Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator review – a deeply chilling look at a celebrity abuser

From his child safety campaign ‘Kids can say no’ to an awful appearance on Jim’ll Fix It, some of the things the TV star was allowed to do beggar belief. In this harrowing film, women who were assaulted by him as girls speak out

I mean this quite seriously; it is time to start commissioning programmes about good men. We need a steady, regular inoculation against despair. If deep dives into the lives of male celebrities past and present can yield enough unblemished records for a series, I’ll be surprised but delighted. If not, maybe we can ask the public to nominate “ordinary” men, like a version of the Pride of Britain awards. Channel 4, call me.

Such are the thoughts that wend their way across the mind as the two-hour-long episodes of Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator unfold. For those of you who remain unaware – Harris was one of the kings of light entertainment in the 1970s and 80s, an avuncular Australian presence who brought us daft hit songs like Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport and Jake the Peg with his extra leg (while wearing a false leg, to make sure only adults were let in on the double entendre), and then parlayed his talents as an artist and presenter into a long and lucrative TV career. He became re-beloved by a new generation in the 90s, playing Glastonbury in 1993 after his wobble-board version of Stairway to Heaven became a hit.
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