Saturday Magazine - 03.09.2019

T

here were plenty of jaw-dropping

moments in the Jade Goody story,

but few could have imagined it

ending the way it did.

Seven years after finding fame on Big

Brother in 2002, she died at the tragically

young age of 27 from cervical cancer.

Ten years on, this series will explore the

Jade Goody phenomenon to tell a bigger

story of social and cultural change in

Britain, at a time when reality TV became

the biggest yet most controversial form of

entertainment in the country.

Featuring exclusive interviews and

never-before-seen footage, the

programme will cover everything from the

rise of celebrity culture and social media to

the battlegrounds of class, race and

sexual politics.

It’s easy to see why Jade

would want to go on Big

Brother. She’d had a tough

childhood, with young

parents who were both

drug addicts, ducking and

diving to survive.

Stories of her life in

Bermondsey, south-east

London are shocking and,

talking in the series, her mum

Jackiey is honest about her own

failings and her daughter’s motivation.

‘We were a twisted-up, mucked-up

family,’ admits Jackiey. ‘She didn’t go into

Big Brother for fame. She went in to get

away from me.’

There’s no denying that Jade

was the stand-out star of Big

Brother series three and from the

word go was amusing housemates

and viewers with her sense of fun

and unguarded comments.

She famously told housemate

Spencer that she thought ‘East

Angula’ was abroad.

When she caught a verruca on her

finger, she dissolved in tears, asking,

‘Am I minging?’ Bubbly Jade was

outrageous, ending up tipsy and naked

during a game one night, and giving the

show’s bosses a dilemma thanks to her

bedroom antics with PJ Ellis. ‘It was like

the Christmas party snog... but in front of

11 million people,’ he recalls.

Meanwhile host Davina McCall worried

about the 20-year-old dental nurse. ‘It

was really, really hard watching her car

crash a little bit,’ she says.

Show boss Phil Edgar-Jones, who’d

known from Jade’s first audition tape that

she was TV gold, saw that while viewers

were fascinated, they weren’t fans.

‘Crowds who came down on

eviction night would be

shouting, “Get Jade out!”’

But then there was a

turnaround, and the public

took her to their hearts,

and you forget now that

Jade didn’t win Big

Brother. (That accolade

went to Kate Lawler)

‘She came fourth, but she

was the winner,’ says Davina.

Jade milked her fame for all it was

worth and lived her life in a hurry. She met

fellow reality star Jeff Brazier the same

year, and by 2004 they had two sons, but

went on to split.

‘My role became being her anchor,’ he

muses. ‘But Jade didn’t want an anchor.’

As future episodes will explore, Jade’s

relationship with Big Brother was far from

over. And the scandals and headlines

were going to come thick and fast...

Ten years later, we are still fascinated

by Jade and how the world has changed

since she burst into the nation’s

consciousness. She was described as

the first person to become famous for

being famous, and while she may be

gone, her legacy lives on.

Realit y T V’s

first fallen star

Jade Goody was the first reality TV star to be famous for

being famous. A decade after her death, this series looks

at how she paved the way for anyone to be a celebrity

JADE: THE REALITY STAR WHO

CHANGED BRITAIN Wed 9pm C

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Jade stayed

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Words by: Tricia Martin

10 SATURDAY MAGAZINE