Gay former Doctor Who producer accused of sexually abusing male fans
Allegations of sexual harassment have been made against the gay former producer of Dr Who, the late John Nathan-Turner and his deceased partner.
John Nathan-Turner previously produced the long-running BBC science fiction series from 1980-1989.
Former Blue Peter producer Richard Marson has alleged Nathan-Turner and his partner Gary Downie, a Dr Who production manager, sexually abused young male fans during the period.
Mr Marson said in a new book the alleged victims were mostly in their teens and under 21 – the age of consent for gay men at the time.
He said Nathan-Turner propositioned him when he was a teenager working on Dr Who Magazine in the 1980s.
According to the Mirror, he said: “After the first time I was invited to see a recording of the show, he got a bit frisky, shall we say.
“I was a bit taken aback. I was only 17 and he said to me, ‘You’re so fucking provincial.’”
Mr Marson said: “What you had was a promiscuous gay bloke who had the opportunity to meet a lot of people and liked getting off with young guys.
“I don’t think he was predatory, particularly. I don’t think he forced himself on the unwilling.
“I was much more cautious about Gary, his partner. John was just ‘go with the flow, life is a party… I’ll try it on and if somebody says yes, that’s up to them’. I have a less benevolent view of Gary.”
Mr Marson also claimed Nathan-Turner once engaged in a sexual act in his BBC office at Television Centre while talking on the phone to the then Blue Peter editor Biddy Baxter, who was unaware of what was happening.
The BBC has now launched an investigation into the allegations that will be led by former Court of Appeal judge Dame Janet Smith, who is heading a review into the case against disgraced entertainer Jimmy Savile.
A BBC spokesman said: “We can’t comment on individual cases but allegations of this nature are extremely serious. We have set up the Dame Janet Smith review to help us understand how alleged incidents of this nature could have been committed. And so we can avoid them happening ever again.”
Nathan-Turner died in 2002 aged 54 and Downie four years later.
Mr Marson was fired in 2007 after a Blue Peter poll to name the show’s new cat was rigged.
