Amanda Abbington issues statement as BBC apologise over Strictly Come Dancing's Giovanni Pernice complaint

Amanda Abbington has issued a statement after she was given an apology by the BBC after it confirmed it had "upheld some, but not all" of her complaints about Giovanni Pernice’s behaviour during her time on Strictly Come Dancing.

The Sherlock star has previously made accusations about the teaching methods of Giovanni during their time working together on the BBC One dance show last year. Amanda pulled out in week five of the 2023 series, citing 'personal reasons'.

It later emerged she'd made a formal complaint about Giovanni, who has since left the hit dance programme as he refuted any claims of wrongdoing following her claims of "unnecessary, abusive, cruel and mean" behaviour.

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The review into Abbington’s complaints about her professional dance partner was launched earlier this year. Giovanni, who was not part of this year’s Strictly professional dancing line-up and has since joined an Italian dance show, previously rejected "any claim of threatening or abusive behaviour".

The BBC said on Monday: "We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made. We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do.

"At the time, although the production team took steps to address the issues as they understood them, ultimately these were not enough. This is why the measures we have taken to further strengthen our existing protocols are so important."

In a written statement responding to the BBC’s Strictly report, Amanda said: "As the BBC has indicated today in its statement, my decision to come forward and complain about Giovanni Pernice’s conduct towards me was not an easy thing to do. In the days, weeks and months since I contacted the BBC, I’ve been accused of being a liar, a troublemaker and of being “mad and unstable”. I’ve also received rape and murder threats and a bomb threat was sent to my place of work. My family and children have also been subjected to threats and intimidation.

“Despite this vile abuse, I’ve never regretted coming forward, and today’s apology from the BBC is a vindication of my complaint. It’s not just a vindication for me, it’s a vindication for the other people who have contacted me since I made my complaint to express concerns about their own experiences on Strictly Come Dancing.

"I hope those who have felt unable to speak out now will be more confident that they will be listened to and believed. The BBC has invited me to meet with senior management and this is something I will now be considering."

She continued: "This apology means a great deal to me. So too does the fact that the BBC have acknowledged the steps that were put in place to support and protect me and past contestants were 'not enough'.

“What matters most now is that lessons have been learned and that the BBC makes the changes they’ve promised, to ensure others don’t experience the same ordeal that I and others like me did.”

The chief content officer at the BBC said a number of complaints under its bullying and harassment policy were upheld, but said she was unable to go into further detail on the allegations made by Amanda Abbington about the actress’s time on Strictly Come Dancing.

Charlotte Moore told the BBC: “There were a number of complaints under our bullying and harassment policy, and a number of those complaints have been upheld. Not all of them, but a number of them have been upheld. I’m not able to go into further detail on that, and there are very good reasons for that.

"It’s probably worth me just laying out the confidentiality of a complaints process, which I think is absolutely integral to the complaints process, and confidentiality needs to be respected out of fairness to everybody involved. But of course, we’re also trying to balance that with the desire to be open and to be transparent about the way our complaints processes work – and obviously in this case, there’s been lots of media speculation and lots of interest.

"So I think it’s really important that we’re as open and transparent as we can be about that process, which is why we’ve issued the statement."