BBC boss Tim Davie has said he hasn’t ruled out an external investigation relating to the allegations against comedian Russell Brand.
Over the weekend Brand was the subject of an in-depth joint investigation by The Times of London, The Sunday Times and Channel 4 documentary strand “Dispatches” which alleged he had sexually assaulted and raped up to four women at the height of his fame. Brand has strenuously denied the allegations.
Davie was appearing in conversation at the Royal Television Society conference in Cambridge, U.K. where he was questioned by journalist Kate Bulkley.
Citing the ongoing investigation against BBC DJ Tim Westwood, who is currently the subject of another investigation led by an independent reviewer following allegations of sexual assault, and obliquely referring to the recent Huw Edwards scandal, Bulkley asked Davie “Who’s next?”
“These are very serious allegations,” Davie replied. “We just can’t be complacent. And this is not an issue you can put down as wholly historic. I think it’s an important and healthy dialogue to have around these deep imbalances.”
“Often with these crises – and I’ve dealt with a few bits and pieces at the BBC,” he continued — prompting laughter — “Often you can run from process and the process needs to be there but more importantly the process needs to be trusted and the culture needs to be one that trusts. I’ve spent a lot of time since I took this job [thinking] what are our values? What is the code of conduct? What’s an acceptable way of behaving?”
“There has been big problems with misogyny, abuse of power, and we just have to be utterly vigilant, be unaccepting of it and create a culture where there’s a trust that bringing information forward is treated very seriously.”
Davie said the BBC has always been “very transparent” when dealing with these kinds of crises. “There’s never a sense that we are covering up.”
Bulkley pointed out that Davie was the BBC’s head of audio in 2008 when Brand resigned in disgrace from his Radio 2 show after a prank in which he called “Fawlty Towers” actor Andrew Sachs and left multiple voicemails on his answering machine singing about having had a sexual relationship with Sachs’ granddaughter.
Bulkley asked why more wasn’t done following Brand’s resignation over “Sachsgate,” as it was termed, given that the comedian’s alleged sexually aggressive behaviour was an “open secret.” Davie said he was only a few weeks into his tenure when the scandal broke but said the report that was produced following the incident is a “a rigorous piece of work on what happened and to be fair that led to significant departures [from previous processes].”
“I think we did a good job on that review,” he said.
When pressed whether he had any regrets about not doing more at the time, Davie replied: “I always look back with hindsight. When you hear things coming out, you go ‘Could you have done – could you have asked -.’ We are all asking those questions.”
But he added: “I am proud of our culture.”
Bulkley also asked whether the BBC would instigate an external review into Brand’s behaviour and how much execs were aware of it. “I haven’t ruled out anything,” Davie said. “I think it’s the right approach in proportion at this point to get a serious internal review led by Peter Johnson.”
In the Channel 4 “Dispatches” documentary contributors alleged that Brand often behaved inappropriately in the studio when working on his Radio 2 show, including relieving himself in a bottle in front of onlookers, denigrating a female news reader on air and, in one clip that was played, offering to send his young female assistant to meet Jimmy Savile, the famed BBC host who was revealed as a prolific sexual predator after his death in 2011.
