The video features an interview with actress Amanda Abington, who discusses her recent experience dealing with misconduct allegations during her participation in the show "Strictly Come Dancing." Abington shares her distressing experience and the emotional toll it took on her, revealing that the BBC upheld several of her complaints concerning verbal abuse and inappropriate behavior by her dance partner, Giovanni Panici. Despite the challenges, she remains resolute in her decision to speak out.

The interview delves into the personal and professional impacts of the incident on Abington's life, as she describes navigating a hostile environment for the duration of her stint on the show. She reflects on the support she received from fellow contestants and other women, despite facing backlash, including death and rape threats, from the public. Abington highlights the importance of standing up against workplace harassment and how her decision to come forward was motivated by her commitment to ensuring a better environment for future participants.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. turbulent [ˈtɜːrbjələnt] - (adjective) - Characterized by disorder or confusion; not stable or calm. - Synonyms: (chaotic, unstable, tumultuous)

...it has been a very unpleasant, turbulent, relentless time in my life.

2. gesturing [ˈdʒɛstʃərɪŋ] - (noun / verb) - Making movements of the hands or body to convey a thought or feeling. - Synonyms: (signaling, motioning, nonverbal communication)

...Mister Panici gesturing towards his groin in rehearsals...

3. innuendo [ˌɪnjuˈɛndoʊ] - (noun) - An oblique or indirect remark, typically suggestive or disparaging. - Synonyms: (implication, insinuation, suggestion)

It was an ongoing litany of being verbally abused, sexual innuendo, sexual gestures.

4. derogatory [dɪˈrɒɡətəri] - (adjective) - Showing a critical or disrespectful attitude. - Synonyms: (disparaging, belittling, demeaning)

If people are insulting you or making derogatory comments towards you...

5. credible [ˈkrɛdəbl] - (adjective) - Able to be believed; convincing. - Synonyms: (reliable, believable, plausible)

I had a credible death threat sent to my place of work...

6. disparage [dɪˈspærɪdʒ] - (verb) - Regard or represent as being of little worth. - Synonyms: (belittle, deprecate, denigrate)

I don't want to disparage the show...

7. detriment [ˈdɛtrɪmənt] - (noun) - The state of being harmed or damaged. - Synonyms: (harm, damage, disadvantage)

...don't want them to do that at the detriment of human beings...

8. sanity [ˈsænɪti] - (noun) - The ability to think and behave in a normal and rational manner; sound mental health. - Synonyms: (mental health, rationality, soundness of mind)

...becomes incredibly difficult to get any degree of sanity within that.

9. resilience [rɪˈzɪliəns] - (noun) - The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. - Synonyms: (fortitude, endurance, perseverance)

Speaking out can invite both support and severe backlash, requiring courage and resilience.

10. litany [ˈlɪtəni] - (noun) - A tedious recital or repetitive series. - Synonyms: (recital, series, enumeration)

It was an ongoing litany of being verbally abused, sexual innuendo, sexual gestures.

"It's been one of the worst years of my life" - Amanda Abbington on Strictly complaints

It's been one of the worst years of my life. Yeah. I mean, I've been through a lot, you know. You know, women go through a lot, but it has been a very unpleasant, turbulent, relentless time in my life. Yeah.

Next we're going to speak live to actress Amanda Abington. In her first interview since the BBC apologised to her and upheld six of the 17 complaints she made against her 2023 strictly dance partner Giovanni Panici. BBC News was told this week that while complaints of verbal bullying and harassment were upheld, claims of physical aggression were not. Newsnight understands that of the claims that were upheld by the BBC, they included Mister Panici gesturing towards his groin in rehearsals when Miss Abington got some dance steps right and making inappropriate comments of a sexual nature. Mister Panici, we understand, denied those claims. He has said on his Instagram that he was relieved that, quote, none of the serious allegations have been upheld. All the threatening, abusive harassment allegations have not been upheld. The BBC says it takes claims of bullying and harassment very seriously.

