Gogglebox star George Gilbey's daughter in heartbreaking plea to Santa 'for daddy to come back'

Gogglebox legend Linda McGarry opens up to the Mirror in an exclusive interview about her son George Gilbey's tragic death this year and how she's navigating life without him

When little Amelie Gilbey wrote her Christmas list for Santa this year, she made a heartbreaking plea: she would happily give up all her presents if he could “bring my daddy back”. The eight-year-old lost her dad – Gogglebox and Celebrity Big Brother star George Gilbey – earlier this year in a horror fall. George, a self-employed electrician, fell 80ft through a skylight while working on a roof and died from traumatic injuries. He was just 40.

This year will be the first Christmas his daughter and his mum – Amelie’s grandma Linda McGarry – have been without him. And Linda, who starred on Channel 4’s Gogglebox for years with her son and her husband Pete, says Amelie desperately misses her dad.

She says: “She’s done her Christmas list and it will break your heart. It says, ‘You can forget all of that if you bring my daddy back’. They had a Daddies Day [at school] and a girl was crying because her parents had broken up and Amelie said, ‘My daddy’s always with me everywhere I go. He’s in my heart.’”

George died in March while working on a warehouse in Shoeburyness, Essex. Despite an air ambulance being called, he died at the scene. At the opening of an inquest into his death in April, Essex coroner’s court heard he had fallen through a plastic skylight and that his injuries were “consistent with a fall from height”. Police and the Health and Safety Executive launched a joint investigation. Two men were arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. One was released under investigation and the other released on bail.

Six months after George died, his mum, who is 74, had a stroke, which she fears was triggered by the stress of losing her son. Recalling the frightening moment she became ill, Linda tells our sister title OK! Magazine she was rushed to A&E by ambulance when her friend called her and Linda found she was unable to speak. She says: “I’m so lucky that my friends were here and they got me to the hospital. On the tests, they couldn’t find where it had come from, but I think it’s the shock of George. There’s no bigger stress than what I went through.”

The last few years have been tough for the widow, who has Parkinson’s disease and who also lost her beloved Pete, George’s stepfather, to bowel cancer aged 71 in 2021. The pair – who fostered 140 children during their time together – first appeared on Gogglebox alongside George in 2013. After George stepped away to appear on Celebrity Big Brother in 2014 the family left the Channel 4 show but returned in 2016. George left again two years later but Linda and Pete stayed on as regulars until 2020.

Now, watching old episodes of the programme helps Linda cope with her loss by reminding her of lovely memories. She says: “I can actually watch Gogglebox and see him. It makes me laugh when I’m in a good place.” The mother and son shared a close bond and used to speak daily. She says: “He used to phone me 12 times a day – he was a real mummy’s boy. He was so kind. The Saturday night before it happened, he was dancing with all the old girls down the club. He used to dance with everybody.”

Focusing on Amelie has also helped Linda carry on. In the summer she took her granddaughter and Amelie’s mum, George’s ex-girlfriend Gemma Conway, on a week-long holiday to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. She says: “George still loved Gemma until the day he died. I don’t think he could have met anybody else, because he always talked about Gemma being so lovely. If Amelie ever played her mum up, he’d tell her, ‘You’ve got the best mum in the world, so do as you’re told.’”

Linda plans to return to Lanzarote soon to scatter George’s ashes on the beach, along with those of Pete and George’s dad. She says of the holiday: “It was perfect for Amelie. We went a whole week without crying in front of her. I promised her that [Lanzarote] is going to be our special place. It was absolutely wonderful.”

Amelie is a regular visitor to Linda’s Essex home, visiting at least once a month for the weekend, and the grandma has kept George’s belongings and created a “fairy room” – somewhere for Amelie to remember her dad. As for Linda, a former pub landlady, she says her large network of family and friends has been a saving grace over the past year.

Looking ahead to 2025, she’s booked a cruise and will soldier on in George’s memory, saying: “I make sure I put my make-up on and get out every day because George would want me to do that. There’s nothing I can do to bring him back. I’ve just got to have the best life I can.”

The grandma has found solace in singing, adding: “I’m mad on karaoke. It’s very good for Parkinson’s and keeps your mind active and is very good for the vocal cords. When I lost Pete, I said, ‘I’ll never sing again’. And George made a joke, saying, ‘Pete will be happy about that!’ But then [George] said, ‘No, carry on, you love it.’ I’ve got to try and be as happy as I can be, because George wouldn’t want me to be miserable.”

Read the full interview in OK! magazine, out on Tuesday

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story you can contact Samaritans in the UK and Ireland on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie.