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BBC News
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
BBC workplace review: Will bad behaviour now be called out?
Samir Shah's anger was obvious, the BBC chairman's voice shaking with fury as he delivered his message of change. "If you think you're too big to live by the values of this organisation, you are wrong and we will find you out," he left little doubt about his personal determination to stamp out bad behaviour at the will he succeed?The Respect at Work 2025 report was commissioned following Huw Edwards' guilty pleas last year. The corporation was reeling from the revelations surrounding one of its biggest 12 years ago, a report was published after a scandal involving another former BBC star. That 2013 Respect at Work review looked into BBC culture in light of Jimmy Savile's depravity. It found bullying was an issue inside the corporation, with some people viewed as "untouchable" because of their status and colleagues too scared to speak up, for fear of then director general, Tony Hall, said he wanted "zero tolerance of bullying". The BBC brought in a series of measures, including updating its policies and setting up a confidential helpline. 'We have you backs' On Monday, the current director general, Tim Davie, said he was "totally committed to make long-lasting change." He said staff must feel confident to speak up and they will be supported (unless their complaints are malicious) without any negative impact on their careers."We have your backs," he said. He announced a series of measures including a new code of conduct, a more robust disciplinary policy and leadership organisations have bad apples, but the power dynamics in a media company are multi-layered. Well-known presenters, for example, can wield extraordinary influence, as well as behind-the-scenes editors and managers. Then there is the issue of an industry that often relies on freelancers, who have even less power. 30% of freelancers told the report they had seen inappropriate behaviour at the BBC. Less than half said they would feel safe speaking up. That is in BBC news and current affairs, only 48% of staff who answered a recent survey said they thought the corporation dealt with bullying and harassment concerns is all about power imbalances. Will BBC employees ever feel confident that the organisation really will have their backs if they decide to complain?My sense is that the biggest consideration when deciding whether to make a formal complaint is the fact that the person you are complaining about will be told you have done so. If that person is your boss, or a close colleague, how can you be sure that it won't have an impact on your career?But equally, if you don't take formal action, then there is a perception that offenders consistently get away with bad behaviour. There are rumours and stories about particular individuals inside the BBC, just as there are in all proof, perhaps, of whether these new policies are working will be whether the small number of people whose names are often raised internally, accused informally of bad behaviour, will now face more scrutiny; whether colleagues will feel confident to raise a formal report makes clear the majority of people enjoy working at the BBC and that there isn't a toxic culture. But it also talks of some names repeated several times as people who are "not being held to account for poor behaviour".Who are those people and is any action being taken in light of this review?The report doesn't name names, either complainants or those accused.A BBC source told me the corporation will always act if necessary on any information it becomes aware in pockets of the BBC there is real anger that bullying by individuals is an open secret - and there's a belief that complainants aren't protected. Shah and Davie are promising that will takes time to change cultures. While some behaviour is always unacceptable - sexual harassment or physical assault for example - the report also talks about grey areas, including colleagues being tetchy or rude, ridiculing ideas or using aggressive language. The plan is to nip these in the this kind of behaviour has been blamed on working in a high pressure environment, for example a newsroom, where short-term emotions can run high. It's not an excuse, Davie report was commissioned because of the BBC's newsroom's most high-profile star, Huw Edwards. But his name was never mentioned over its 60 the evidence of real culture change will be if this is the last report the BBC ever does about workplace culture.
