TV veteran says he's 'shocked and appalled' at allegations

Veteran comedy producer Charlie Hanson has been hit by allegations of sexual misconduct.

The 68-year-old has been removed from Ricky Gervais’s Netflix series After Life and had his Bafta membership suspended following the claims, The Times reports today.

The newspaper says 11 women wrote an anoymous email to the streaming service and Bafta alleging he abused his position in the industry to take advantage of ‘younger, impressionable and sometimes vulnerable women’.

Hanson, who has been vocal in his support of the MeToo movement, strongly denies any wrongdoing and says he will fight to restore his reputation.

His solicitor told the newspaper: ‘Our client is shocked and appalled by these historical and false allegations of improper conduct towards women.

‘He maintains that he has never acted inappropriately on any production, or at all, and has never had any complaints made about his conduct over the course of many decades in the media industry.’

Netflix released a statement saying: 'On Monday, we received an anonymous email containing historical allegations about a producer on one of our titles. Whilst the allegations are unrelated to his time on the show, we immediately removed him from the production and referred the matter to the police.'

Deadline also reported that Gervais also issued a statement saying: 'I am shocked and appalled to learn of the historical allegations made by a number of women against Charlie Hanson. The decision was made to immediately remove him from production and I am confident the matter is being handled thoroughly.

Hanson made his name as the producer of Channel 4’s black-led sitcom Desmond’s and  championed minority voices on TV. His other credits include some of the most acclaimed comedies in British TV including The Real McCoy, Lee & Herring’s This Morning With Richard Not Judy, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, Gervais series Extras, Derek and Life’s Too Short; Idris Elba’s In The Long Run and Harry Hill’s TV series.

Earlier this month he criticised Bafta for being slow to act over sexual misconduct allegations made against writer, producer and actor Noel Clarke.

And in his interview with Variety he praised Netflix for setting up a hotline to allow people working on set to make complaints anonymously. ‘People were sceptical but it definitely helps and makes people feel more comfortable,’ he said.

Published: 29 May 2021