Season 1
Final 24 is a Canadian documentary series produced by Cineflix Productions that unlocks the hidden secrets, psychological flaws and events that resulted in the tragic deaths of global icons.
The series originally premiered in Canada on the Discovery Channel and Global Television Network on 16 April, 2006. There are 14 episodes in two seasons to date.
Final 24 premiered in South Africa on DStv's Discovery Channel on Monday 6 November 2006, at 21h00. The first season ended on 11 December, 2006. It consisted of six episodes.
Series Synopsis
The Final 24 is a revealing alternative biography series that unlocks the hidden secrets, psychological flaws and trigger events that led to the tragic deaths of eight global icons. Each episode maps out the final 24 hours of a different celebrity’s life.
Weaving in and out of this central narrative is the celebrity’s back-story, which lays bare the threads of fate that led inextricably from childhood to the moment of death.
Telling interviews with loved ones and confidantes combine with high-end dramatic re-enactments and archival material illuminate these compelling life (and death) stories.
These are no ordinary biographies. These are psychological detective stories attempting to uncover the mystery of why the celebrity died.
If a death reveals a lot about someone’s life, then their last day speaks volumes.
Season 1 Synopsis
Premiere: 6 November 2006 | Finale: 11 December, 2006
Celebrities
Sid Vicious
John Belushi
River Phoenix
Hunter S. Thompson
Marvin Gaye
John Kennedy Jr.
There are certain celebrities who have achieved notoriety not only because of the way they lived, but because of the way they died.
For John Belushi, fame and fortune opened doors to a hedonistic lifestyle, whereas River Phoenix found it hard to reconcile his ethical beliefs with his celebrity status, using drugs as a means of escape.
Addiction seemed to fuel Hunter S Thompson's creativity, although his hard living ultimately led to depression and suicide.
Many stars were plagued by demons from childhood. Marvin Gaye's troubled relationship with his father eventually led to his untimely death and heroin addict Sid Vicious was following in his mother's footsteps.
What all of these famous figures have in common is the strange and tragic circumstances of their deaths, circumstances which still attract attention and speculation.
Using the testimonies of friends, family and eyewitnesses and discussions with forensic psychologists, detectives, pathologists and other experts the show gets to the bottom of why each celeb died.
(All images below are actor reenactments)
Sid Vicious
6 November, 2006 at 21h00
Sid Vicious was born John Simon Ritchie in London on 10th May 1957. His father, a grenadier guard, left soon after his birth, leaving his troubled mother to bring him up alone.
Anne was a heroin user who moved the family to Ibiza so that she could make a living selling drugs. They later moved back to England and in 1974, John attended Hackney Technical College. Here he formed a firm friendship with budding Sex Pistol John Lydon (Johnny Rotten).
By this time John was already injecting drugs with his mother and his violent outbursts included strangling a cat and assaulting a pensioner.
He went on to become Sid Vicious with the Sex Pistols and on the night he died in New York he was out on bail for murder. He'd stabbed his girlfriend the previous autumn and woken with no memories of the incident.
Final 24's investigations into his death suggest that he had an uncontrollable anger problem that exploded during moments of extreme stress. Fuelled by self-hate - perhaps because his mother preferred drugs to him - he began to self-harm before using violence as an outlet for his pent-up rage.
John Belushi
13 November, 2006 at 21h00
John Belushi, the rotund, manic comedian, would have been a restaurant owner if his Albanian father had got his way but the family business never appealed to the boy born in Illinois on 24th January 1949.
A popular and athletic teenager, he considered a career in football but got sidetracked by the acting bug after appearing in a high school variety show. Encouraged by his drama teacher, he spent the summer before college playing a variety of roles in backwater productions.
He discovered his talent for comedy and, during his time at the College of DuPage, he formed the West Compass Players, an improvisational comedy troupe.
By the age of 30 he had gone on to achieve a box office number one movie, a top rated TV show and a top of the charts album in the US. No other entertainer had ever achieved this triple chart-topping success but Buleshi was addicted to much more than success.
