Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire was reportedly investigated by the BBC after multiple complaints were made about her behaviour.
The broadcaster, 57, is said to have been accused of bullying after three complaints were made to the BBC. The complaints, which were firmly denied by Derbyshire, were not upheld by the BBC following an investigation.
According to The Guardian, Derbyshire was accused of making some colleagues uncomfortable with her language and approach. The presenter reportedly denied the accusations but accepted that she could be direct and demanding in the tense newsroom environment.
A BBC spokesperson told The Independent: “While we do not comment on individual cases, we take all complaints about conduct at work extremely seriously and will not tolerate behaviour that is not in line with our values.” Derbyshire declined to comment when contacted by The Guardian.
The Independent has approached Derbyshire for comment.
Derbyshire began working at the BBC in the Nineties, starting her career as a reporter for BBC CWR. She joined BBC Radio 5 Live in 1998 and later hosted TV shows like This Week, Victoria Derbyshire Interviews… and Panorama.
In 2022, she joined Newsnight as a joint lead presenter alongside Kirsty Wark, later becoming the show’s sole host when Wark left two years later.
Last year, the BBC held a review of its workplace culture following disgraced presenter Huw Edwards’ criminal conviction for making indecent photographs of children. The review found no evidence of a toxic culture, but held that there is “a minority of people who behave unacceptably and whose behaviour is not addressed”.
Since then, a number of BBC figures have been investigated over complaints – including BBC Breakfast editor Richard Frediani, who was cleared of bullying accusations.
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The BBC has faced a number of controversies over presenter misconduct in the last few years; The One Show’s Jermaine Jenas was sacked from the show after sending inappropriate messages to female colleagues in 2024. A year later, Gregg Wallace was fired from MasterChef after an investigation upheld over 40 allegations of misconduct, including claims of “inappropriate language”, Wallace “being in a state of undress” and unwelcome physical contact.
Shortly before the report’s release, Wallace apologised “without reservation” for the language he was “primarily guilty of” using but said that the findings had “exonerated” him of the more serious allegations. Earlier this year, Wallace dropped his damages claim against the BBC after initially seeking £10,000 from the broadcaster over claims that the corporation failed to comply with a request for copies of his personal data.
His co-host John Torode was axed from the show just days later after the investigation also found that he had used an “extremely offensive racist term”. Torode said that he had “no recollection of the incident” and was “shocked and saddened” by the allegation in an Instagram post last July.
