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Original poster

I worked at Channel 4 during the Russell Brand era. Ask me anything

363 replies

Channel4er · 17/09/2023 19:03

I've thought long and hard about whether do do this AMA because people will probably be after salacious titbits which I neither have nor am interested in however there's been a lot of talk about Channel 4's role in the Brand affair and I thought I might be able to shed some light on what the culture at Channel 4 was actually like around that time.

In order to remain anonymous there may be some questions I can't answer. I've name changed but am a long standing MNer.

OP posts:
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11
Outerlimit · 17/09/2023 22:27

When I worked in the same building as a major TV company - admittedly decades ago, I was surprised that those many of those commissioning television content, rarely watched it in their own time.
They were often highly qualified Oxbridge graduates making stuff to keep the plebs happy. Ratings and other metrics were everything, what happened behind the scenes seemed largely irrelevant.

Upsizer · 17/09/2023 22:29

I worked in advertising at around the same time and sexual assault/drugs/coercion were part of the culture. If you spoke up, it would have been weird. What would you want to happen? Yes the powerful men can do whatever they want with women. We were all complicit. I would imagine that 80% of the senior men in the industry behaved this way.

Does this resonate with entertainment at the time? I imagine it was very similar.

(the 30 yo and 16 yo issue makes me smile: when Chris evans did exactly this, we all thought it was romantic.)

doublec · 17/09/2023 22:29

@MaudGone Channel 4 is wholly reliant on independent productions companies. The other main broadcasters far less so, and produce much of their own programmes, some fully, and others in collaboration with an indie. Although commissioned by Channel 4, all their output is produced by independents production companies. It is worth nothing that reality tv is the cheapest to produce, and why Channel 4 has so much.

For a time, I worked for an independent tv production company. We made a lot of programmes for Channel 4, including Dispatches. We also made programmes for BBC Four, Channel Five and various digital channels.

Stokey · 17/09/2023 22:31

@StandingMyGround888 if you read the accusations, it is not consensual sex. The women are saying they were forced and raped.

sadaboutmycat · 17/09/2023 22:35

"That said the sad truth is no one would have batted an eye to hear that a star was sleeping with as many women as they could."

But the point is, was it consensual, or involving an abuse of a power dynamic.

Whyohwhywyoming · 17/09/2023 22:36

StandingMyGround888 · 17/09/2023 22:13

As far as I'm concerned, most of the revulsion is for private details that shouldn't have been made public as they were consensual sexual relationships with both parties above the age of consent. It is not illegal for a 31 year old to have sex with a 16 year old.

It is very difficult regarding 'grooming' as what does this mean? People say later that they felt pressured at the time. But how is that to be known by the other party? Is having charisma now a precursor to a crime, for instance? Regretting something that you went through without coercion is not grounds for destroying the other person.

Why couldn't Russell Brand collect willing grown women from the audience to flirt with/begin relationships with? It seems very strange that this would be some sort of moral issue.

It’s not illegal for a 31 year old to have sex with a 16 year old but I would judge the fuck out of one who did and I wouldn’t be friends with them. There is no way in a million years that at 31 I could have entertained the idea of having sex with a 16 year old. They looked and acted like children to me. The age of consent to my mind is so that 16 year olds can have sex with each other!

yes that 31 year old hasn’t broken any laws but I would definitely be much more likely to believe them capable of rape or sexual assault than I would a 31 year old not having sex with a child.

SurprisedWithAHorse · 17/09/2023 22:36

Outerlimit · 17/09/2023 22:27

When I worked in the same building as a major TV company - admittedly decades ago, I was surprised that those many of those commissioning television content, rarely watched it in their own time.
They were often highly qualified Oxbridge graduates making stuff to keep the plebs happy. Ratings and other metrics were everything, what happened behind the scenes seemed largely irrelevant.

"You think I eat that stuff? I black my boots with it!"

