Marina Hyde explains just how there has been a wave of allegations against men in TV in recent years, suggesting a pattern of bad behaviour.
A prominent podcast host and journalist has said she has “lost count” of the number of investigations into the bad behaviour of men in the television industry she has been asked to help with.
Newspaper columnist and podcaster Marina Hyde spoke out in an episode of The Rest Is Entertainment dedicated to the ITV and Guardian investigation into David Walliams. Appearing alongside TV star Richard Osman, she explained how difficult and how much work it involves behind the scenes before they can go public with the findings about a celebrity.
Marina said: “Okay, I’m going to find it really hard not to swear in this situation, but I’m going to really, really try. I have lost count of how many investigations I have contributed to, I have tried to help with. Over the past two years alone.
“I mean, I’m just thinking of, well, I can think of one very notable court case that resulted in a conviction. I can think of talking to executives about people they were thinking of hiring. You don’t know because it’s just something you’ve heard, but you say ‘let me tell you this thing I heard, let me tell you, and that makes a difference’.
“If you don’t know the person, you think, okay, how can I help? Who was in that writer’s room? Who was an executive on that show?
“Who do I know who might know something? You are constantly putting people in touch with other people. Either people in the industry trying to hire people, or journalists trying to investigate these things.”
Marina went on to say that when it was an investigation into a celebrity she was happy to help any newspaper title and that “a lot of women will help anybody in this situation” in an attempt to get justice.
She added: “I know how hard it is for you to get this over the line. I will tell you anything I know.
If I know nothing, which is almost always the case because you don’t happen to work with these people, you’ll think, well, who could I put you in touch with?”
Marina’s comments come days after the publication of a three year Guardian and ITV News investigation.
It contained claims going back as far as 2003 that he abused his power and position for sexual purposes on a number of occasions, with teenagers and other “vulnerable” women.
There is also a second famous man with an induction out to prevent allegations being published.
Walliams says he is devastated by claims in the investigation, which he denies.
In a longer statement provided to the programme, Walliams said: “Looking back, I realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with. I realise I did not always take people’s feelings properly into account. That is something I regret.
“And whilst a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, abusing that power is something else entirely and it is something that I never did.”
He added: “I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law, but I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me.”
In the same podcast episode, Richard Osman said he had briefly worked with Walliams early in their careers and felt “guilt” that his bad behaviour has been allowed to continue for a number of years within TV.
Richard said: “I do think it’s hard for any man who worked in television in the 1990s and the 2000s to not feel like they failed, to not feel blind, to not feel some sense of shame about what has happened and about… It’s not a sin of commission, it’s a sin of omission, not understanding you need to create an environment in which everybody felt safe, I think.”
He added: “I’m delighted to still be around at a time when people are being found out and people are either going to prison in Russell Brown’s case or at least being sort of exposed in the case of Walliams and there will be more to come, I suspect, from that generation as well.”
Russell Brand was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison, after being convicted of rape and sexual assault on Monday. In his sentencing remarks, judge Joel Bennathan described him as a “sexual predator” and criticised his “staggering arrogance”.
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