BBC Employees Keep Jobs After Sexually Harassing Colleagues
EXCLUSIVE: BBC employees are keeping their jobs even when they have been the subject of an upheld sexual harassment complaint, Deadline can reveal.
The UK national broadcaster upheld five formal sexual harassment grievances in the three years to March 2024, with a further case being partially upheld. Only one employee was fired for wrongdoing during this period, according to figures obtained under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
More from Deadline
Leaked Emails Show BBC Chiefs' Concern Over Confidence In Bullying, Harassment & Whistleblowing Procedures
Kirsty Wark To Receive BAFTA Fellowship: Broadcaster & Journalist Will Be Awarded The British Academy's Top Honor
BBC Behind 'P Diddy: The Rise And Fall' Doc; Channel 4 AI Trailer; SXSW London Premieres; Rudi Völler Sky Show; Karlovy Vary's John Garfield Tribute - Global Briefs
The BBC's disciplinary record becomes starker when bullying and harassment figures are included. The corporation upheld or partially upheld a total of 39 bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment complaints in the three years to March 2024, but only 13 people faced disciplinary action and one staffer was dismissed.
In short, when a BBC employee successfully complained about the conduct of a colleague, the perpetrators escaped punishment in nearly two-thirds of cases.
The revelation comes after Deadline reported on Thursday that confidence in complaints procedures has fallen sharply in the past 12 months, according to the BBC staff survey. Only 58% of BBC employees believe bullying or harassment concerns will be dealt with appropriately, which was down six percentage points from 2024. It is the lowest point since 2019.
The FOIA figures raise questions about the BBC's repeated assertion that it has 'zero tolerance' for sexual harassment and bullying. BBC director general Tim Davie and chair Samir Shah said in evidence to lawmakers last month that employees should be ousted if they cross professional boundaries. Davie said no one is 'indispensable,' while Shah argued that if powerful figures 'misbehave,' they should be 'out.'
The reality is that the BBC applies a more nuanced approach to disciplinary measures. BBC management's position is that all complaints are treated seriously, but disciplinary action varies depending on the circumstances of the case. There are a range of punishments the BBC can enforce, including written warnings, dismissal, and redeployment or demotion. When there is no punishment, the BBC will take other action, including additional training, coaching, and mediation.
The FOIA figures come as the BBC plans to publish a workplace culture review on Monday following a string of scandals regarding the conduct of powerful men, including Russell Brand and Huw Edwards. Brand denies wrongdoing, while Edwards pleaded guilty to accessing child sex abuse images.
The BBC's last major workplace culture review took place in 2013. Since then, there have been a total of 41 formal sexual harassment cases, an average of nearly four a year. There have been 604 bullying and harassment cases, an average of 55 a year. The BBC is taking an average of 83 days to resolve these grievance processes, which is significantly longer than the target of 30 days set in the 2013 review.
A BBC spokesperson said: 'We take all forms of bullying, harassment and misconduct incredibly seriously. If a case is upheld, there are a range of potential sanctions available, including dismissal. These are considered on a case-by-case basis, in line with our policies.
'We want the BBC to be a place where expectations on standards and behaviour are clear; where people feel confident in raising issues or concerns if they do occur; and where swift action will be taken where necessary. That is why we launched the workplace culture review, which will be published shortly.'
