Can Barrymore's career survive these squalid revelations?

Michael Barrymore has survived scandal before and prospered. But after a week of unpleasant revelations, the question now will be whether he can revive a television career.

Publicly his television bosses have stood by him, pending the inquest, which they knew would prove difficult.

His £1m-a-year contract with LWT runs until the end of this year and, officially, a decision on whether it will be renewed has yet to be made. Discussions will take place with the ITV network before that decision.

"We will review the situation in due course but it's clearly inappropriate for us to comment any further at this stage," an official ITV spokesman said yesterday.

From the beginning of the year, Barrymore has not been seen on television and executives have made clear he will not be on screen for the remainder of the year. Neither has he been paid during that time.

He has spent some time in America, where he enrolled in the Lee Strasberg Acting School in New York, and there is speculation he may attempt to re-start his career over there. He certainly looks unlikely to be the darling of British light entertainment again.

Television bosses have been watching every report from the inquest closely, trying to gauge how the public will view the disgrace of a man who has been one of its favourite entertainers. "What we do across all the shows that we do is try to read what the British public are feeling," one senior executive said recently. And the British public is likely to have been shocked.

Previous revelations about Barrymore tended to be interpreted as personal problems with which he was trying – and often failing – to cope.

Admissions of problems with drink and drugs were frequently reported in the context of his emotionally charged and highly publicised decision to "come out" as a gay man seven years ago, and the consequent break-up of his marriage.

Throughout it all, he retained public affection. He was voted the most popular entertainment presenter at the National Television Awards for five years in a row – until last year when, after Mr Lubbock's death, he lost the title to Ant and Dec.

In the television industry, he was regarded as having the rare qualities of warmth and charm with audiences of all ages. "He's such a fantastic talent when he's on form, he's just absolutely brilliant," one source said.

But the inquest has painted a picture that has been far from savoury, where his problems with drink and drugs appeared to have affected others.

Although he refused to answer allegations that he rubbed cocaine in Mr Lubbock's gums, that image is likely to stick in the public consciousness.