James Martin and Paul Ainsworth bicker over basil
ITV chef James Martin and Blue Marlin, the production company behind his shows, have released a joint statement after the 51-year-old was accused of “bullying” crew members on “multiple occasions”.
James and his agent Fiona Lindsay told Express.co.uk: “An unfortunate incident occurred after filming James Martin’s Saturday Morning in 2018 where James’ home was badly damaged. Blue Marlin Television accepted responsibility.
“James was shocked by what had happened and on reflection acknowledges he responded emotionally, which he wholly regrets. James apologises for any offence or upset caused, as he did at the time to the crew involved.
“Following this and some issues filming James Martin’s Spanish Adventures, James and Blue Marlin Television agree that lessons have been learned which have been discussed with members of the team and with ITV.
“Blue Marlin Television and James Martin have taken on board ITV’s recommendations and their sharing of best practice and are in the process of fully implementing.
READ MORE: ITV speak out as James Martin ‘accused of bullying and intimidating behaviour’
“Since the 2018 incident, Blue Marlin Television has continued to film over 500 shows at James’ home.
“Blue Marlin Television remains committed to ensuring the welfare of all those with whom they work is of the utmost priority.”
In 2018, James allegedly launched a “foul-mouthed tirade against staff” after a drain was blocked during filming of Saturday Morning at his home.
Deadline reports that a formal complaint was made to James and his agent. ITV was also made aware of the incident.
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Sources also told the outlet that there had been similar problems while filming James Martin’s Spanish Adventure earlier this year.
He was accused of “berating people, reducing them to tears in front of other colleagues, changing schedules at the last minute and arriving an hour late for a filming commitment”.
ITV received a complaint in May from members of the Blue Marlin team. The broadcaster told Express.co.uk that they have laid out “a number of recommendations” advising the company to update its processes to reflect “best practice”.
An ITV spokesperson said: “At ITV people and their welfare are our highest priority. The production companies who make shows for us have primary responsibility for the duty of care of everyone they work with, both on and off screen.
“We make clear our expectations in this regard as part of our pre-greenlight duty of care processes. This includes having appropriate independent controls in place to enable everyone who works on their shows to confidently and confidentially raise concerns.
“Following a complaint we received in May from members of the Blue Marlin production team about the filming of James Martin’s Spanish Adventure, we contacted Blue Marlin to discuss these concerns and to understand how the issues raised were being addressed and what actions were being taken.
“As a result, we made a number of recommendations for Blue Marlin to implement as soon as possible, sharing best practice of some of our own relevant procedures around staff welfare and reiterating our Supplier Code of Conduct.”
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