to his own light entertainment show, Barrymore in 1991. However, before that he had his own show between 1988 and 1989, produced for the BBC entitled Michael Barrymore's Saturday Night Out;; it was set in Jersey and the theme tune, "Doin' the Crab" had been released as a single in 1987.

In 1991, Barrymore was given his own show entitled Barrymore where he interviewed guests, performed his comedy routines and joined in with other performers on the show. The show lasted throughout the 1990s right up to 2000, and was consistently nominated for awards over the years in the UK. Among the many famous guests that appeared on Barrymore were Cliff Richard, Uri Geller, and Spike Milligan.

Following his appearance on the 1993 Royal Variety Performance, where he performed a version of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" with soldiers, he became popular on television and on the stage. The Royal Variety Show performance brought the house down and cemented Barrymore's place in the heart of the British public. Barrymore became well known through his catchphrases of "Awight!", on making his entrance, and on Strike It Lucky, "Top, middle or bottom?" and "What is a hot spot not?", to which the studio audience would reply "a good spot". Following on from the success, Barrymore had a very public battle with substance abuse. He went into rehab due to his alcohol and drug addiction in 1994. He left after a couple of months and went on to write a best-selling book about his experiences, including rehab, and he also went on a stage tour called Back in Business in 1994.

He then regained his former status and made another series of Barrymore and recorded a new series called My Kind of People. He came out as gay on 19 August 1995 and split from his wife in 1996. He made a new series of Strike It Lucky, now called Strike It Rich and another Barrymore series. More editions of Strike It Rich and Barrymore were shown in 1997 and he also appeared in Spice World as Mr. Step.

A spin-off talent show, My Kind of People and game show My Kind of Music followed the success of both Barrymore and Strike It Rich. Following a dip in ratings, Barrymore was cancelled in 1997 (it later returned in 2000). He went on to new projects with Kids Say the Funniest Things, Animals Do the Funniest Things and Barrymore on Broadway. He was voted the UK's favourite TV star several times, and became one of the highest-paid stars on TV. Barrymore won the National Television Award for Most Popular Entertainment Presenter five out of the first six years, last at the 6th NTAs in 2000. This makes him the last winner of that award before Ant and Dec who, since the 7th NTAs in 2001, have been named Most Popular Entertainment Presenter (or, since 2016, Most Popular TV Presenter) every year the awards were held, 19 in all as of January 2020.

He recorded two new series called My Kind of Music and Kids Say the Funniest Things in 1998 along with more Strike It Rich. Newer editions of all three series were shown and another series of Barrymore was recorded and shown in 2000. The year 2000 also saw Barrymore move into acting in Bob Martin where he played the character of Bob Martin; he recorded two series of the comedy (2000–01). Barrymore also presented a second series of Kids Say the Funniest Things which aired in late 2000 and also a fourth series of My Kind of Music which was on the air at the time that Stuart Lubbock died in Barrymore's pool on 31 March 2001. Following Lubbock's death, both Bob Martin and My Kind of Music stayed on the air while investigation was ongoing, but he did not record any further programmes for ITV. They constantly backed him when questioned by the newspapers and simply waited for investigations to conclude. In October 2001, Barrymore was given a drugs caution and began recording a new series of My Kind of Music.

Death of Stuart Lubbock

Party

Following a party at Barrymore's house in Essex in the early hours of 31 March 2001, a 31-year-old man, Stuart Lubbock, was discovered unconscious in Barrymore's swimming pool. Three witnesses—including Barrymore—claimed to have found him motionless in the pool. Witnesses disagreed on whether Lubbock was found floating on top of the pool or at the bottom. Barrymore had said he was on top of the pool.

1. Staff. "2006: Michael Barrymore's comeback". Virgin Media. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
2. "Michael Barrymore makes ITV return 16 years on from being dropped when Stuart Lubbock died in his swimming pool". MSN. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
3. Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1984–2004. Gives name at birth as "Michael Ciaran Parker".
4. ltd, company check. "MR MICHAEL CIARAN PARKER director information. Free director information. Director id 916782637". Company Check.
5. ^ The House That Made Me, Channel 4, 16 December 2010.
6. Staff (1 April 2001). "Barrymore's Troubled Life". BBC News. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
7. Cite error: The named reference autogenerated1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
8. Barrymore, Cheryl (2002). Catch A Falling Star. Robson Books.
9. ^ Barrymore, Michael (2006). Awight Now: Michael Barrymore. Simon Schuster Ltd. p. 84.
10. Barrymore, Michael (2006). Awight Now: Michael Barrymore. Simon Schuster Ltd. pp. 82–87.
11. Barrymore, Cheryl (2002). Catch A Falling Star. Robson Books. p. 70.
12. Barrymore, Michael (2006). Awight Now: Michael Barrymore. Simon Schuster Ltd. p. 114.
13. Staff. "Michael Barrymore's My Kind of People". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
14. ^ Cite error: The named reference imdb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
15. "Barrymore's Ex to Publish Memoirs". BBC News. 22 September 2002. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
16. "Barrymore given drugs caution". BBC News. 11 October 2001. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
17. "Open Verdict at Pool Death Inquest". BBC News. 13 September 2002. Retrieved 5 April 2010.