Abbington has ‘no regrets’ about Strictly complaints

BBC Amanda Abbington on Newsnight, 2 October

Amanda Abbington has told the BBC she has “no regrets” about making complaints against her 2023 Strictly dance partner Giovanni Pernice.

The Sherlock actress said she had suffered “one of the worst years of my life” in an interview with BBC Newsnight, and that she had received “hundreds” of rape and death threats in the past eight months, with her teenage daughter also targeted.

But she said she felt she had done the right thing by speaking up, saying some women have told her “you’re paving the way for my daughter to work in a safe environment and not feel threatened”.

The BBC apologised to Abbington this week, upholding complaints of verbal bullying and harassment against Pernice while clearing him of claims of physical aggression.

BBC News has been told the BBC’s review looked into 17 complaints and six were upheld but we have been unable to independently verify this.

The BBC’s official statement did not go into detail about the nature of the complaints but a source told BBC News that those upheld related to verbal bullying and harassment.

Professional dancer Pernice said he was relieved that allegations he had been threatening and abusive “were found not to be true”.

Speaking to Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire, Abbington said she had experienced “one of the worst years” of her life.

“I’ve been through a lot, women go through a lot, but it has been a very unpleasant, turbulent, relentless time in my life,” she said.

“I’ve had to deal with a myriad of horrible things.”

Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice — Amanda Abbington with Giovanni Pernice

In August, the Metropolitan Police confirmed they were investigating after being called to the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park to an alleged death threat sent to the actress, who was starring in When It Happens To You.

“I had a credible death threat sent to my place of work, a theatre that I was working at, which was credible and the police had to be called,” Abbington said.

“I had a bomb threat sent to my place of work, threatening to blow the building up because I was pursuing this. I’ve had death threats sent to me, my family.

“I’ve had rape threats sent to my 15-year-old daughter, saying ‘I’m just laughing at the moment thinking about you having to watch your daughter get raped for what you’ve done to Giovanni Pernice’.

“They were every day I’d be getting those and I have screenshots that have been handed over to the Met Police.”

When asked about her experiences in the rehearsal room, Abbington said it had been “an ongoing litany of being verbally abused”.

“There was a 35-minute rant at me with him throwing his hands up in the air and calling me names and telling me all sorts of things that I was and how he couldn’t really cope with it anymore,” she said.

“And this went on for, you know, seven hours a day, for seven weeks.”

She said she loves Strictly and “never wanted to cause trouble, I never wanted to bring down a show or ruin anybody’s career”.

“All I did was experience something in a workplace environment that was actually on a show run by a corporation that is owned by the public and I didn’t want anybody else to go through what I had gone through,” she said.

On what she thought about the BBC’s treatment of her case, she said: “There’s a 30-page report me and my lawyers are still digesting, there are still things in there that are unresolved.”

A spokesperson for Pernice said ahead of the interview: “Giovanni is relieved that the very serious allegations made against him have not been upheld. We are unable to comment further on the report and the BBC has asked both parties to respect its confidentiality.” The BBC has approached Pernice for further comment.

In a statement, the BBC said it takes allegations of bullying and harassment “very seriously”.

“We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made,” it said.

“We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do.”

A new series of Strictly launched on BBC One last month. Earlier this year, the BBC confirmed Pernice would not return to the professional line-up for the new series.

He has now joined his native Italy’s equivalent to Strictly, Ballando con le Stelle.

The BBC announced a string of new measures for Strictly in July. They include introducing chaperones in all rehearsal rooms and two new welfare producers.

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