BBC ‘not complacent’ about workplace culture, says boss over Edwards allegations

A BBC boss says the corporation is “not complacent” about its workplace culture following allegations about Huw Edwards by his colleagues.

The broadcaster’s chief content officer Charlotte Moore was questioned about whether the BBC had taken complaints about Edwards, who later admitted making child sexual abuse images, seriously.

The corporation knew in November, before he resigned in April, that he had been arrested for the serious offences.

In a separate case, Edwards has also been accused of bombarding BBC staff with “inappropriate messages”, former and current employees at the corporation have reportedly claimed.

The first public allegation was made by the family of a young person, who last year made a complaint in which they claimed Edwards paid their teenager for sexual images.

The BBC later apologised to the family about the handling of the complaint. Edwards remained suspended until he resigned on the advice of doctors.

Ms Moore told the Edinburgh TV Festival on Thursday that Edwards was “clearly the villain in the piece”, and everyone was “absolutely shocked” by his behaviour.

She added: “Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I think the BBC did everything you’d be able to have (done), at that time.”

Looking at questions of a broader review of workplace culture at the corporation, she said that organisations that had “hierarchy” and an “imbalance of power” needed to pay attention to issues of negative behaviour.

“All of the people (need to) think really, really carefully about have we got our workplace culture at the place it needs to be,” she said.

Ms Moore added that the broadcaster had “really robust processes in place” that dealt with harassment and misconduct, and was “always up for looking at that again and thinking, how can we improve that and make that more fit for purpose”.

She also said: “We know we’re the most trusted media brand in the UK, and it’s incredibly important that we don’t take that trust for granted, that we’re not complacent about the workplace culture.

“We have to make sure that people feel really able, (if) there is anything that they have concerns about, that they feel able to come forward.

“And I think that’s something we’ve seen change in recent years, across the whole industry, that people know there are places and ways to go and make your voice heard.

“It has to be dealt with confidentially, has to be a fair process, and that the whole investigations team, that we look into those complaints, and protect people’s anonymity if they’re very nervous about coming forward, and I understand that, but we will not tolerate (any bad behaviour) and I know everybody that I work with in this audience can agree with that.

“We’re not going to tolerate bad behaviour, racism, intolerance, prejudice, bullying, harassment, that is not the industry any of us want to work in.”

Ms Moore also outlined that dancers and production teams at Strictly Come Dancing, which is facing controversy following accusations from celebrity contestants, had been given extra training,

She said: “For 20 years, this is a show that has brought so much joy to the nation, to both people taking part in it, frankly, as well as audiences.

“So it’s an incredibly important show to us. And I want to make sure that it’s a positive experience for everybody that takes part, and for everybody from the crew to the makeup artist to the costume (department), everybody from the celebrities to the dancers, right?

“It needs to be a really positive experience. So look, obviously, I can’t talk about the individual cases. It’s very important, but I think everybody deserves a fair and confidential process.

“But of course, it’s incredibly important, and this year, because of the recent concerns that people have had, we’ve made sure that (there’s) a welfare producer, not just across the whole show, but there’s one for celebrities, and there’s one for the dancers – they will be checking in throughout the process.

“We’ve made sure that there’s extra training for production teams, dancers, and we’ve also made sure that people feel there really is a way for them to talk and to come out at any concern.”

She added that there were – for the 2024 series – going to be people in the production team inside the training room when contestants were practising.

Actress Amanda Abbington was the first to allege “inappropriate” behaviour and claimed she was subject to a “toxic environment” while she danced on the show alongside professional Giovanni Pernice.

Pernice left the show, and has denied all allegations.