Oops. ABC Walks on the Wild Side with Rolf Harris.
This 2009 episode with "Special Guest National Treasure" probably wasn't the best episode to run on ABC.
- Published by David Knox
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Should TV networks now be going over their content library to check for appearances by Rolf Harris? Maybe. Maybe not.
It’s a debate the wider community has had to face over Rolf Harris murals and assorted honours, following his conviction on child abuse earlier this year. Do you erase history or do you leave it untouched?
Yesterday ABC screened a 2009 episode of British series Walk on the Wild Side in which celebrities provide comic voice-overs to animal footage.
The afternoon replay even had Harris billed as “Special Guest National Treasure,” which is a bit unfortunate.
Clearly screening an entire Harris-hosted season such as Animal Hospital would be a big no-no.
This one is nowhere near as grievous but it’s not surprising that ABC politely declined to comment.
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- Tagged with Animal Hospital, Walk on the Wild Side
8 Responses
David: This story discussed including mention of TVTonight on Studio10 this morning!
Yes I saw. Thanks to Studio 10, I think the third topic in as many weeks!
Tonight’s episode of “Spicks and Specks” Ch22 had James Morrison singing from one of Rolf’s books. And one of the questions was about Gary Glitter.
A double Oops.
You can’t undo history. While it would it would be insensitive to broadcast a past show where Harris is the main focus, networks can’t be expected to hunt down and remove every trace of him from their entire back catalogue.
The Bayswater City Council (where he grew up) have already voted to remove murals and a plaque. What are they going to do if Harris’ conviction is quashed on appeal?
A while ago the ABC screened an episode of New Tricks that referenced Jimmy Savile, in a scene where the detectives visited a showbiz agent that had a photo of him on her wall.
Given that some of these now disgraced celebrities had such high profiles it’ll take a lot of work to hunt down their appearances and expunge them from old shows.
For crying out loud, hasn’t poor Rolf been through enough humiliation already? After hearing of similar but totally disproved allegations against Cliff Richard, the conviction against Rolf Harris would be looking a bit fragile. I hear he’s appealing the decision and I hope he succeeds! Then watch the sparks fly!
No, you can’t erase traces of a person from every program he might have been involved in.