So let's hear from Amanda Abington now. And the nature of our conversation means that some of the language that we use may be strong. Yes. Thank you very much for being here. Thank you for having me. You have received an apology from the BBC. How do you feel about that? Well, it's nice. It's a relief that they have apologised. I'd like to point out that the allegations, a lot of the allegations were upheld and some of them were serious. So yes, there's been a lot of misinformation that's been out in the tabloids, which is just not, that's just not true. Some of the things that have been printed and some of the things that have been said, you know, I have a 30 page report, my lawyer has a 30 page report. And of those allegations, nearly half of them are upheld. And the ones that weren't there is a real, there is a significant reason for that and we will be investigating that further.

Okay. And I'm guessing you can't tell us the significant reason to. Not at the moment, no, but it does. Will you at some point you would like to? Yeah, I think so. Because, you know, what's been said at the moment out there is just not true. It's not true. There were some very serious things that went on and they were upheld by the BBC. Five breaches. There were breaches of all the codes of conduct within the organization.

What have the last almost twelve months been like for you since you left last year? Strictly, it's been the. One of the worst years of my life. Yeah. I mean, I've been through a lot, you know. You know, women go through a lot, but it has been a very unpleasant, turbulent, relentless time in my life. Yeah. I've had to deal with myriad horrible things that have continued to happen and just for. Just for really complaining about. Not even complaining, I don't like that word. For alerting people to what I deemed and what people before me deemed as bad behaviour.

In terms of the complaints you made against Giovanni Panlicci that were upheld, what happened in the rehearsal room? It was an ongoing litany of being verbally abused, sexual innuendo, sexual gestures. There was a 35 minutes rant at me which went on for 35 minutes with him throwing his hands up in the air and calling me names, telling me all sorts of things that I was and how he couldn't really cope with it anymore. And this went on for 7 hours a day for seven weeks. There were pockets of time when it was okay and we got on, which was wrong footing for me because you didn't. When you were in that room, you never really realized, you never really knew where you were from 1 minute to the next, that you felt very on the front foot all the time and not knowing what was going to happen next, which can make you shut down. And I shut down within that room. And I was called mad and unstable and I.

How did you respond? How did you respond when you were being criticized, as you say you were? Well, I'm open to criticism. I can be criticized all the livelong day. But it was. So this is not just normal criticism? No. I don't make problems or trouble where there isn't any. I've worked 32 years as an actress in a job that started the hash metoo movement, and I have never had to leave a job or had to experience anything like I did in that rehearsal room. I don't ever make accusations lightly. And this was one of the hardest things I had to do. And I not only did it for myself, but I did it for the contestants who were partnered with him previously. Spoken to them. I'd spoken to many people who said the behaviour was not pleasant, pleasant or appropriate in any way appropriate. And I wasn't the only person that complained.

If people are insulting you or making derogatory comments towards you because of, I don't know, you're not doing something the right way or you're not getting the moves or whatever, how did you respond to that? How did. How did you react? Well, I'd try and do it. And if I didn't, if I didn't get it right, there would be, you know, I'd get told off about it and then I'd try again, and then there would be eye rolling and being called names, and this would go on and on, and I would. The more I got it wrong, the more I would be shouted at and I shut down. Because when you are constantly told that you're not good enough and what you're doing isn't, you're going to make a fool of yourself on Saturday night. I don't respond very well to that sort of teaching, and I don't know of many people who do, especially, you know, people who don't or aren't dancers who aren't have no clue to what they're doing.

It's reported in some of the papers that there was some kind of crotch incident. Yeah. So one of the allegations that was upheld, there were two. Two allegations of. I've got a 30 page report. I'm so sorry. There were two allegations of inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature. Then they were upheld. And one of them was physical and the other one was verbal. And the physical one was that when I got a dance step, right, he would outline his erection in his trousers and tell me that that's what my dance move had made him. Had made him. Made that happen, because I'd got it right. God. Yeah. And then the other sexual allegation was. Was verbal. Right. And they weren't isolated one off incidents. They were over a period of seven weeks.