From motorcyle speed to three pieces of cherry pie to drugs and alcohol, he was addicted to them all. Was it an overdose that killed him or the long term toxic effects of his addictions?
Final 24 traces Belushi's final binge in Los Angeles to his death at the world famous Chateau Marmont hotel.
River Phoenix
20 November, 2006 at 21h00
Born in Oregon on 23rd August 1970, River Jude Bottom was the eldest of five children of hippie parents. His siblings were poetically named sisters Rain, Summer and Liberty and younger brother Joaquin.
River spent his early years in communes until his parents changed their name to Phoenix and joined a radical Christian cult, The Children of God. His father was quickly promoted to Archbishop of Venezuela and posted to South America, where the family lived in extreme poverty. River and Rain had to sing on street corners to raise money.
Finally disillusioned with the cult, the Phoenix's stowed away on a ship back to the US in 1978.
Once in the US River started the film career that gave him celebrity status. He was a strict vegetarian who cared so much about the diminished rain forests that he bought many acres of it in Costa Rca to save it from development.
He was the celebrity who said: "I don't see any point or ay good in drugs, " but his autopsy showed lethal doses of cocaine, heroine, valium, marijuana and ephedrine.
Final 24 looks into his last hours on the set of Dark Blood and at Johnny Depp's club The Viper Room. What had changed in him and why?
Hunter S. Thompson
27 November, 2006 at 21h00
Born on 18th July 1937 in Kentucky, rebellious journalist Hunter S Thompson had a difficult start in life. His father died when he was 15, leaving his alcoholic mother to bring up her 3 sons.
Hunter was arrested for robbery in 1956 and joined the Air Force to escape sentence, where he worked as a sports reporter. In 1958 he was honourably discharged for his insubordinate behaviour.
He worked – and was fired from – several New York magazines before moving to Puerto Rico in 1960 and beginning a spell of travelling South America and the Caribbean as a freelance writer for daily papers.
The night he shot himself he didn't bother leaving a suicide note but he'd maade no secret of the depression that may have triggered his taking his life.
Final 24 conducts a psychological investigation into the source of his depression. Was it the death sudden of his father? Did it arise as a result of his work in South America?
His consumtion of drugs was no secret and he lived in isolation for 20 years. Did his mind-bending routine unfluence his decision to die or was his suicide not an act of despair but rather a dramatic last stand by the inventor of gonzo journalism?
Marvin Gaye
4 December, 2006 at 21h00
Marvin Gaye was born in Washington DC on 2nd April 1939 and was named after his father, an Apostolic minister with whom he had a fiery relationship.
From the age of three he sang and played the organ and drums in church but his real interests lay elsewhere. He began singing in the street corner doo-wop group, The Rainbows, and in 1957 formed his own group, The Marquees.
Singer and producer Harvey Fuqua hired the group as his backing singers. When the band broke up, Fuqua moved to Detroit and took his girlfriend, Gwen Gordy and Marvin with him.
Marvin went on to become soul superstar he did and on his last day alive was depressed and paranoid. He abandoned his tour and holed up at his parents house in Los Angeles, California.
His exessive drug use escalated and with it the tension between him and father. His lifelong power struggle with his father exploded in a violent climax and Marvin provoked his father into shooting him twice.
Final 24 delves into the Prince Of Motown's violent childhood to uncover the root of his strained relationship with his strict father and to understand his struggle with drugs.
John Kennedy Jr.
11 December, 2006 at 21h00
John Kennedy Jr. was American royalty and a cultural icon. His promise of living out his political legacy bequethed to him on the day of his fathers assassination was cut short over the Atlantic Ocean one July night.
Kennedy's death and that of his wife and sister-in-law was the result of a series of bad decisions he'd made during his last day. A day plagued by stress when his life depended on his ability to think clearly.
Final 24 examines the string of errors that led to his tragic demise.
Related Articles
Do Drugs Create Legends?
Final 24: Season 2