Amanda Abbington has said she first raised concerns with Strictly Come Dancing producers on her third day in rehearsals with dance partner Giovanni Pernice. The Sherlock actress dropped out after week five, and later lodged a formal complaint about Pernice's behaviour, sparking further allegations about the show. "I've got texts to the producer on day three going, 'This is awful, he hates me, I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
I'm trying my best, I promise you,'" she told ITV's Lorraine on Thursday. Pernice has refuted "any claim of threatening or abusive behaviour". The BBC has said it takes issues "extremely seriously" when raised, and has "appropriate processes in place to manage" them.
Abbington said she now wants an apology from the BBC. An internal investigation is expected to conclude soon. After she initially raised concerns, she had "many" more discussions with producers before eventually dropping out, Abbington told Lorraine's stand-in host Christine Lampard.
The actress described Pernice's behaviour in rehearsals as "inappropriate, it was mean, it was nasty, it was bullying". "And I put up with it for five or six weeks," she said. "It started very early on.
When it started to happen, I would shut down, because I recognised those red flags." She said she has been in different rehearsal rooms for 32 years during her career, "and I know what rehearsal rooms are supposed to be like". However, she claimed her Strictly training room was "a toxic environment".
"I don't ca.