BBCAmanda Abbington has said she first raised concerns with Strictly Come Dancing producers on her third day in rehearsals with dance partner Giovanni Pernice.
The Sherlock actress dropped out after week five, and later lodged a formal complaint about Pernice’s behaviour, sparking further allegations about the show.
“I’ve got texts to the producer on day three going, ‘This is awful, he hates me, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I’m trying my best, I promise you,'” she told ITV’s Lorraine on Thursday.
Pernice has refuted “any claim of threatening or abusive behaviour”.
The BBC has said it takes issues “extremely seriously” when raised, and has “appropriate processes in place to manage” them.
Abbington said she now wants an apology from the BBC. An internal investigation is expected to conclude soon.
After she initially raised concerns, she had “many” more discussions with producers before eventually dropping out, Abbington told Lorraine’s stand-in host Christine Lampard.
The actress described Pernice’s behaviour in rehearsals as “inappropriate, it was mean, it was nasty, it was bullying”.
“And I put up with it for five or six weeks,” she said. “It started very early on. When it started to happen, I would shut down, because I recognised those red flags.”
She said she has been in different rehearsal rooms for 32 years during her career, “and I know what rehearsal rooms are supposed to be like”.
However, she claimed her Strictly training room was “a toxic environment”.
“I don’t care what background you’re from – whether it’s dancing, acting, singing – you have a duty of care to bring into that rehearsal room compassion, understanding, sensitivity and kindness, and that wasn’t extended to me.
“And so I just said, I don’t think this is right.”
Her interview on Lorraine came a day after an interview with Channel 4 News host Krishnan Guru-Murthy, who also took part in last year’s series.
She tearfully said she had been subjected to what Guru-Murthy described as “humiliating behaviour of a sexual nature”, but said it was not sexual harassment.
At the time, producers told her they were “shocked and horrified” after watching rehearsal footage, she said.
She also said she and her daughter have received “rape threats” on social media and there have also been “threats of death” made towards her son after she pulled out.
Pernice ‘confident’ over review
A statement sent to the Press Association from a spokesman for Pernice said the allegations that he’s been made aware of “do not resemble” those made by Abbington on Channel 4 News.
He said he was “co-operating fully” with the BBC’s review.
“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.
“We would urge people to wait for the review’s conclusion and not to pay heed to these very serious and defamatory allegations that have no evidence in support of them.”
BBC ‘takes duty of care seriously’
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.”
Those steps include having a member of production staff in all rehearsals, and appointing new welfare officers for the celebrities and professionals.
On Tuesday, BBC director general Tim Davie apologised to contestants whose experiences on the show hadn’t been “wholly positive”, and maintained the show would return.
Abbington told Lorraine she would like a direct apology from the BBC.
“And I’d like this not to happen to people working in that corporation again. I’d like women to be listened to and heard and taken seriously,” she said.
