The BBC has announced that it will make a big change to Strictly Come Dancing moving forward, following an investigation into former Strictly star Amanda Abbingdon’s claims of “cruel and mean behaviour” from Strictly professional dancer Giovanni Pernice, who she was paired with on the hit TV show last year, and which the dancer denied.
After Sherlock actress Amanda’s claims, the broadcaster launched a deep investigation into what had gone on behind the scenes of Strictly in which Giovanni was partially cleared. Now, the BBC have responded with their plans to change the show as a result.
Today, in a welcome move for Amanda, the BBC revealed that it will tackle "abusive behaviour" by launching a new investigation into its “workplace culture” with the goal of combatting any “abuse of power”.
Samir Shah, who is Chair of the BBC, said: "I cannot emphasise enough that I am fully committed to tackling inappropriate or abusive behaviour. For most of us it is a joy to work for the BBC and that should be the case for everyone.”
The official added: “Nobody working in the BBC should ever feel fear or worry while working here… What is clear to me is that we must ensure the BBC is a safe, secure and welcoming workplace for everyone."
The new probe has been launched to "ensure the consequences of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power are understood by everyone".
It comes after the findings of an explosive report were revealed last month. At the time, the BBC apologised to Amanda for her experiences, but also cleared Giovanni, 34, of the most serious charges.
After assessing Amanda’s complaints, the BBC announced that it “upheld some, but not all” of the claims of misconduct.
The BBC said: “We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made. 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.”
Actress Amanda, 50, r esponded to the apology last month on Newsnight, saying: "It's nice. It's a relief that they've apologised."
She added, of the bullying scandal: "I have worked 32 years as an actress in an industry that started the MeToo movement and I have never had to leave a job and experience anything like I did in that room... It was one of the hardest things I had to do. I did it for myself and previous contestants."
\Dancer Giovanni has denied the allegations, and was cleared of 11 of 17 of the charges in the report. In a s tatement following the report, he said : "It's over, it's finished… Six months, seven months of all of this... reading everyday things in the newspaper and not be able to respond because I wanted to keep the confidentiality and privacy of the review, was a difficult time."
He added: "Today I'm happy because at the beginning there were very very serious allegations thrown out at me but as of today, none of the serious allegations have been upheld. All the threatening, abusive, harassment behaviour allegations have not been upheld.”
Sign up to OK!'s daily newsletter to get updates sent to your inbox for free
