Professor Green to front BBC3 male suicide documentary after father's death to encourage men to seek help

The rapper will speak to families who have lost loved ones to suicide

Professor Green will share personal experiences of his father's suicide in a new BBC Three documentary (Hand out press photograph provided by Camilla Gould)

Professor Green is to host a new BBC Three documentary about male suicide, drawing on his own tragic family story.

The English rapper, who was made patron of male suicide prevention charity Calm last month, was just 24 when his estranged father killed himself. He has written about the experience in several songs including "Goodnight" and "Read All About It".

Green, real name Stephen Manderson, wants to get more people talking about suicide, which he believes is "still considered a taboo subject when it shouldn't be".

"I knew it would be a tough subject to tackle," Manderson said. "Suicide is the biggest killer of men aged 20 to 45 and yet when you present people with this fact they are completely shocked."

Filming the hour-long documentary will be a "deeply personal journey" for the 31-year-old as he meets "amazing people with their own incredibly moving stories as well as those creating public awareness around the topic of suicide".

"If anything comes from this documentary it's that we should not feel ashamed or embarrassed to open up and talk to those around us about our feelings, in particular young men," he continued. "Collectively we need to break the stigma surrounding suicide."

Manderson will talk to families who have lost loved ones to suicide as well as visiting special centres for those feeling suicidal.

Laura Jones and Leila Monk from Antidote Productions said: "This is a really important topic and Stephen is perfectly placed to bring and take an audience through what is a hugely sensitive subject area."

The documentary was commissioned by BBC Three controller Damian Kavanagh, who believes that "thought-provoking, hard-hitting documentaries [...] are exactly the kind of programmes BBC Three should be making now and in the future".

Readers affected by this story can contact Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 or visit samaritans.org