Jeremy Kyle KO-ed?

ITV has already announced the loss of 600 jobs, a studio closure in Leeds and the sale of Friends Reunited. Now its huge efficiency drive could also see the loss of one of its biggest daytime shows.

The Daily Star reports that the cash-strapped broadcaster is ready to axe The Jeremy Kyle Show next year. The controversial talk-based series has come under fire for the way it showcases dysfunctional families since it hit TV screens in 2005. Shows have included: My Husband Forced Me To Sleep With His Dad; You Got Three Women Pregnant But Today Confess You're Gay!; You Had An Affair With My Dad, Prove Your Son Is My Brother! and I Paid A Prostitute Because I Believe You Cheated With An Ex!

In 2007, The Jeremy Kyle Show was condemned as a "human form of bear baiting" by Manchester district judge Alan Berg after a guest became the first person convicted of assault on a British talk show. Security guard David Staniforth was fined £300 plus £60 costs for head-butting bus driver Larry Mahoney during a row on the show. He described how Mr Mahoney had an affair with his wife after moving into their home as a lodger.

The footage of the assault was not broadcast but the judge was scathing in his condemnation: "It seems to me that the whole purpose of The Jeremy Kyle Show is to effect a morbid and depressing display of dysfunctional people who are in some kind of turmoil. It is for no more and no less than titillating members of the public who have nothing better to do with their mornings than sit and watch this show which is a human form of bear baiting which goes under the guise of entertainment."

Broadcaster ITV plans efficiency savings of £155m this year, rising to £175m in 2010 and £245m in 2011 and The Daily Star reports that the cost of screening the show daily is too high. Outgoings include the cost of putting up guests in hotels near the Granada studios in Manchester. 

An ITV insider told the paper: "People appearing on the show love to get the chance to stay in a hotel at ITV's expense but it's too much to keep paying out. The screenings will be scaled back until next year when the show will go for good. It is unfortunate but everything has a shelf-life and this has come to an end." Trisha Goddard, Jeremy Kyle's daytime rival on Five, has already been told that her show is being axed and in our gallery below, we take a look at more shows given the moniker of 'trash' TV.

• What's your view of The Jeremy Kyle Show? Should it be axed?

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