Channel 4 aired the moving Caroline Flack documentary detailing all of the moments in her life up until her tragic death back in 2020. Jack Proverbs and Katie Green give their view on this and what it meant to them.
Jack Proverbs
Caroline Flack was one of the most well-known TV presenters in the UK, she hosted hit shows such as The Xtra Factor and Love Island, and consequently made herself a household name.
This documentary explores the circumstances in Caroline’s life which led to her death, with interviews from her family and close friends as they openly discuss various moments throughout her life and more detail of who she was as a person.
The moment the show began it was instantly heart-breaking and bought back fresh memories to when the news about her death was announced on the shocking and saddening realisation that a person who has been on our screens for years took her own life.
One of the most upsetting moments was the impact social media and the tabloids had on Caroline Flack when she hosted the X Factor and it was reflective of what happened at the time, it was true that when herself and Olly Murs hosted X factor after being promoted from Xtra Factor they both received a tremendous amount of hate from everybody, especially towards Caroline Flack.
The press attacked Flack and that is a fact. It was all over social media the situation between Caroline Flack and Lewis, and the documentary signified this and there was an excessive amount of hatred towards her.
In the documentary it was awful witnessing friends and family’s reaction to these last moments in their life particularly when Caroline went to court for her plea hearing, the images of her walking out of the court you could tell by her face the amount of sadness and it leaves you teary-eyed seeing a person in this position.
It was clear that the media manifested on Caroline Flack painting this cruel image of her as “Caroline Whack”.
One moment which was astonishing and deeply saddening, was the image of the blood on the bed from the argument with Caroline and Lewis and the fact the media deceived people by spinning it to look like Caroline was some cold-hearted abuser that it was right to even publish the image. Extremely disappointing from the press.
There were also discussions about Caroline Flack’s love life and how this was constantly talked about in the media, from friends and families’ understanding it is clear Flack was just a loving person who got excited about being in a new relationship.
On the back of this documentary, I believe it’s an important watch not just for people who are fans of Caroline Flack, but for everybody so we can all acknowledge the impact of media hatred and misogyny towards women, who might have a complicated love life or are confident by just being themselves.
The fact they use this to fuel a hatred campaign is very disheartening to see as a student journalist and makes you wish for change in the world so something like this never happens again.
This is a very painful documentary to watch, especially in the last ten minutes with the video montage and the family’s loss being displayed, but this is one that is necessary to watch so people can learn about Caroline Flack and her experiences in life. Her mother’s heartbreak personally left me teary eyed so much in her words at the end, a truly heart-breaking story.
The message we should all take on board is to just be kind.
Katie Green
As soon as I pressed play – even before watching this documentary – I knew this was going to be a hard watch. I remember last year when I heard the news of Caroline Flack’s death, I was in Wetherspoons with my friends, I logged on to Facebook and there it was on headlines. I didn’t know if it was true yet as it wasn’t confirmed anywhere else. I showed my friends, and we were all gobsmacked, and even startled and hurt in some ways.
A year on, and we see all the backlash the media got from her death, and now this channel four documentary. I will admit, I was teary from the onset when I saw Olly Murs shedding some tears when he was talking about Caroline after them two were such close friends.
In a way, I feel like the death of Caroline Flack hits closer to home, especially to people my age as we have been familiar with her on our TV screens through some of the standout TV shows we have watched growing up. Take X Factor for instance, I remember watching her and Olly Murs present the Xtra Factor and remembering I thought this two had such a great dynamic.
Then there was of course Love Island. Like they said in this documentary, Love Island was Caroline’s show. There is so much in this documentary that shows a different side to Flack that we never got to know when she was alive. It shows how much struggle she really went through, even from a young age and how her family described she couldn’t handle heartbreak well. It is a very hard watch, the longer the documentary goes on.
A scene with her mum and her sister as they look through her photos and her mum begins to sob, it will break your heart. It just highlights how much struggle a person can really go through and you may never know about.
Another scene that really got me was when “Everybody wants to rule the world” by Tears for Fears came on. Honestly, I started to sob myself just because of the way they spoke about Caroline.
The negative comments and headlines that were used against Caroline, honestly some of them were quire sickening to see. How could they post this stuff about someone they didn’t even know, and not realise the damage they could be doing? It is people behind these computer screens who are cowards because they post this hate behind computer screens and remain anonymous.
Going into a career of journalism, writing is what I love and obviously is what I want to do, but knowing there is this side to the media that had the ability to do this to a person and make them want to take their life, it really does make me question parts of this industry I am going into.
Something else I did take from watching this documentary was Caroline’s mum talked about how people deal with their mental health, and how sometimes people sometimes didn’t want to talk about it because they feel like a burden to people. What hurt more was that she experienced it first-hand with her own daughter. It is an important message to highlight, especially in the times we are live in is that if you are suffering with your mental health, you are not alone.
This Channel four documentary on Caroline Flack is hard hitting, but it is a very important watch in the society we live in today.
Caroline Flack: Her Life and Death is available on Channel 4
By Jack Proverbs and Katie Green
Feature image: Channel 4