Laura Whitmore on incels, rough sex and cyber stalking

Broadcaster Laura Whitmore is arguably most famous for appearing on shows with a "fluffy façade", such as Love Island and Celebrity Juice, but her upcoming TV series could not be more different.

It started as a documentary idea about incels - young men describing themselves as "involuntarily celibate", who hold misogynistic beliefs, with some launching violent attacks.

But this soon morphed into two more episodes on rough sex and cyber stalking.

"Although I've worked on things that might have a fluffy façade, I've always dealt with dark situations - we all do in life," she tells the BBC.

Her goal was for the series to explore topics that are "really important, and that I feel are worth it".

The result was ITV's Laura Whitmore Investigates. We see her flex her editorial muscles, having done a journalism degree at the start of her career.

ITV's controller of factual programmes, Jo Clinton Davis, has said the issues in the series "feel like peculiarly 21st Century threats emerging from, or aggravated by, our online world".

Whitmore is hoping to offer a fresh perspective, saying: "I think it hasn't really been looked at this way, from a female who is known probably from a more entertainment, glitzy side."

It is quite a juxtaposition with her recent work on ITV, as former host of reality dating show Love Island, and team captain on comedy panel series Celebrity Juice.

She has tackled serious issues before, however, joining campaigners in 2018 calling for the criminalisation of upskirting, the taking of an image or video under somebody's clothing.

Whitmore was not afraid to tackle the complex, often troubling documentary subject matter, even if it meant putting herself into uncomfortable situations.

"I came into this to try, as much as I could, to be without prejudice - a blank canvas - because they're not necessarily my stories," she says.

"I'm a female in her 30s who has definitely dealt with misogyny - but not to the extremes that a lot of women and men who I talk to.

"One thing I've learned over my career is that you need to question things you're not okay with and don't understand. And you can completely change your mind."

In the cyber stalking episode, Whitmore reveals that she herself has been stalked.

She tells the BBC: "I had an incident, and at the time, I was told, 'It's just part of the world you live in; that's the job you do,' and it was common to have to deal with it."

Whitmore meets cyber-stalking victims and spends time with the UK's first special stalking police unit, learning what can be done to properly tackle the problem.

She also speaks to a tech company helping victims by "stalking the stalkers" to reveal their identity.

"We are a lot more vulnerable than we know," she says.

"People have access to us in a way I couldn't possibly understand beforehand.

"It's not just stalking someone hiding in the bushes outside your house, this is ex-partners still having control over the Alexa in the house and the heating, and ordering pizza in the middle of the night.

"If you add all these together, it is harassment. And I can see what it's done to victims. A lot of them don't want to leave their house now."

Whitmore does not shy away from exposing her own vulnerabilities in the series, something which was also very apparent the day after her friend Caroline Flack took her own life in 2020.

Fighting back tears on her Radio 5 Live show, she paid tribute to the "vivacious" and "loving" ex-Love Island host and appealed to listeners to "be kind" to others.

Whitmore reflects back on this incredibly difficult moment.

"I think I did it because I needed to do if I'm honest with you, at that time. I said what I needed to say. But I still don't think I've fully dealt with that if I'm honest."

Whitmore also reveals she had an unexpected response after interviewing an incel in the US with a big social media following, for the documentary series.

She admits she had been "nervous", given he was so openly hostile to women.

"I'm leaving myself vulnerable. So I'm not gonna lie. I was a little bit hesitant," she says. "But you don't get anywhere in life burying your head in the sand.

The interviewee did not show his face to her.

"I was really surprised... he was wearing a mask - that could be quite a intimidating situation.

"And then l left feeling sorry for the man I've interviewed. That wasn't expected.

"This was a man who from a young age needed help and never got it."

She stresses that while she does not in any way condone his views and videos, she did gain much more understanding, having heard him talk about his early life.

"And I think when we understand the why, we're like, 'Well, how do we stop that? Is there a way we can reach out and help them?'"

Whitmore feels that we "we don't deal with or talk about" difficult issues enough", which is why she's keen to raise difficult issues in her series.

"I know I've been in situations before where it's easier to say nothing than be uncomfortable. But I think it's important to be uncomfortable," she adds.

The rough sex episode is a case in point.

Whitmore is exploring its "dark side", and asks whether "increasingly liberal attitudes to sex promote sexual violence".

We see her attend a BDSM workshop and a pornographic film shoot.

"I grew up in Catholic Ireland and went to a convent school, and you didn't really talk about sex, and were kind of a bit embarrassed," she says.

"There's so much more conversation around the importance of consent than I thought, when it comes to talking about what we are okay with - and not okay with."

In the same episode, we see her meet the families and victims of rough sex.

Whitmore asks if BDSM culture has "given men the excuse they need to get away with murder", highlighting the women killed by men who have gone on to claim in court it was a "sex game gone wrong".

This episode had the biggest impact on her personally.

"I think that's because I spoke to so many victims' families," she says.

"I started my career in a newsroom, and always thought I wasn't built for it because I was probably too emotional as a person. I found it really hard to step away. And I still do now."

We see her crying on camera when she speaks to the relatives.

"I think with documentary making, it's okay to have a bit of emotion in there," she explains. "But I found that really hard."

As associate producer, she was also able to tell the families and women she spoke to about the documentary as a whole.

"I said to them,'Look, I'm going to BDSM workshops at the start but that's nothing to do with this part of it.' So I felt at least I have a chance to look at the edit and go, 'Can we move this around?'

"I feel really protective over how we display those interviews, and how they're done."

Whitmore, whose career also includes hosting podcasts and starring in West End supernatural thriller 2:22, says making the documentaries was also about "claiming my power... and personal autonomy".

"I'm in my 30s now, so it's very different from when I started out on MTV in my early 20s."

But she doesn't think she could do documentaries full-time.

"I still love entertainment. I think I need both," she says.

"I just enjoy people. I enjoy storytelling. I find that fascinating."

Laura Whitmore Investigates is available to stream on ITVX from 27 July