TV bosses could be forced to improve safeguarding after Walliams claims and Brand conviction

Detailed summary

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy will tell industry leaders that she will force them to protect whistleblowers if they do not respond to recent allegations

The government is set to force TV chiefs to improve safeguarding measures in the wake of the David Walliams and Russell Brand scandals.

Brand, 51, was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault last week, and was sentenced to 10 years and six months in jail at Southwark Crown Court.

Walliams, 55, has been accused by several women of sexual misconduct and abusing his position.

Following allegations made as a part of a joint three-year investigation by the Guardian and ITV News, Walliams has denied claims that was a “sexual predator”, and that he groomed schoolgirls and lured young women to both his dressing rooms and north London home.

TV bosses have been accused of enabling both men, with each said to have become so powerful that behaviour went unchallenged.

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Downing Street said that the Walliams allegations were “deeply troubling”, and said there was “a pattern of behaviour that needs to change”.

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