-pedophiles. common as mud

‘I RAN THE GAUNTLET OF PEDOPHILES IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY’, SAYS FORMER CHILD ACTOR

‘Jimmy Savile wasn’t the only one at the BBC’, says investigative journalist and former child actor Ben Fellows

By Ben Fellows
21st Century Wire
Guest Columnist

Jimmy Savile may be the villain of the moment concerning revelations about child sexual abuse at the BBC, but the truth is there are pedophileseverywhere in the entertainment industry. Many of them are in positions of power and influence within their respective organisations, including adult stars, directors, producers and executives.

The following accounts are just some of my own personal experiences – and brushes with pedophilia out in the entertainment and big media spheres, as a child star who attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London…

Ben playing “Fleance” in Adrian Nobles RSC production of Macbeth.

At the age of ten years old I was asked by my drama teacher to go and audition at the Royal Shakespeare Company. They were looking for a mixed race boy to play alongside Hugh Quarshi who was playing Banquo, in Adrian Nobles’ production of MacBeth starring Jonathan Price and Sinead Cusack. Having gone to the audition, taken by my parents, I was lucky enough to get the part of Fleance. However, after the high of getting offered a part in the production, my chaperones – who looked after me like secret service agents (I’m not kidding) – told me that there were certain actors that I was not allowed to be alone with. As a child at the RSC, I was just having a blast and didn’t realise that sexual predators were a part of my production, however, there were certain actors who were famous and who I was warned about.

I was told in no uncertain terms never to go into certain actor’s dressing rooms. On one occasion I actually did go into an actor’s dressing room who closed the door behind me. I was offered alcohol… and before I knew it, the dressing room door burst open and my chaperone invited me to go back to my own dressing room.  Of course nothing happened to me whilst at the RSC. My point is that the RSC were quite aware of pedophiles in their midst. It was an open secret that children were vulnerable, even this highly rated, professional environment.

TV’s ‘Casting Couch’

However, once I’d entered the entertainment industry proper, I was not so lucky and ran a gauntlet of pedophiles – both at the BBC and at other television production companies, and also in theatres, as well as on commercial photo shoots. In fact, almost every production I was involved with, I was targeted in some way or another. Looking back, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the problem is both institutional and systemic in the entertainment industry.

read on if you can stomach it..