The former ITN newsreader whose life sank into alcoholism and eventual homelessness has been appointed as the editor of an online TV service focused on the problems associated with addiction.
Ed Mitchell rose to notoriety in December, 2007, when he was discovered sleeping rough on Brighton seafront after spiralling credit card debt and alcoholism had forced him into bankruptcy.
News of his downward plunge was splashed across the national press after local paper, Brighton Argus, discovered him volunteering for a charity.
In his new role, Mitchell will oversee the expansion of Inexcess Television as it increases its own output of programmes and commissions for shows on behalf of healthcare/recovery providers.
Mitchell said his new role was the ‘perfect job’ combining his broadcasting experience, his knowledge of alcoholism and the trauma of homelessness
He said: I am painfully aware of what it was like to feel alone and have nowhere to turn. Inexcess Television will go some way to responding to that need.”
Hi first programme for the channel, Ed Mitchell: Lost and Found, will be a documentary on his homelessness and continuing recovery from alcoholism.
Mitchell has previously been the subject of two ITV documentaries, Saving Ed Mitchell and Ed Mitchell: What Happened Next, both of which detailed his fight with alcoholism that led to divorce, bankruptcy and homelessness.
During his career with ITN, Mitchell interviewed Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair, at one stage earning £100,000 a year.
But his troubles began in 1999 when, with mounting debts, he was made redundant from his post reporting on business and finance for the US network, CNBC.
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