Amanda Abbington says Giovanni Pernice made sexual gesture during BBC Strictly Come Dancing ordeal

Amanda revealed the toll complaining had taken on her after the BBC Strictly Come Dancing investigation wound down.

Amanda Abbington has claimed Giovanni Pernice made a shocking sexual gesture to her as she speaks out on a BBC investigation. Amanda revealed the toll complaining had taken on her after the BBC Strictly Come Dancing investigation wound down.

The BBC upheld six of 17 complaints made against the Italian dancer. She told Newsnight's Victoria Derbyshire: "It was an ongoing litany of being verbally abused, sexual innuendo, sexual gestures. There was a 35 minute rant at me with him throwing his hands in the air and calling me names and how he couldn't cope with it anymore.

She continued: "When I got a dance step right he would outline his erection in his trousers and tell me my dance move made that happen, because I got it right. The other sexual allegation was verbal. They weren’t isolated one-off incidents."

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However, a spokesman for Giovanni told The Sun: "It's disappointing that Ms Abbington would knowingly mislead the outcome of the report in order to further damage Giovanni's reputation. While Ms Abbington may not like the outcome of the six month investigation, she should not seek to spread false and defamatory claims."

Amanda said: "It's been one of the worst years of my life. I've been through a lot. It has been a very unpleasant, turbulent relentless time in my life. I've had to deal with myriad horrible things that have continued to happen just for complaining about, I don't like that word, alerting people to what I deemed was bad behaviour."

The BBC said that although it “took steps to address the issues as they understood them” at the time, “ultimately these were not enough”, and added that it had since introduced “important” extra duty of care measures, including chaperones in all rehearsal rooms and two new welfare producers.

In a written statement, Abbington responded: “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.”