Love Island deaths - ITV beefs up duty of care

22 May 2019, 15:07 | Updated: 22 May 2019, 15:09

ITV has outlined its duty of care for Love Island ahead of the fifth series of the dating show starting on ITV2.

It comes after the deaths of participants, ex-Stevenage FC player Mike Thalassitis and Sophie Gradon.

The broadcaster laid down its duty-of-care process for the new series, which includes a minimum of eight therapy sessions provided to each islander after the show, and that contact with each islander will last for 14 months after the series in which they appeared has ended.

Richard Cowles, creative director ITV Studios Entertainment, said:

"We're very excited that Love Island is back for another series. It is the nation's favourite dating show and we have a fabulous new cast of young singles all looking for love and ready for a summer of romance in the iconic Love Island villa.

The format of the new series will be familiar to Love Island viewers and we can't wait to see how the new islanders take to life in the villa and how relationships blossom.

We hope that viewers will be hooked as they watch these young singles fall in love - hopefully it will be a summer to remember for both the islanders and our viewers.

Due to the success of the show our islanders can find themselves in the public eye following their appearance.

We really want to make sure they have given real consideration to this and what appearing on TV entails. Discussing all of this with us forms a big part of the casting process and, ultimately, their decision to take part.

Also, as we are outlining today our welfare processes follow three key stages: pre-filming, filming and aftercare, and we are increasing our post-filming support to help islanders following their time in villa."