Fresh allegations about the BBC’s handling of disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris have emerged in a new ABC documentary, with claims senior staff warned female employees about his behaviour while continuing to protect him because of his commercial value to the broadcaster.
As per The Australian, the claims are made in Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator, which features British investigative journalist Meirion Jones, who previously helped expose the abuse committed by Harris’s former colleague Jimmy Savile.
Jones alleged his wife was warned about Harris on her first day working at the BBC.
“My wife was working at the BBC, and her first day, somebody senior came up to her and said, ‘Rolf Harris is working here on his painting series. Do not get in a lift with him on your own. Do not walk upstairs in front of him. It is mainly the younger women he targets, but do not take any risks,” Jones said.
“Management knew that Rolf Harris was in the habit of groping and that he was a problem, and they were trying to transfer that problem to the people around him, saying to women, don’t put yourself in a position where he might attack you’.
“I think there was a very simple equation there. You have top talent who can bring in millions of viewers, each worth a fortune to the BBC. There has always been bulletproof glass protecting them, and it’s the BBC management that has put that bulletproof glass in place.”
L-R: Jimmy Saville, and Rolf Harris in a documentary for iTV
Warnings allegedly circulated about Harris
The documentary also features another British journalist, who claimed Harris’s behaviour toward women was so widely known that staff were routinely warned not to be alone with him or walk ahead of him on staircases.
The series further alleges that a girl, described as “barely 14” at the time, went to police in Australia in 1984 to report Harris’s behaviour, but claims her complaint was not taken seriously.
ABC says documentary examines “double life”
According to the ABC, the documentary “brings together the full story of one of entertainment’s most disturbing double lives”, charting Harris’s rise from suburban Perth to prominence in the UK entertainment industry while examining allegations spanning decades.
The broadcaster said the series includes survivors who have not previously spoken publicly.
“Harris died in 2023, aged 93, never expressing public remorse,” the ABC said.
“In the years since, the silence that once protected him has begun to lift. The series gives voice to those who were previously unable to, as they share their experience on their own terms.”
The ABC said the documentary also explores “how charisma, institutional loyalty, and cultural reverence allowed a predator to flourish”.