According to reports, ITV would ‘closely monitor’ James Martin productions after allegations of ‘bullying and intimidating behaviour’ were made.
It was recently revealed that complaints had been lodged against the TV chef, with the most recent one allegedly occurring in May of this year while filming for James Martin’s Spanish Adventure.
It was also claimed that in 2018, while making James Martin’s Saturday Morning, he “launched a foul-mouthed diatribe towards workers.”
According to a source close to ITV, the broadcaster will guarantee that future projects by Blue Marlin Television – Martin’s firm – are ‘closely watched,’ according to Deadline.
The earlier investigation on Martin stated that a formal complaint was filed to the 51-year-old and his agent Fiona Lindsay five years ago over’repeated occurrences of improper, threatening, and bullying behaviour’ on his Saturday morning show.
It was also said that while filming Spanish Adventure earlier this year, he made people cry in front of their coworkers and changed schedules at the last minute, as well as being an hour late for a shoot one morning.
In response to the allegations, his firm Blue Marlin issued the following statement: ‘An unfortunate event occurred after filming James Martin’s Saturday Morning in 2018 where James’ home was extensively destroyed. Blue Marlin took the blame. James was stunned by what had occurred and, on consideration, admits that he reacted emotionally, which he regrets. James apologises for any anger or upset caused, as he did to the team involved at the time.
‘Following this and some issues filming James Martin’s Spanish Adventure, James and Blue Marlin Television agree that lessons have been learned which have been discussed with members of the team and with ITV. Blue Marlin Television and James Martin have taken on board ITV’s recommendations and their sharing of best practice, and are in the process of fully implementing.
‘Since the 2018 incident, Blue Marlin Television has continued to film over 500 shows at James’ home. Blue Marlin Television remains committed to ensuring the welfare of all those with whom they work is of the utmost priority.’
An ITV spokesperson also said: ‘At ITV people and their welfare are our highest priority. The production companies who make shows for us have primary responsibility for the duty of care of everyone they work with, both on and off screen. We make clear our expectations in this regard as part of our pre-greenlight duty of care processes. This includes having appropriate independent controls in place to enable everyone who works on their shows to confidently and confidentially raise concerns.
‘Following a complaint we received in May from members of the Blue Marlin production team about the filming of James Martin’s Spanish Adventure, we contacted Blue Marlin to discuss these concerns and to understand how the issues raised were being addressed and what actions were being taken.
‘As a result, we made a number of recommendations for Blue Marlin to implement as soon as possible, sharing best practice of some of our own relevant procedures around staff welfare and reiterating our Supplier Code of Conduct.’
Martin has previously worked on various ITV series, including James Martin’s American adventure, This Morning, and James Martin’s Islands to Highlands.
