BBC apologise in Giovanni Pernice report after allegations of 'abusive behaviour' towards Amanda Abbington

The BBC has apologised to Amanda Abbington after its bombshell probe into Strictly Come Dancing star Giovanni Pernice's behaviour during his time partnered with the actress was published.

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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After six months of investigating, the BBC found Giovanni was not abusive, nor did he make threats and nor was he intimidating. They also said there was no aggressive or physical conduct.

But the BBC has apologised to former Strictly contestant Amanda Abbington, saying it had assessed and "upheld some, but not all" of her complaints about Giovanni Pernice’s behaviour during her time on the show.

There were no findings relating to physical aggression, but complaints of verbal bullying and harassment were upheld, a report from the PA news agency understands.

In a statement, the broadcaster said: "The BBC has now concluded its review into the complaints made by Amanda Abbington against Giovanni Pernice. We take any allegations of bullying and harassment very seriously and this review has taken time due to its complex nature and our desire to ensure a rigorous and robust process was undertaken.

"Strictly Come Dancing is a family show and we rightly expect very high standards. While competition can be tough, rigorous and demanding, we want the show to ultimately be a joyous and transformative experience. It is a great shame if this hasn’t been the case for everyone who has appeared on the show.

"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."

The statement continued: "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.

"The BBC heard from a number of individuals in making its findings. We want to thank them for participating. The BBC has already taken extensive steps to enhance our duty of care for everyone on the show and a full note of these steps is published alongside this statement."

This is a breaking news story and will be updated...