- Title: In Excess: The Death Of Michael Hutchence
- Date: 16th September 1999
- Summary: On November 22, 1997, Michael Hutchence was found dead in a hotel room in Sydney at the age of 37. A few days later, the New South Wales Police (and later the coroner's report), returned a verdict of suicide on the INXS lead singer's death. At first it seemed like the archetypal rock and roll ending... but rumours quickly began to circulate that there was conflicting evidence which cast doubt on the suicide verdict. In Excess: The Death of Michael Hutchence, exclusively reveals information presented to the coroner in a police report which was never made public at the official hearing - and explores the strong evidence which suggests that Hutchence died accidentally while engaged in a bizarre sex act, Auto Erotic Asphyxiation (AEA). The coroner of New South Wales could, according to evidence available to both the police and the coroner, have delivered an open verdict at the hearing. But he didn't, and the tragic death of Michael Hutchence remains more intriguing than his life as a result. As far as Hutchence's father Kell is concerned, his son's death was indeed suicide. But it is a belief which looks set to divide the Australian family once again. Michael's brother Rhett begs to differ. He and two of Hutchence's closest friends reveal the frontman's appetite for sexual experimentation and portray a man who, far from being profoundly depressed, had much to live for both professionally and personally. And then there is Paula Yates, the woman who, on the first anniversary of her lover's death, revealed she still wakes up in the morning "expecting him to be in bed alongside me". "I did this morning. I don't know if that will ever stop - part of me hopes it won't," she told one journalist at the time. "Sometimes it feels like a year since Michael died, often it feels like 10 years. Life is pitiful without him. I miss him every moment of every day and so does Tiger." There is very little that hasn't been written about Paula Yates's life, particularly post- Bob Geldof. Following swiftly on from her divorce from Geldof came Hutchence's untimely death, her own suicide attempt, the discovery that the man she believed to be her father, Jess Yates, was not, and that her real father was Hughie Green and the custody battle over her and Geldof's three children. As if that wasn't enough for one person to contend with in a lifetime, endless wrangles with the Hutchence family ensued over Yates's refusal to attend a memorial service for the love of her life and, even more prominently, a custody battle over her and Hutchence's only child, Tiger Lily. When retired businessman Kell discovered the mother of his grandchild was being treated in a London clinic after attempting to take her own life, he launched a bitter custody fight to gain control of the two- year-old. While Tiger Lily was on holiday in Australia with Yates's friend Belinda Brewin last year, he began legal moves to keep her in the country. What didn't help Yates's case was when it emerged that she had formed a relationship with a drug addict patient during her stay at the clinic. The former Big Breakfast presenter broke off all contact with Kell, despite his very public pleas. And although the case was subsequently dropped, the rift between them is never likely to heal. "I was concerned about Tiger's welfare. Paula was in a clinic I thought for six weeks to get well," Kell said at the time. "I thought that I could help by looking after Tiger for two or three months. I've never, ever tried to go for full custody, just temporary. But it didn't work out and I suppose there's a bit of bad feeling about that with Paula and myself. I only did it with good intentions." For the first time on British television Yates talks openly about what she believes led to the death of her lover. She talks candidly about their sex life, his passion for adventure and how the birth of their daughter turned the rock and roll wild man into a devoted father. She is not satisfied with the coroner's verdict and feels strongly that further investigation into the events of that night are crucial to both her and her daughter's future well- being. What has saved her so far, according to her friend Josephine Fairley, who revealed the other side to Yates in a recent article for Red magazine, is her ability to laugh during even the darkest hours. Yates, however, claims it is her children who give her the strength to go on. "I went mad. It wasn't like `She could have tipped over the edge'. I was tipped over the edge. Now I'm taking it one day at a time," she says. "It's only the mothering instinct that makes you willing to suffer every day. I know it sounds like a Victorian novel, but it's true."
- Description:N/A
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Producer:Just Television Ltd
- Programme Episode:N/A
- Transmission Date:17/09/1999
- Rights:On Request
- Decade: 1990s