Original poster
Channel4er · 17/09/2023 22:37

Upsizer · 17/09/2023 22:29

I worked in advertising at around the same time and sexual assault/drugs/coercion were part of the culture. If you spoke up, it would have been weird. What would you want to happen? Yes the powerful men can do whatever they want with women. We were all complicit. I would imagine that 80% of the senior men in the industry behaved this way.

Does this resonate with entertainment at the time? I imagine it was very similar.

(the 30 yo and 16 yo issue makes me smile: when Chris evans did exactly this, we all thought it was romantic.)

The mid 2000's was actually better than the era when I started working in TV which was around the time of Loaded/'Ladette' culture and shows like Eurotrash and The Girlie Show. Girls were all supposed to be embracing a kind of debauchery and behaving as badly as men which to me was a kind of ruse for men to get away with anything because now we were all up for it.

OP posts:
sadaboutmycat · 17/09/2023 22:37

Oddearslongnose · 17/09/2023 20:01

Jonathan Ross didn’t just laugh along though did he, he shouted ‘he fucked your granddaughter’. Essentially with that comment , he laid down the tone of the whole piece, almost more so than Brand . It’s astounding he came back from it really.

It also wasn't aired live, so there was a production team also allowing that shit show to be aired. Multiple culpability.

ehupo7 · 17/09/2023 22:38

cherubwing · 17/09/2023 21:17

Not directly relevant to Russell Brand but I worked for the BBC in a technical role when I graduated university and the sexual harassment was overwhelming I was given a lift part of the way home by a married senior colleague (he was about 50) in my first week, he pulled into a lay by and expected a BJ, I refused and got upset he then drove in stony silence to the train station and when I got into work the next day I got dragged into production and almost sacked, he's been in early to complain about me and my work ethic/attitude.

The head of my department (an unmarried man in his late 50s) on the programme I worked on pestered me daily to spend time with him outside of work, he kept trying to give me drugs, on a works night out he tried to pick me up and carry me back to his hotel room and when I started screaming he said it was just a joke. Other people saw this and said / did nothing. He also said he would help with my career if I came to London, that I could stay at his house and that doors would open for "fun girls".

When I spoke to the female executive producer I was told that I was easily replaceable but he was not and that I had to have a thick skin to do this job. Very much an attitude of I had to put up with it so you should too. One nice woman, a script editor in her 50's told me that if there was anything I wanted to do instead of film and TV work that I should do that instead.

It wasn't just those two men several men on the crew bullied or sexually harassed me and turned nasty when I didn't do what they wanted and even the nice men, they saw it and did nothing.

At that time one of my parents was very ill and the stress of the harassment and the illness in my family was too much , one day I woke up and knew I just didn't want to do it anymore not if it meant putting up with that kind of abuse for the next 10 years or more. A friend of mine was working on a movie at the same time and was also experiencing bullying and sexual harassment and the more people I spoke the more I learned it was just like that and that often the attitude was that the weak would be weeded out.

So I did walk away and I felt for year like a failure for not being able to take it and my friend who had been working on the film felt the same like a couple of losers but now I am just angry that we had to put up with that treatment as a matter of course, its disgusting and unacceptable. I really hope this being in the news means lots of people come forward to talk about how awful these industries are for women and how places like the BBC and C4 etc close ranks to protect abusive men.

Edited

This is fucking horrendous, I’m so sorry you went through that. Thanks for sharing. Would you ever consider reporting the people who harassed you to the BBC? (Not that it’s your job to see them face consequences ofc.)

SisterAgatha · 17/09/2023 22:38

The times article states that he said to the 16 year old “I don’t care if you’re 12, I just need to know where I stand legally”

Justcallmebebes · 17/09/2023 22:39

"Because he had created this kind of lascivious persona (hiding in plain sight) people expected to be shocked by him and found it funny. They shouldn't have."

I didn't, trust me

SurprisedWithAHorse · 17/09/2023 22:39

sadaboutmycat · 17/09/2023 22:37

It also wasn't aired live, so there was a production team also allowing that shit show to be aired. Multiple culpability.

