Two female editors accuse company behind The Crown of trying to protect exec who assaulted them
Two female editors who were sexually and physically assaulted by exec with terminal cancer claim Bafta-winning firm ‘tried to put them off reporting attacks to police’ and said ‘it’s a lesson in not drinking with work colleagues’
- Company behind The Crown accused of failing two female staff members
- They were sexually and physically assaulted by senior executive Chris Croucher
- Both were working for Left Bank Pictures, behind The Crown and White Lines
- Former Downton Abbey producer propositioned Holly Bourdillon at Xmas party
- Laura Johnston was assaulted when she tried to protect her friend from harm
- The production company vehemently denied the claims made by the women
Two young women working for the film company behind The Crown and White Lines on Netflix today accused their bosses of protecting an executive who sexually and physically assaulted them at a Christmas party and alleged they were encouraged not to go to the police because it would not ‘be a nice experience’.
Holly Bourdillon was attacked by award-winning producer at Left Bank Pictures, Chris Croucher, who was drunk and high on cocaine when he chased her around a Soho office pestering her for sex.
Croucher, 39, who is terminally ill, tried to force himself on to Miss Bourdillon and kiss her before attacking Laura Johnston when she tried to rescue her friend.
His victim told a court he chased her around while shirtless and began touching himself behind her after asking her to take part in a ‘threesome or a foursome’.
Miss Bourdillon said she made a formal complaint about his conduct to Left Bank shortly after the incident but claims she felt the company prioritised protecting Croucher and minimising the impact of his actions. She told The Guardian that Croucher was not initially fired but was allowed to resign from the firm with notice.
This is disputed by the company who say Croucher was dismissed following an investigation.
Croucher, who made his name on Downton Abbey and worked on Hollywood movies with Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, was convicted over the incident in central London in 2019.
He was given a 12-month community order and three-month curfew at Southwark Crown Court in February after admitting sexual assault and common assault.
Chris Croucher (pictured with Kate Middleton), who is now terminally ill, chased Miss Bourdillon around an office shirtless and began touching himself behind her after asking her to take part in a ‘threesome or a foursome’
Film editor Holly Bourdillon says that Left Bank Pictures should have fired Croucher, who was allowed to resign, and claims she and her friend were encouraged not to go to the police. Left Bank denies this
Croucher was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2020 and has tumours in his heart and lungs. During his sentencing at Southwark Crown Court, one victim said: ‘I feel very alone this year. It’s made me scared to go out alone in the day as well as at night.’
Both women had been working for Left Bank Pictures when the former Downton Abbey (pictured) producer propositioned one of them at a Christmas party in Soho in 2019
It came as Britain’s TV industry was rocked by scandal after Bafta-award winning star Noel Clarke was accused by women he worked with of being an alleged ‘sexual predator’, who harassed, groped and bullied at work. John Barrowman apologised amid claims he would habitually flash his genitals on set.
Miss Bourdillon spoke to The Guardian and waived her right to anonymity claiming she felt that Left Bank Pictures put protecting Croucher ahead of their safety and wellbeing in the aftermath of his Christmas party attacks.
She said that she was terrified he would rape her, adding: ‘The whole reason I went and told his boss is because I didn’t want it to happen again. I didn’t want it to happen to other people’.
But she claims that Grace Wilson, Left Bank’s chief operating officer, wrote back in response to their allegations that Croucher had now quit, adding in an email reported by The Guardian: ‘I really don’t think it is a case of him getting off lightly.’
Both victims also claim they were asked by management not to explain to people why Croucher had left the company. In an email reported by the newspaper, a senior executive said: ‘We agree with you that we do not need to say he has resigned but instead can say that he has left and/or is no longer working on the production and there does not need to be a further explanation for his leaving.
‘If asked, we can say that we cannot comment further… but we would not go beyond that to refer to conduct or inappropriate behaviour.’
According to the Guardian, Miss Bourdillon also accused Left Bank’s co-founder Andy Harries of allegedly saying words to the effect that he hoped that both women had learnt a lesson about drinking with colleagues after work, adding: ‘Andy starts the meeting by saying that Chris was an amazing producer’.
She also said that an HR official from Sony Pictures, which part-owns Left Bank, told her ‘woman to woman’ that a police complaint would lead to ‘intrusive questions’ in a ‘stark lit room’ that would not ‘be a nice experience’.
But she went to the police anyway and Croucher would admit the charges. Left Bank strongly denies such comments were made, according to the newspaper.
The film company said in a statement: ‘At no time were the women who raised the concerns discouraged from reporting the events to the police.’
It added: ‘Upon receiving the complaint, Mr Croucher was removed from the workplace and a full investigation began immediately. Following the findings of the investigation and further interviews with staff, he was summarily dismissed. At no time were the women who raised the concerns . . . asked or encouraged to lie.’
The case emerged around a month after Bafta was accused of putting its reputation before victims after it emerged that bosses failed to tell Prince William about abuse allegations against Noel Clarke.
The Duke of Cambridge, who is the president of British Academy of Film and Television Arts, had planned to heap praise on the body just hours after it handed an award to the actor and producer.
The speech was due to go ahead even though the TV and film body had been made aware of lurid claims about Clarke’s behaviour two weeks earlier.
Prince William was only spared the potential embarrassment when he pulled out of the April 11 address due to the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, two days earlier.
Actress Jahannah James, a star in one of Clarke’s hit movies, Brotherhood, is one of his alleged victims named in the Guardian, claiming she was secretly filmed doing a naked audition that was so upsetting she still cries ‘years later’
Noel Clarke on stage with Camille Coduri during a Doctor Who event where he pretended a microphone was a penis on her shoulder in a film that emerged today as he was accused of abuse by 20 women, which he denies
The prince previously criticised the body’s lack of diversity when it put forward all-white shortlists for the major acting categories at last year’s awards.
Clarke, 45, is facing a possible police investigation after at least 20 women came forward to describe years of abuse. They accused Clarke of sexual harassment, unwanted groping, bullying and forcing actors to take part in nude auditions between 2004 and 2019.
Clarke, a married father-of-three who is best known for the Kidulthood, Adulthood and Brotherhood trilogy, and who also appeared in Doctor Who, has denied the accusations.
Bafta is under fire for deciding to honour Clarke despite the cloud of suspicion surrounding his behaviour.
The academy was contacted about the claims on March 29, almost a fortnight before Clarke was given the Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema award on April 10. Bafta says it was not presented with any evidence to support the claims.
Scotland Yard called for potential victims to come forward. The Met said the allegations of sexual offences over a period of time were made by a ‘third party’ on April 21.
It came as actress Jahannah James said she had contacted police with accusations that Clarke has covertly filmed her at a naked audition.
She tweeted: ‘I tried to go to the police, they said they couldn’t do anything unless he threatened me with the footage.’
Christina Chong, who starred alongside Clarke in police drama Bulletproof, said the claims were the ‘UK film industry’s best-kept secret for years’.
