Amanda Abbington has said she and her daughter have received “rape threats” and there have been “threats of death” made towards her son after she pulled out of Strictly Come Dancing.
The actress told Channel 4 News the online abuse had been “brutal, relentless and unforgiving” having received dozens of threats a day.
Abbington withdrew from last year’s series in October and has since made claims that the behaviour of her professional partner on the show, Giovanni Pernice, was “unnecessary, abusive, cruel and mean”.
Pernice, who has now left the BBC One show, has previously denied any accusations of abusive or threatening behaviour. The BBC said it takes duty of care extremely seriously.
During the interview with Channel 4, Abbington said she was not able to talk about exactly what happened to her on the show, due to the ongoing inquiry by the BBC.
All she would say was that it was “bullying and it’s aggressive behaviour and there were other things that happened that were very upsetting”.
Referring to her experiences during rehearsals with Pernice, she said: “I know what happened to me in that room wasn’t acceptable. I complained about it and sort of have not been taken seriously.”
She said that Strictly producers told her they were “shocked and horrified” when reviewing footage of her training with Pernice.
She added that there was 50 hours of footage that had been “blocked”.
The actress also described in detail her experiences of online abuse since leaving the show.
“The aftermath has been something that I wasn’t expecting, you know, the death threats and the rape threats towards not only myself but my daughter, and the threats of death to my son.”
She claimed that she was getting “dozens a day” on social media, including from people telling her to kill herself.
Abbington said she made a complaint because she didn’t want anyone else to go through what she had.
She added she wanted to encourage people who feel they are being bullied or are in a “toxic and unsafe” situation to be able to speak up.
“We have to cultivate a society and an environment where women can come forward… or men because it happens to men as well [and say] ‘I’m finding this uncomfortable. Can you do something about it?'” she said.
“And I think, we need to be brave and I want to stand up for any woman… who feels that they don’t have a voice or be there for her championing her and say, ‘Yeah, I’ve got you.”‘
The actress has claimed she knows of “three other women” who went through something similar during Strictly, adding that there were “potentially” more people to come forward. The BBC does not know who these allegations relate to.
She said since she left the show, she had had several messages from producers but after that, “[I] didn’t really hear from anyone.”
When asked if there should have been aftercare in place, she said: “It would’ve been nice.”
Abbington was speaking to Channel 4 presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy, who competed on the same series as her.
Guru-Murthy said that his experiences on the show, unlike Abbington’s, had been “amazing”. Abbington said she was aware that lots of people had a better time, adding: “I feel really sad that I didn’t get to fulfil my journey.”
Pernice refutes allegations
A statement sent to the Press Association from a spokesman for Pernice said he was “co-operating fully” with the BBC’s review.
“We will continue to respect the integrity of the investigation and believe it is the right forum for all the evidence to be reviewed. As part of the evidence-led review, the BBC has shared the allegations they have been able to substantiate with us.
“They do not resemble Amanda’s latest allegations, given to Channel 4, in any shape or form. Giovanni refutes any claim of threatening or abusive behaviour, and having provided the BBC with his evidence, is confident that the review will prove this.
“We would urge people to wait for the review’s conclusion and not to pay heed to these very serious and defamatory allegations that have no evidence in support of them.”
BBC boss says sorry
Strictly has been at the centre of controversy after complaints about former dancers Pernice and Graziano Di Prima.
On Tuesday, BBC director-general Tim Davie apologised to contestants whose experiences on the show hadn’t been “wholly positive”, and maintained the show would return.
Following Abbington’s latest claims, a BBC spokesperson said: “Anyone involved in a complaint has a right to confidentiality and fair process and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further on individuals.
“However, when issues are raised with us we always take them extremely seriously and have appropriate processes in place to manage this. As we have said before, we would urge people not to indulge in speculation.
“More generally, the BBC and BBC Studios takes duty of care extremely seriously. Our processes on Strictly Come Dancing are updated every year, they are kept under constant review and last week we announced additional steps to further strengthen welfare and support on the show.”
Last month, it was announced Pernice would not return to Strictly for this year’s series.