Show quote history

And they were made to apologise to Andrew Sachs (rightly), which they did by making a joke of it...but I don't think they were ever made to apologise in any way to the young woman.

ehupo7 · 17/09/2023 22:42

Outerlimit · 17/09/2023 22:27

When I worked in the same building as a major TV company - admittedly decades ago, I was surprised that those many of those commissioning television content, rarely watched it in their own time.
They were often highly qualified Oxbridge graduates making stuff to keep the plebs happy. Ratings and other metrics were everything, what happened behind the scenes seemed largely irrelevant.

I recall Charlie Brooker used to mock ‘tv people’ about this attitude

BrussellRand · 17/09/2023 22:44

I doubt this lady ever worked for C4 judging by some o the things she said!

sadaboutmycat · 17/09/2023 22:45

I started work in the 70s and the behaviour and attitude to women was awful. Sexual harassment on a daily basis. Through the 80s 90s and 00s too.
It's only better now, and there are still problems. I am not in any way excusing any sexual assaults, just saying it wasn't only in the entertainment industry.
My MIL was SA by her boss at age 13 in 1940.

GoldenLeafT · 17/09/2023 22:47

Channel 4
Naked Attraction
Consenting adults

I have seen TV programmes related to scams & the music/video industry.

A whole can of worms

Original poster
Channel4er · 17/09/2023 22:49

BrussellRand · 17/09/2023 22:44

I doubt this lady ever worked for C4 judging by some o the things she said!

If Mumsnet want me to send a copy of my contract from the time to them I'd be absolutely delighted to do so. I worked at Channel 4 for many years.

OP posts:
Zonder · 17/09/2023 22:51

BrussellRand · 17/09/2023 22:44

I doubt this lady ever worked for C4 judging by some o the things she said!

What makes you say that? She's very knowledgeable. It's an interesting thread.

AtrociousCircumstance · 17/09/2023 22:53

‘BrussellRand’ ? I think that poster has nailed their flag to the mast.

SurprisedWithAHorse · 17/09/2023 22:54

Zonder · 17/09/2023 22:51

What makes you say that? She's very knowledgeable. It's an interesting thread.

Show quote history

Check the username. I think someone's trying to do a funny. It's about as funny as the real Brand ever was. I never, ever got his appeal. I've always thought he was an utter creep.

Original poster
Channel4er · 17/09/2023 22:59

@SurprisedWithAHorse I don't understand why my user name would suggest I didn't work there. I changed it specifically for this thread as I am very identifiable from my regular user name

OP posts:
SurprisedWithAHorse · 17/09/2023 23:00

Channel4er · 17/09/2023 22:59

@SurprisedWithAHorse I don't understand why my user name would suggest I didn't work there. I changed it specifically for this thread as I am very identifiable from my regular user name

Sorry, I meant the username of the person suggesting you aren't who you say you are.

BrussellRand, oh my aching sides. Maybe it's really him. It's funny enough to be.

FormerTellyType · 17/09/2023 23:07

I also worked in TV in the 2000s and 2010s, and encountered Russell Brand personally. I 100% believe these women. He is a vile, vile man, and he made my skin crawl.

CherryMaDeara · 17/09/2023 23:07

StandingMyGround888 · 17/09/2023 22:13

As far as I'm concerned, most of the revulsion is for private details that shouldn't have been made public as they were consensual sexual relationships with both parties above the age of consent. It is not illegal for a 31 year old to have sex with a 16 year old.

It is very difficult regarding 'grooming' as what does this mean? People say later that they felt pressured at the time. But how is that to be known by the other party? Is having charisma now a precursor to a crime, for instance? Regretting something that you went through without coercion is not grounds for destroying the other person.

Why couldn't Russell Brand collect willing grown women from the audience to flirt with/begin relationships with? It seems very strange that this would be some sort of moral issue.

Are you on glue? The then 16yo has said he forced her to deep throat him until she choked, which she didn’t consent to. She also said he referred to himself as her Daddy and when he found out she was a virgin he called her ‘my baby’ due to her young age.

If that’s your idea of a normal consensual relationship then I think you’re deluded.

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