From cocaine parties to Savile’s crimes – the BBC’s worst scandals

The BBC has been rocked by many scandals involving its high-profile stars.

From prolific sex abusers Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris to the deceit of Martin Bashir in obtaining his interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, the revelations have severely dented the corporation’s reputation.

Now, police have been called in to investigate a sex scandal allegedly involving one of its presenters.

Here, The Telegraph details the numerous scandals.

Jimmy Savile

Jimmy Savile, star of Jim’ll Fix It and Top of the Pops, was posthumously revealed to be one of the UK’s most prolific sex offenders.

Over several decades, he groomed and abused hundreds of children in television studios as well as NHS patients in hospitals. He was never apprehended, and was knighted in 1990.

After his death in 2011, Newsnight began an investigation into claims he was an abuser but in October 2012, it emerged that the story had been shelved shortly before it was due to be broadcast.

An inquiry later found that “cogent evidence” had been found and that the decision to drop the story was “flawed.”

Frank Bough

The veteran broadcaster was one of the BBC’s highest paid and highest profile presenters, best known for hosting Grandstand and Breakfast Time.

But his career at the corporation came to an abrupt end in 1988 when he was fired after admitting taking cocaine and wearing women’s underwear at parties with prostitutes.

The front page story revealing his escapades in the News of the World read: “Frank Bough: I Took Drugs with Vice Girls.”

In an interview with Sky News in 1992, Bough spoke of his regret over the incident and apologised for the pain it had caused his wife and family.

He later attempted to rebuild his broadcast career, fronting Six O’Clock Live on London Weekend Television until 1992 and ITV’s coverage of the rugby World Cup in 1991. He died in October 2020 aged 87.

Martin Bashir

Martin Bashir’s 1995 Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, was hailed as one of the greatest royal scoops when the late Princess famously said: “There were three of us in this marriage.”

However, in 2021 an inquiry by Lord Dyson found that Bashir, a relatively junior BBC reporter at the time, had acted in a “deceitful” way in order to secure the interview, faking documents to make the Princess think those close to her were receiving money from tabloid newspapers and the security services to spy on her.

Prince William said it brought him “indescribable sadness” that the interview had contributed to the “fear, paranoia and isolation” the Princess suffered in the final years of her life.

He blamed the “failures” of BBC bosses and described the interview as a “major contribution in making my parents’ relationship worse”.

Rolf Harris

Rolf Harris was one of the nation’s most respected entertainers with a career spanning 50 years, before he was jailed in 2014 for a series of sex assaults on youngsters.

The crimes, which dated back to the 1960s and carried on until the 1980s, took place while he was at the height of his fame.

Harris was initially arrested as part of the Metropolitan Police Operation Yewtree investigation into historic child sex abuse in March 2013, and charged five months later.

His trial heard how he had begun grooming one of his principal victims, a close childhood friend of his daughter Bindi, when she was 13.

The disgraced entertainer died of neck cancer at his home in Bray, Berkshire on May 10, aged 93, as sex abuse victims were continuing to come forward.