So there was, there were words. Yeah. And gestures and, and the groin incident. And I understand from. Sorry, I was just going to say. How did you react to that? Well, you kind of. Just because you're in this bubble of strictly and you're in a room with somebody and you're. And because I was, you know, I didn't really. I was either being called names and, and worked without a break or I was. Or this was happening. So it was very difficult to kind of, when you're in that bubble of that for 7 hours a day, you lose all sense of reality and, and it becomes very difficult to kind of just focus because you're constantly on the back foot of like, what I. What did it happen then? What did I. So it was sort of like, I kind of just looked and sort of sort of just went, okay. Like, you know, because I. Only, after the fact, when I got home, I'd be like, oh, that, wow, okay. That was. You manage. You manage it. You have to manage an unworkable situation. And I, it becomes incredibly difficult to get any degree of sanity within that.

You feel, it feels very distorted and you lose all sense of reality in terms of what do I do with that? I mean, in hindsight, you walk out and you don't walk back. I'm going to read Giovanni Panicis statement on his instagram, which he put out on Monday. I appreciate. Dancing is a very difficult thing to do. And sometimes you get frustrated as a teacher, as a dancer, as a performer, but the only reason you get frustrated is because you care about what you do. And his lawyers say we're unable to comment further and the BBC has asked both parties to respect confidentiality.

When did you first tell someone at the BBC and how did they respond? I told producers, I think after about three or four days of being in the rehearsal room. And they said, what? And they said, we're very sorry. We will, we will monitor the situation. We'll manage it. We want you to have a nice time. And then I think the cameras went in quite soon after that. That was there. Yeah, sure. Help things. Yeah. I think, you know, this wasn't an isolated incident, and I know that.

I know that it had happened before two other contestants. And the reason that you say you know that is because you, earlier this year, met up with a number of previous dance partners of Mister Panici. Why? Well, we all found each other and I was put in touch with a few of them through mutual friends who'd also danced on the show. And I invited them over and it just, we just wanted to make sure that we weren't on our own thinking that this had just happened to us, because, you know, we both, we, all of us, all the people that I spoke to who have experienced what I have experienced have all said the same thing, that it was, you know, it wasn't pleasant, it wasn't what everybody else was going through in the other rooms. And we just wanted to kind of connect with each other and make sure that we, you know, that it was, what had happened wasn't an isolated thing that had just happened to each of us. It had happened to all of us.

And when you first met, what did you do? We all cried. We all burst into tears because there is something that, you know, it is, you know, we all said the same thing, that we managed the room. It was managing a room and having to look after our own mental, physical and emotional well being within that.

Can I ask you about something that was written by a columnist in the mail today? Sarah vine wrote, women like Abington are part of the reason other women who find themselves in genuinely awful and much more serious situations don't get taken seriously. What do you say to that? Well, I'm always shocked when women throw other women under the bus for standing up for something that they think is wrong. But, okay. I've had so many women come up to me since I made this complaint, thanking me for being brave enough to stand up and complain about something that was affecting me in a work situation.

And they have thanked me and said, thank you for giving me the strength to do it as well. And I've had that. I've had so many women come up to me and just say, can I give you a hug? Thank you. And I've also, you know, I did it for the women that were before me that had gone through the same thing in that work environment. You know, I'm not the isolated. It hasn't only happened to me, obviously.

Strictly is a family show. It has a reputation for being wholesome. Some of the things you have described this evening do not appear to be very wholesome. No, no. And, you know, it's. I love strictly. And I was never. I never wanted to cause trouble. I never wanted to, you know, bring down a show or ruin anybody's career. I never wanted to do anything. All I did was experience something in a workplace environment that was actually on a show run by a corporation that is owned by the public.

