Jade Goody: reality TV’s first superstar, and its first victim

Jade Goody’s story is nothing short of a fairytale. But far from being like the singalong Disney princess stories of recent years, Jade’s is more reminiscent of the gruesome and disturbing fables of old. The ancient Black Forest may have been swapped for the streets of Bermondsey at the turn of the new millennium, but the same potent mixture of vulnerability, unexpected success and ultimately tragedy, brilliantly comes to the fore in Channel 4’s breathtaking 3-part series “Jade: The Reality Star Who Changed Britain”.

I knew very little about Jade before watching this series. In fact, I took a lot of convincing before committing to what I thought would be a one-episode sitting. But, completely transfixed after just fifteen minutes of viewing, I dug in for what I already knew would be a three-part binge.

First there’s the shocking vilification that she suffered after her uncouth early days on Big Brother, when the tabloids commonly referred to her as a “pig”, a “chav” or even a “slag”. You come to realise just how pervasive the press’ bullying culture was when even the TV darlings of today stoop to their level. Think Graham Norton imitating her in a fat-suit or Jonathan Ross joking about wanting "to shag her brains in". At the peak of her unpopularity, fellow BB housemate Alex recalls reading “die, pig” on a rock that had been thrown into the garden. And this was before social media!

Then came her time in the sun. Slowly but surely, as details of Jade’s difficult upbringing trickled into the public conciousness, audiences began to warm to her. And why not? She was a twenty-year-old dental nurse from South London who had marched into the Big Brother house and dared to be herself on national television.

By the time she was marched out, it was to the cries of her adoring fans and under the rain of her admiers’ underwear. Newly crowned as the “Princess of Bermondsey” she merrily surrendered her privacy in exchange for endless photo opps, guest appearances, gossip columns and ad campaigns which, over the years, made her reality TV’s first ever millionaire.

And that’s just part one.

The next twist in Jade’s tale came four years later when a particularly audacious Celebrity Big Brother production team broke with tradition by inviting back not just her, but her family too. After a fractious first few days in the house, Jade’s mother was unceremoniously evicted, and not long after it emerged that Jade was leading a bullying campaign against fellow housemate and Bollywood superstar Shilpa Shetty. Far from being a run-of-the-mill spat between two contestants, Jade had mocked Shilpa with racist remarks and unknowingly set in motion what would literally become an international diplomatic incident. The then Prime Minister Gordon Brown was even prompted by Indian news crews to comment on a TV show he’d clearly never even watched.

Once again, Jade was enemy number one. Endlessly she took to the screen to apologise, painfully breaking into tears on every occasion. However, in an admirable final attempt to redeem herself, Jade agreed to appear as a housemate on the Indian Big Brother.

But just two days in, tragedy struck. Rushed into the confession room to receive a phone call from the outside world, Jade is informed, on film, that she has cervical cancer. Although she had only months to live, public opinion was now surely in her favour. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jade took the decision to broadcast every step of her treatment to the public. This Black Mirror-esque final chapter of her story blurred the line even further between her private and her public life. As if witnessing a real-life soap opera, the public followed her slow and painful death, culminating in her marriage to Jack Tweed, just one month before passing away. 

Like any twisted fairytale worth its salt, Jade’s story carries valuable lessons. It’s strange to think that the very troubling behaviour she suffered at the hands of the media occurred just ten years ago and although there’s still much progress to be made, it’s warming to know that what she suffered wouldn’t be tolerated today. The documentary is also a grave warning on the dangers of reality TV, which will be top of mind following the recent suicides of both Jeremy Kyle and Love Island contestants.

Undoubtedly, what viewers will remember most is Jade’s unrelenting positivity and resilience. From her particularly troubling childhood through to her ruthless stigmatisation by the press and eventually, her fatal battle with cancer, Jade stayed true to herself and never gave in. That is what her fans have always loved her for and how she will be remembered thanks to this fantastic documentary series.

The series is currently available to UK viewers on All 4 here, or to other viewers on Youtube, here.