Best of Deadline
Everything We Know About Netflix's 'The Thursday Murder Club' So Far
TV Show Book Adaptations Arriving In 2025 So Far
Which Colleen Hoover Books Are Becoming Movies? 'Verity,' 'Reminders Of Him' & 'Regretting You' Will Join 'It Ends With Us'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Heston Blumenthal reveals impact of being sectioned in BBC bipolar documentary
Heston Blumenthal has spoken of his struggles with mania and the impact it had on the people he loves, 18 months after he was sectioned. The 59-year-old chef, known for his Channel 4 shows Heston's Fantastical Food and Heston's Feasts, was hospitalised in November 2023 following a severe manic episode. He was subsequently diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Now, Blumenthal is sharing his story in BBC documentary Heston: My Life with Bipolar, airing 19 June on BBC Two at 8pm. Filmed over six months, Blumenthal reflects on how bipolar disorder has shaped both his personal life and professional success. Blumenthal was sectioned after he showed his wife, French businesswoman Melanie Ceysson, a drawing of a gun he'd hallucinated. Fearing he was a danger to himself, Ceysson contacted the mayor of their village in France for urgent help. Soon after, police, firefighters and a doctor arrived. Blumenthal was sedated and spent two weeks in a psychiatric hospital, followed by six weeks of intensive treatment at a specialist clinic. "It was a dark period," he recalled. "The psychiatrist diagnosed me as bipolar; it was a surprise. I started looking back more and more to my life pre being sectioned, and how come it's taken me until 57 years of life to discover I have bipolar." The intervention followed months of increasingly erratic behaviour. Now stabilised on medication, Blumenthal says those manic phases are behind him. "When I first came out of the hospital in the beginning, it felt like I was slightly zombie-fied from the medication. I've changed a lot, in the sense of my massive highs and lows have been ironed out. I'm much calmer, I don't have those manic phases," he explained. "Would I have sectioned myself? No way [but] she had to do it for me and for herself as well. Looking back at it, the alternative was not an option because I wouldn't be here anymore." Bipolar disorder involves extreme mood swings, which Blumenthal says often fuelled his work. At times, his productivity felt "unstoppable". "The depression [gave] way to what I now recognise as periods of mania … with hindsight, when I was in a manic state, there were so many ideas," the chef, best known for his experimental dishes including snail porridge and bacon and egg ice cream, shared. He added: "I had these feelings of grandiosity or like Superman. I believed that I could change the world." It was during those periods that he developed some of his most daring and unconventional culinary ideas. But by 2020, the mood swings were becoming more frequent – and more severe. During the height of his career, the chef said he became "a hamster on a wheel," and self-medicated with cocaine. He explained: "I didn't realise I was self-medicating at the time ... The more time goes on since I've come out of the hospital, the more I can see how extreme those [manic episodes] were." Also in the documentary, Blumenthal revisits some of his past television appearances, offering a stark glimpse into his mental state at the time. Watching a 2019 episode of the cooking show Crazy Delicious, he recalled being in a "dark place." "I was probably quite overly depressed then," he said. "I thought, 'I wondered if there was a gun here, would I use it?' There wasn't, and then I thought of other ways of ending it and decided at the end that I wasn't ready for that." In sharp contrast, he also rewatched a 2020 BBC interview where he discussed using robots in the kitchen, speaking rapidly and using surreal metaphors throughout. The clip was difficult for him to watch. "To live with me, if I was talking like that all the time, that brings tears to my eyes, of the thought of what they had to put up with," he said. "The potential that I might have upset, troubled, worried, emotionally harmed the people that love me and that I love." The chef is a father of four: Jack, 32, Jessie, 30, and Joy, 28, from his first marriage to ex-wife Zanna; and Shea-Rose, eight, with his former partner, Stephanie Gouevia. In the documentary, he sits down with his son Jack to discuss what life was like before his bipolar diagnosis. "We just wanted a relaxing conversation with our dad, and we weren't able to have one. It was horrible and it was constant,' Jack recalled. "We'd plan it three weeks in advance, getting prepared just to see you for half an hour. And there was nothing I could do to help you." Heston wiped away a tear and apologised to his son. Jack, in turn, acknowledged that he now understands his father's behaviour was the result of an undiagnosed mental health condition. Blumenthal now serves as an official ambassador for Bipolar UK, a charity that estimates around 1.3 million adults in the UK live with the condition. In the documentary, he raises concerns about the lack of adequate support and resources for people living with bipolar disorder. At one point, he meets a mother whose daughter, Rebecca, died by suicide. "I was lucky in that with my sectioning, I was being monitored and afterwards I had support," he explained. "But with the nature of this condition, if there isn't the care, the support network around individuals with bipolar, then people like Rebecca will take their lives. The longer it takes to get this sorted out, the more lives will be lost." Blumenthal also admitted that he initially worried medication might dull his imagination or take away his creativity, fears that, he now says, were unfounded. He concluded: "I still have bipolar, and I had bipolar before, I just don't have those manic states. The peaks and my manic highs have shrunk and the depths of the lows have risen, but I'm still Heston." Read more about Heston Blumenthal: Heston Blumenthal's wife 'saved his life' by having him sectioned for bipolar disorder (Yahoo Life UK, 4-min read) Mood swings fuelled Heston Blumenthal's genius. But the highs got higher and the lows got darker (BBC News, 5-min read) Heston Blumenthal's 'unfiltered' story after life-changing diagnosis (Yorkshire Live, 2-min read)