BBC News
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash: 'We panicked when we realised viewers see everything'
We might feel like we know Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash already. We have seen them live off rice and beans in the Australian rainforest in I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! We have watched Joe learn to ice skate in Dancing on Ice and Stacey declutter homes in Sort Your Life the now couple are going one step further and allowing viewers inside Pickle Cottage, their family home in Essex, in a new reality series for BBC is a fly-on-the-wall series - and Stacey says she only realised in the thick of the filming that viewers can see everything, "and then you panic a bit", she tells the ultimately, they are just a normal family "doing our best in every aspect of our lives", she says."So in the end, you sort of relax with that, and you think, 'Oh well, so they saw us get the hump with each other, or they saw us do something wrong'."That is probably the best thing we could show the world, because everything isn't perfect."There was no point in doing a reality show, says Joe, if they were not going to be honest."We don't want to glamourise anything," says Joe. "Our biggest discussions at the beginning of this were, 'how much are people going to want to watch us take the kids to school and change nappies?' Our lives are not that exciting." Joe, 43, a former EastEnders actor, and Stacey, 35, a former X Factor contestant, met on the set of I'm a Celebrity in 2010 and have been in a relationship since 2016. They married in 2022 and are raising five children - Zach, Leighton, Rex, Rose and Belle - aged between 17 and two, alongside two dogs and four ducks."When I met Joe, my older children [Zach and Leighton] were four and seven," says Stacey, "so they were little."When people say it is nice to see a blended family, she says she forgets that is what they are. "To be honest, we're just a family."Joe says he struggles sometimes with the words - blended family, stepdad and stepsons."I love [Zach and Leighton] as much as I love all my other kids," he says. "There's no distinction."When it comes to childcare, the couple do not have a nanny or au pair, but they do have a very supportive family."We've got Dave - my dad - and my sister," says Stacey. "And I always say this, we live like a Kibbutz. We basically all chip in with each other." As well as juggling family and work, viewers will get to see all aspects of Stacey and Joe's lives, which, like any relationship, can include the odd disagreement."We want to show that we love each other, but sometimes we kill each other," says Joe. "It's all part of it, and other couples do the same, so they'll relate to that."Stacey says she found being able to watch back and reflect on a situation quite helpful as she could see it from an outsider's point of view, which she believes is healthy for a will also get to see the love and support Stacey and Joe give each other. Joe describes Stacey as extremely loyal, like a "mother lion"."Don't go near her cubs, she'll have you," he says."She's just the most wonderful person," he says. "She's kind, she's loving. I mean there's nothing about Stacey I would change. People love her in the streets and, imagine me, I'm so lucky, I get to spend the rest of my life with her."Joe has the ability to give everyone a bit of himself, says Stacey, which is "so magic" and he has the most incredible amount of empathy, she says. Their parenting styles, on the other hand, are "polar opposite" she says."I'm aware that Stacey takes a lot of the brunt because I let [the children] do something and she's the one that has to say, 'No, you can't do that'," says Joe. "So she has to play bad cop quite a lot of the time, which I am aware of, but I just don't know any other way."Stacey believes this stems from the fact that Joe lost his father when he was very young."I think that when that happens to you in your life, obviously you just want to be… fun, happy. You don't want to create any negative memories," she their family, having young children and teenagers growing up together has created something really says the teenage boys can revert to being younger again which is important because they grow up so quickly in the modern world. They have the chance to still play, with the excuse being "oh, I'm only doing it because it's with my little brother or little sister", she also gives the older boys a massive sense of responsibility, she adds. Raising five children requires military-style organisation, says Stacey, something she learnt after having her first son at the age of 17."I, quite frankly, was probably the most scatty teenager you've ever known," says Stacey. "When I had Zachary, I had this one whole life that I was responsible for, and so many things that I had to do that I'd never had to consider."She says she would get a giro - a welfare cheque - to cash in at a certain time on a Thursday at the Post Office, and she realised she could not be late as she needed the money for relied on Zach and "asked a lot of him", she says, needing him to help her."I haven't done that with the younger ones, because I've had Joe," she says, "and that's just the reality of my situation. It's been different through the years." But Zach, now 17 himself, is "probably one of the most empathetic, caring, emotionally intelligent young teenagers that I know," says Stacey."I feel like that has a lot to do with how we grew up together, and how life was for us in the beginning."Having more children is not currently on Stacey's radar, she says, as her body is still recovering from having three children in five years."My pelvic floor is dying," she laughs. Although Joe would love to have more. Stacey still has plans to increase their brood - but this time it is their animals. "I literally walked into a conversation the other day and I heard 'cow'," says Joe, "and I was like, 'No way, we can't have a cow'.""We were just throwing a few ideas around," says Stacey. "I would love to have animals and make our own milk and collect our own eggs and grow our own vegetables."That's a dream of mine - but in the future. At the moment, we're still rearing children."Stacey & Joe starts on Tuesday 1 April at 20:00 BST on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