And I didn't want anybody else to go through what I had gone through and what people had gone through in the past before me. And all I did was say, this isn't right. I don't think this behaviour is acceptable. It makes me feel uncomfortable. It makes me feel threatened. I don't like it. It's consistent. It happens week after week. Please, can you do something about it so it doesn't happen again to somebody else? And that's literally all I did. I never set out to ruin anybody's career. I just literally did. I experienced something that was deeply upsetting over a prolonged period of time and asked that it could not happen anymore.

How do you feel you have been treated by the BBC throughout this process? Well, I don't know. It's still, you know, it's still an ongoing situation. So it's not over. Well, I don't. You know, I've still. You know, there's a 30 page report that me and my lawyers are still digesting. There are still things in there that, you know, that are unresolved.

Are you considering potentially suing the BBC? I'm taking, you know, I'm taking guidance from my lawyer, who has just been so amazing throughout this whole thing. You know, she's been the driving force and has helped me because there's been times when I've just thought, is this worth it? You know? But, yeah, I'm taking advice from her on a day to day basis. The BBC says it takes allegations of bullying and harassment very seriously, adding, we want to apologise to Amanda Abington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would have not have been an easy thing to do.

I wanted to ask you, obviously, strictly is one of the crown jewels of the BBC. Do you feel they were as concerned for your wellbeing as they were for the reputation of the program? I think they tried. I mean, I think, you know, I'm sure they tried. I don't. I don't. I think if they had, I wouldn't be sitting here. I don't think if they had tried harder. It's very difficult because I don't, you know, I don't want to. I don't want to disparage the show, but I don't, you know, and I got. I got an apology and, you know, a lot of the allegations were upheld, which says a lot to me, you know, that. That says that, you know, that this was an important thing that I needed to do.

But, you know, I don't. I don't know. I think, you know, they have to look after the show. Of course they do. It's their jewel in the crown. But I just don't want that. I don't want them to do that at the detriment of human beings who participate in it. I think there has to be a duty of care that has to be followed and nurtured from the very top, right down to the very bottom.

Everybody has to be looked after so things like this don't happen and they don't run away with themselves. It's important. You've talked about receiving rape and death threats. Yeah. Since you spoke out, how many? In the last. In the last eight months, it's gone into the hundreds. I had a credible death threat sent to my place of work, a theater 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. Really? Yeah. Saying, I hope you're I'm just laughing at the moment, thinking about you having to watch your daughter get raped for what you've done to Giovanni Panici. And they were. Every day I'd be getting those and I have screenshots that I've have, that have been handed over to the Met police. But that's. And they've started up again now that the report has come out.

So since Monday. Yeah, they've started up again on. Because I'm still on Facebook, because that's where my friends are. What kind of things are people saying? Same thing, like, die. I hope you die of cancer. I knew you'd get proof. Wrong. You lying c word. You know, how dare you? You know the truth will out and you know you've lied to. But I haven't because the complaint was upheld a lot of the. And, and it was breached. You know, all the, all the bullying and harassment policies were breached and that's in the report that I'm having in my hand and on my phone.

Bearing in mind what you just told us, what your family have been through and the impact on you all, did you do the right thing in speaking up? Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah. I think all I did was alert the BBC to what I deemed and what people before me had deemed as bad behavior, inappropriate behavior. That didn't need to happen. None of that needed to happen. It could have been, you know, we could have had a lovely time because there were days when it went really well, but there was a choice made and I'm very, you know, I've got no regrets.

You know, the death threats and the rape threats and the abuse I get are horrible and soul destroying and heartbreaking. 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. All I did was say, let's not do this anymore. Let's make a change and so people don't have to go through it.

Thank you very much for talking to Newsnight. Thank you. Thank you, Victoria. Thank you.

Bbc, Harassment, Entertainment, Inspiration, Leadership, Global, Bbc Newsnight