Netflix After Life producer Charles Hanson denies accusations of sexual misconduct

A producer has been dropped Netflix after historical claims of sexual misconduct but he has now issued a statement to deny the allegations.

Charles Hanson, whose most recent work was Ricky Gervais’ show After-Life has spoken out to say that he refutes the claims.

An email seen by The Times contained allegations relating to eleven women, including alleged incidents of sexual assault.

The document stated: ‘Charlie Hanson is a predator who uses his reputation, connections and standing in order to groom far younger, impressionable and sometimes vulnerable women into trusting him.

‘At times he will promise them a starry career under his wing, and then exploits that trust in creepy and illegal ways.

‘He then tries to diminish the seriousness of what he’s done by telling these young women us that it wasn’t as bad as it seemed, that it was somehow blameless.

‘He does his best to convince himself and others that this method of operating is fine. But we know it is not fine.’

His statement reads: ‘I have been made aware of allegations made against me concerning improper conduct towards women dating back many years.

‘Based on the summaries that have been provided to me, I understand that many of these accusations are made anonymously and are demonstrably false.

‘I have not had one complaint in decades of work in the media industry.

‘I categorically reject any wrongdoing on my part, and strongly refute the allegations that have been levelled at me.

‘I have worked with and supported hundreds of men and women during my working life and will do what is necessary to protect and/or restore my reputation.

‘I will also cooperate with any formal inquiries. The matter is now in the hands of my solicitors.’

His solicitor added: ‘Our client is shocked and appalled by these historical and false allegations of improper conduct towards women.

‘He maintains that he has never acted inappropriately on any production, or at all, and has never had any complaints made about his conduct over the course of many decades in the media industry.

‘Our client has worked with and supported hundreds of individuals, including countless women, and has never before heard any such allegations.

‘For the avoidance of doubt, our client denies any wrongdoing and will do whatever is required in order to restore any damage to his hard-earned professional and personal reputation. He is prepared to co-operate fully with any formal investigation.’

The allegations are described as being of a serious nature but they pre-date the show he was working on for Netflix.

Netflix shared a comment on the case, saying: ‘On Monday, we received an anonymous email containing historical allegations about a producer on one of our titles.

‘While the allegations are unrelated to his time on the show, we immediately removed him from the production and referred the matter to the police.

A spokesperson for Bafta said: ‘We have been presented with a number of very serious detailed allegations about an individual and while we are not their employer we immediately took the decision to suspend their membership.

‘Bafta is an arts charity and does not have the power to investigate historic claims of abuse therefore we have referred the matter to the police.

‘The behaviour that these accounts allege is abhorrent, in complete opposition to Bafta values and has no place in our industry.’

Metro.co.uk has contacted Netflix for further comment.

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