(Image: BBC)
Amanda Abbington has 'no regrets' over Giovanni Pernice complaints as she breaks silence after BBC Strictly report
by Jessica Sansome · Manchester Evening NewsAmanda Abbington has said she has 'no regrets' over raising complaints about Giovanni Pernice's behaviour in training during their time together on Strictly Come Dancing as she sat down for her first interview since the BBC revealed the findings of its probe.
The Sherlock star has previously made accusations about Giovanni's teaching methods 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.
Months after starting its investigation, the BBC released its findings on Monday (September 30) and confirmed it had "upheld some, but not all" of Amanda's complaints and issued her an apology.
"It’s been one of the worst years of my life," Amanda has now told BBC Newsnight. I’ve been through a lot, women go through a lot, but it has been a very unpleasant, turbulent, relentless time in my life. I’ve had to deal with a myriad of horrible things.”
The 50-year-old said in the last eight months, the number of threats she has received had “gone into the hundreds”. She said: "I had a credible death threat sent to my place of work, a theatre that I was working at, which was credible and the police had to be called.
"I had a bomb threat sent to my place of work, threatening to blow the building up because I was pursuing this. I’ve had death threats sent to me, my family. I’ve had rape threats sent to my 15-year-old daughter, saying ‘I’m just laughing at the moment thinking about you having to watch your daughter get raped for what you’ve done to Giovanni Pernice’. They were every day I’d be getting those and I have screenshots that have been handed over to the Met Police."
In August, the Metropolitan Police confirmed they were investigating after they were called to the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park to an alleged death threat sent to Abbington, who was starring in When It Happens To You.
(Image: PA)
Amanda has said the threats had “started up again” since the publication of the BBC review on Monday. She said she has been receiving threats including “I hope you die of cancer” and “I knew you’d get proven wrong you lying c***”.
Despite the threats, Abbington said "I’ve got no regrets" about lodging complaints against the dancer, who is no longer a part of Strictly. "The death threats and the rape threats and the abuse I get are horrible and soul-destroying and heart-breaking," she said.
"But I do get women coming up to me in the street saying ‘you’re paving the way for my daughter to work in a safe environment and not feel threatened or in any way feel that they can’t speak out’."
During the interview, Amanda also claimed she was not the only person to have complained about working with Pernice on the BBC flagship show. She said she invited the former Strictly contestants to her home because “we wanted to make sure we weren’t on our own thinking this had just happened to us”. She said when they first met “we all burst into tears”.
Giovanni has denied allegations against him. In a written statement, a spokesperson for Giovanni said: "We are pleased that this six-month review has not found any evidence of threatening or abusive behaviour by Giovanni. Giovanni is relieved that the overwhelming majority of allegations out to the BBC have not been upheld and looks forward to continuing his work on Dancing With The Stars in Italy this season."