A former senior BBC TV producer has said the media industry needs to create a culture where “everybody says it’s just not acceptable to make people feel uncomfortable” after a host of allegations have been made against TV presenter Gregg Wallace.
The 60-year-old faces accusations of inappropriate sexual comments from 13 people across a range of shows over a 17-year period, as reported by BBC News.
The allegations come after it was announced on Thursday that Wallace will step away from hosting hit BBC cooking show MasterChef while historical misconduct complaints are externally reviewed by the show’s production company, Banijay UK.
Lorraine Heggessey, the first female controller of BBC One, told BBC Breakfast: “This is the latest in a long line of presenters behaving badly and making particularly junior staff on a production feel really uncomfortable about what they’re saying or doing, and we need to, as an industry, draw a line.
“It’s not just a BBC problem, I think it’s an industry-wide problem.”
Among the BBC News complainants is former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark, who alleged Wallace told jokes of a “sexualised nature” when she was competing on Celebrity MasterChef in 2011.
BBC News said it had been told of other allegations, including the presenter “talking openly about his sex life, taking his top off in front of a female worker saying he wanted to ‘give her a fashion show’, and telling a junior female colleague he was not wearing any boxer shorts under his jeans”.
The TV star’s lawyers say “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”, BBC News reported.
Ms Heggessey said an issue within the industry is that there is a lot of “job insecurity” which can make it difficult for production staff to raise concerns.
“At the moment, more than ever, almost everybody who works on a production is freelance, and it’s very difficult to put your head above the parapet”, she added.
“But what I would say is that a lot of men feel uncomfortable about this behaviour as well, and it’s time for men to start speaking out about it too, rather than always relying on the women to come forward because it’s hard.
“It is very hard for a junior person, woman or otherwise, to say these kind of things. And we need to create a culture in the industry where everybody says it’s just not acceptable to make people feel uncomfortable in any way when they’re working on a production.”
What can happen is that people pander to the so-called stars and they’re allowed to get away with all sorts of things that you just wouldn’t allow a junior assistant producer on the show to do
Former BBC producer Lorraine Heggessey
The former TV producer noted this is an issues across “all industries” but as TV presenters can become household names it draws more attention to the situation.
Ms Heggessey also referenced how the BBC director-general has previously said he has “kind of banned” referring to top staff at the corporation as “talent” following controversies surrounding its high-profile presenters.
After apologising to BBC Breakfast host Charlie Stayt, she added: “Sorry to say that to you but you are just one of a large team of people who are responsible for getting a show on air, and your work is neither more valuable nor less valuable than anybody else’s.
“Whereas what can happen is that people pander to the so-called stars and they’re allowed to get away with all sorts of things that you just wouldn’t allow a junior assistant producer on the show to do.”
Wallace is best known for co-presenting MasterChef alongside John Torode since 2005, as well as its spin-offs Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals.