Summary

  • Dame Janet Smith report into Jimmy Savile abuse published

  • Dame Linda Dobbs report into Stuart Hall abuse also published

  • Savile sexually assaulted 72 victims, the youngest eight years of age; Stuart had 21 victims, the youngest aged 10

  • DJ Tony Blackburn 'sacked' over Savile inquiry

Live Reporting

Victoria Lindrea, Genevieve Hassan and Frances Cronin

  1. Top of the Pops key findings

    Jimmy Saville
    • The BBC received a number of "wake-up calls" relating to allegations of sexual misconduct.
    • The first concerned the activities of Harry Goodwin, the programme's stills photographer from 1964, who allegedly took pornographic photos of girls in his dressing room after the show.
    • The second was in 1971 when Vera McAlpine telephoned the BBC to complain her daughter Claire, then 15, had been seduced by a celebrity in his flat after she had attended TOTP as a member of the audience.
    • The BBC carried out an investigation, but it was not conducted in a satisfactory way. The celebrity denied the allegation, and his denial was accepted.
    • During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and possibly after that, young people attending TOTP were at risk of moral danger.
    • The BBC made no real attempt to grapple with the problem of how to protect young people.
    • Savile's usual tactic was to invite girls to watch him perform.
    • He would indulge in sexual touching on set. He also committed assaults in his dressing room.

  2. Dame Janet's report findings

    • Cultural factors at the BBC stopped staff reporting concerns to managers, especially where those concerns related to presenters or "talent".
    • Talent are given privileges, treated with kid gloves and rarely challenged. Most people in the BBC were deferential towards the talent, who appeared untouchable.
    • An atmosphere of fear still exists in the BBC.
    • There is a culture of not making complaints about the behaviour of talent.
    • There is also a macho culture, which militates against complaints being passed on to senior staff.
    • The BBC seemed more concerned about its reputation than the need to protect young girls.

    • What did the BBC know?

      BBC TV Centre
      • Some members of BBC staff were aware of Savile's inappropriate sexual conduct.
      • Those who were aware of specific complaints about Savile should have reported them to line managers. None did so.
      • A total of 117 witnesses said they had heard rumours about Savile.
      • There is no evidence any senior member of staff was aware of Savile's conduct.
      • There is no evidence the BBC as a corporate body was aware of Savile's conduct.
      • Savile was generally seen as a sleazy, unpleasant, self-important and self-obsessed loner.

    • BBC was 'too hierarchical' says Hall

      Lord Hall called the reports by Dame Janet Smith "one of the most important inquiries in the history of the BBC".

      The director general said it was clear the BBC had been "too hierarchical... too self-absorbed", calling it "a macho culture". 

      We understand that our ways of communicating within the BBC were inadequate. Too much stress on protecting the reputation of the BBC as opposed to protecting the staff and those coming to watch our shows

    • BBC Trust on moving forward

      Rona Fairhead

      BBC Trust Chair Rona Fairhead has published a statement saying how the BBC executive plans to move forward.

      We fully support Dame Janet’s recommendation that the BBC executive immediately reviews its policies and procedures on child protection, complaints, whistleblowing, and investigations – and that all of those should also be independently audited and published.

      It is important that this work also takes account of the variety of working relationships people have with the BBC, from freelancers and occasional contractors through to full time members of staff.

      Read the full statement.  

    • Dame Janet Smith report key points

      To recap:

      • At least 72 people were sexually abused by Savile in connection with his work at the BBC, including eight victims who were raped. There was also one attempted rape. The youngest rape victim was 10 years old
      • The offending took place from 1959 to 2006, mostly in the 1970s
      • The largest number of victims was in connection with Savile's work on the BBC's Top of the Pops programme
      • Savile and former BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall used their fame and positions of celebrity to engage in "monstrous behaviour"
      • The culture of the BBC enabled Savile and Hall's offending to go undetected for decades
      • The BBC missed at least five opportunities to stop the abuse

    • BBC must take responsibility for Savile and Hall

      Lord Hall said it was too easy to blame what happened as being part of another era

      "It's too easy to say that this was another time. We are not going to say that. The BBC is its past as well as its future. What sort of organisation would we be if we celebrated our history, but failed to take responsibility for it?

    • BBC Trust 'saddened and appalled'

      BBC Trust chair Rona Fairhead:

      I'm saddened and appalled by the events recounted here - we will aim to ensure we never allow them to happen again.

      Our primary thoughts must be with the victims - the survivors of the abuse perpetrated by Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall. Today’s reports lay bare the full horror of what happened to them. Those experiences can never be erased.

      No one reading the reports can be in any doubt that the BBC failed them. It failed, not just them, but the public, its audiences and its staff. It turned a blind eye, where it should have shone a light. And it did not protect those who put their trust in it.

    • Lord Hall: 'BBC made Savile'

      Lord Hall warned against the perils of celebrity.

      The BBC made Savile a VIP. What this teaches us, is that fame is power, a very strong form of power - and like any power, it must be held to account, it must be limited - and it wasn’t.

    • 'Reluctance to rock the boat'

      Dame Janet said there was a reluctance among staff to "rock the boat" in reporting Savile's abuse.

      Many of these factors were common in the British workplace - and some still are. In the 1960s, '70s and '80s child protection was very low on the BBC radar, in this the BBC was not alone.

    • Lord Hall apologises to victims

      Apologising to the victims, Lord Hall acknowledged "a serial rapist and a predatory sexual abuser hid in plain sight at the corporation for decades". 

      The BBC failed you when it should have protected you. Sorry - we let you down and we know it.

      Your courage in speaking out lights the way for us all. Now we must do everything possible to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.

    • BBC director: 'Abuse should have stopped'

      Tony Hall has called it "a very sobering day".

      To all the survivors: What happened was profoundly wrong, it should never have started, it should certainly have been stopped. Sexual abuse can never be excused.

    • To the victims: 'Society owes you a great debt'

      Dame Janet paid tribute to the victims who contributed to her investigation.

      Thank you for your contribution and your courage. Some of you have told me and Linda Dobbs that you blame yourselves for what happened… you are not to blame. Your reasons for not reporting are wholly understandable. Society owes you a great debt.

      Your legacy is to show the importance that young and vulnerable people have confidence to report abuse and when they do so, their voice will be heard and treated with the same respect as those who hold power in our society. That is a legacy of which you can be justifiably proud.

    • Dame Janet slams BBC attitude to young audiences

      Dame Janet said the BBC thought of young audiences as “necessary but a nuisance”.

      Girls were described as unbalanced - there was no sense that they were young and in need of protection. Complaints were not recorded or passed upwards to management, instead they were brushed aside.

      Dame Janet added that the corporation’s failure to heed earlier complaints about Savile's behaviour on Top of the Pops “amounted to two missed opportunities”.

    • Report delay not due to BBC influence

      Dame Janet refuted claims the BBC delayed the release of the report.

      At no point has the BBC sought to influence the review as to the content or date of publication. If it had I would have paid no heed. The delay was solely due to concerns expressed by the Metropolitan Police fearing it would prejudice their ongoing investigations.

    • Top of the Pops: ‘A moral danger’

      Dame Janet described the BBC’s responses to allegations of both corruption and abuse of young girls on Top of the Pops as “illuminating”.

      She said the BBC investigated the allegations of corruption, but it “did not investigate allegations about young girls with anything like the same focus”, adding the corporation was clearly “concerned about its reputation rather than risk to girls".

      The allegations “should have been a wake-up call”, said Dame Janet.

    • 'Culture of not complaining'

      Dame Janet Smith on Jimmy Savile at the BBC: 'There was a culture of not complaining'

    • Report 'sorry reading' for the BBC

      In her opening remarks, Dame Janet summed up the “culture of fear” at the BBC which allowed the abuse by both Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall to take place. She said: "Celebrities were treated with kid gloves and were virtually untouchable.”

      The culture of the BBC enabled Savile and Hall to go undetected for decades. I have identified five occasions when the BBC missed an opportunity to uncover their misconduct.

    • ‘Opportunistic and shameless’

      Dame Janet:

      Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall were serial sexual predators who were a danger to young people - both girls and boys. They were opportunistic and shameless.

      Both of these men used their fame and positions as BBC celebrities to abuse the vulnerable. They must be condemned for their monstrous behaviour.

    • Report into Stuart Hall's abuse

      A second review by Dame Linda Dobbs, initiated in June 2013, investigated the activities of another former BBC broadcaster, Stuart Hall.

      Here are some of the facts uncovered in Dame Linda's report:

      • He targeted and groomed young girls, "often plying them with alcohol".
      • There were 21 victims, eight were girls under the age of 16, the youngest was 10.
      • Some BBC staff were aware of Hall was engaging in sexual misconduct on the BBC premises, though not with underage girls.
      • Hall referred to victims as his "nieces"