Amanda Abbington has claimed that she and her lawyer are trying to access 50 hours of rehearsal room footage that was filmed during her training for Strictly Come Dancing last year.
The Sherlock star alleges that the footage shows her time “spent in a room that was toxic” with Strictly professional Giovanni Pernice.
The BBC dance competition series is currently facing the biggest scandal in its 20-year history as multiple dancers face misconduct allegations. Pernice has denied any wrongdoing.
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In a new interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy for Channel 4 News, Abbington claimed that the show’s producers installed cameras in her rehearsal room after she raised concerns about Pernice.
“Every Friday, after the next sort of five weeks, I would get the producer saying, on the Friday, ‘We just watched the footage back, we are shocked and horrified, we’re so sorry’. That was to my face on the Friday when we would go in and do the camera rehearsal,” she said.
“It’s out there. There is evidence out there of what happened in that room and I’m not the one who’s blocking it. I’ve said anyone can watch it, but he [Giovanni] doesn’t want anyone to see it, which is quite telling if he’s got nothing to hide.”
Asked by Guru-Murthy if she was talking about bullying, she replied: “Yes, it’s bullying and it’s aggressive behaviour, there were other things that were very upsetting, that you manage in the room at the time, because you’re a woman, and you have to manage those things because otherwise, what do you do?”
Guru-Murthy, who appeared on the same season of Strictly as Abington, replied: “I heard, not from you, from somebody else, about an instance of, I suppose you’d call it humiliating behaviour of a sexual nature, is that right?”
A tearful Abbington replied: “Yeah. I mean, you know, one of the many things.”
Abbington suddenly quit Strictly five episodes into the 2023 season citing medical reasons at the time. The actor added that in the aftermath of her exit, she received “death threats” and “rape threats towards not only myself, but my daughter, and the threats of death to my son.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “Anyone involved in a complaint has a right to confidentiality and fair process and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further on individuals. However, when issues are raised with us we always take them extremely seriously and have appropriate processes in place to manage this. As we have said before, we would urge people not to indulge in speculation.
“More generally, the BBC and BBC Studios takes duty of care extremely seriously. Our processes on Strictly Come Dancing are updated every year, they are kept under constant review and last week we announced additional steps to further strengthen welfare and support on the show.”
Pernice has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. In a statement in response to the Channel 4 interview, the dancer’s spokesperson said: “We are cooperating fully with the BBC’s review process. All parties have been asked to respect this process and to not speak to the media before it concludes. We will continue to respect the integrity of the investigation and believe it is the right forum for all the evidence to be reviewed.
“As part of the evidence-led review, the BBC has shared the allegations they have been able to substantiate with us. They do not resemble Amanda’s latest allegations, given to Channel 4, in any shape or form. Giovanni refutes any claim of threatening or abusive behaviour, and having provided the BBC with his evidence, is confident that the review will prove this.”
On 10 June, the BBC announced that Pernice – who has been on the show since 2015 – would not be participating in the forthcoming 2024 season. Weeks later, Graziano Di Prima was dropped from the show after his alleged mistreatment of his celebrity partner, Zara McDermott, in 2023 was made public.
Di Prima, who joined Strictly in 2018, has since admitted to kicking reality star McDermott in the rehearsal room.
“There is never a time when kicking, or any sense of that is right,” Di Prima’s spokesman, Mark Borkowski, told BBC News on 18 July. “And he knows that. He knows he’s made a mistake. He apologised at the time.”
On Tuesday afternoon, BBC director general Tim Davie made a statement apologising for the alleged mistreatment of contestants on the show, and said the corporation “will never tolerate unacceptable behaviour”.
A result of the investigation is that chaperones will now oversee all rehearsals going forward.