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Hugh Bonneville to reprise role as Ian Fletcher in BBC football comedy
Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville will reprise his role as Ian Fletcher in a new BBC mockumentary series. The six-part show, Twenty Twenty Six, is a follow-up to comedy series W1A, which followed Ian as the head of values at the BBC. Bonneville, 61, will reprise the character as he takes on a new title, the BBC's director of integrity for the 2026 World Cup. Bonneville's character will join the Twenty Twenty Six Oversight Team in Miami, with a cast including The Day Of The Jackal's Nick Blood, Fresh Off The Boat star Chelsey Crisp and Designated Survivor's Paulo Costanzo. Stephen Kunken, best known for playing Ari Spyros in Billions, also joins the cast alongside The Inbetweeners' Belinda Stewart-Wilson. Director John Morton said: 'I wasn't sure what Ian Fletcher had been up to recently. The last I heard he was still recovering from a serious mindfulness course in Somerset. So, it's great to hear that he's made it back and has re-emerged in his natural habitat at the centre of a well-known institution, but now on the world stage and facing his biggest opportunity yet to get things right. 'I'm thrilled and hugely grateful to the BBC for giving me the chance to follow him again, this time all the way to Miami, and I literally can't wait to see what happens.' The character was first introduced in 2011 series Twenty Twelve, which followed an organising committee for the London Olympic Games. Bonneville was nominated for four TV Bafta awards and the original series took the Best Situation Comedy award in 2013. The series also starred The Crown's Olivia Colman, who won the 2013 Bafta for Best Female Performance in a Comedy. Bonneville is known for playing Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, in period drama Downton Abbey, and has also starred in the Paddington films as Henry Brown. Executive producer Paul Schlesinger said: 'It's 15 years since Ian Fletcher's journey started with the run-up to the London Olympics and we are delighted the BBC has given John another chance to capture the universal comedy of people trying to organise something really big in a room, but this time with an outstanding international cast.' Twenty Twenty Six will consist of six 30-minute episodes and will be available to watch on BBC One and iPlayer.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Hugh Bonneville to reprise role as Ian Fletcher in BBC football comedy
Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville will reprise his role as Ian Fletcher in a new BBC mockumentary series. The six-part show, Twenty Twenty Six, is a follow-up to comedy series W1A, which followed Ian as the head of values at the BBC. Bonneville, 61, will reprise the character as he takes on a new title, the BBC's director of integrity for the 2026 World Cup. Bonneville's character will join the Twenty Twenty Six Oversight Team in Miami, with a cast including The Day Of The Jackal's Nick Blood, Fresh Off The Boat star Chelsey Crisp and Designated Survivor's Paulo Costanzo. Stephen Kunken, best known for playing Ari Spyros in Billions, also joins the cast alongside The Inbetweeners' Belinda Stewart-Wilson. Director John Morton said: 'I wasn't sure what Ian Fletcher had been up to recently. The last I heard he was still recovering from a serious mindfulness course in Somerset. So, it's great to hear that he's made it back and has re-emerged in his natural habitat at the centre of a well-known institution, but now on the world stage and facing his biggest opportunity yet to get things right. 'I'm thrilled and hugely grateful to the BBC for giving me the chance to follow him again, this time all the way to Miami, and I literally can't wait to see what happens.' The character was first introduced in 2011 series Twenty Twelve, which followed an organising committee for the London Olympic Games. Bonneville was nominated for four TV Bafta awards and the original series took the Best Situation Comedy award in 2013. The series also starred The Crown's Olivia Colman, who won the 2013 Bafta for Best Female Performance in a Comedy. Bonneville is known for playing Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, in period drama Downton Abbey, and has also starred in the Paddington films as Henry Brown. Executive producer Paul Schlesinger said: 'It's 15 years since Ian Fletcher's journey started with the run-up to the London Olympics and we are delighted the BBC has given John another chance to capture the universal comedy of people trying to organise something really big in a room, but this time with an outstanding international cast.' Twenty Twenty Six will consist of six 30-minute episodes and will be available to watch on BBC One and iPlayer.
