Jack Bayles Told to Step Back From Two BBC Sitcoms After Russell Brand Verdicts

Jack Bayles, head of comedy at the production company Various Artists Limited (VAL), has been asked to step back from the business a day after Russell Brand was convicted of rape and sexual assault. He will no longer work on two sitcoms the company is making for the BBC.

VAL said in a statement that it had asked him to step back “while we consider the verdict and events surrounding the trial”. It added that its thoughts were “primarily with every one of Brand’s victims”. The BBC, approached by the Press Association, referred questions to VAL’s statement.

What the court heard about Jack Bayles

Bayles has not been charged with anything, and the claims about him come from evidence given at Brand’s trial. The court heard that in 2009 Bayles and Gareth Roy, another member of Brand’s team, pressed a young female staffer to give the comedian a massage during work on a Channel 4 project. According to evidence reported by The Times, the pair told her Brand would only carry on working if she agreed.

Once she reluctantly did, the court heard, Brand pushed his head into her groin. He reportedly got up only after seemingly taking offence at her remark about his “bony” body. A workplace manager told the trial the woman had complained that Bayles and Roy told her several times to “just do it”. The manager also said the woman reported that the men were present throughout and “watched and laughed”. The woman said she was left “so repulsed by the situation” and complained to her Channel 4 bosses. The jury convicted Brand of sexually assaulting her.

Bayles says he has no memory of the incident

In a statement to The Times, Bayles said he was “appalled and sickened” by Brand’s actions and had cooperated voluntarily with the investigation. He said he does not remember the incident, which happened 17 years ago. But he accepted he “clearly missed something at the time and did not see nor recognise that it caused distress”, and apologised.

He described a “frantic, pressured and toxic” workplace early in his career and said Brand was “chaotic, dismissive and manipulated the people around him”. He said he stopped working with Brand in 2010 and has had no contact since. He also said no complaints about Brand’s behaviour were made to him, and that he does not know whether any reached more senior people. “If I was ever present when Brand acted inappropriately and I failed to spot it and step in, then I sincerely apologise,” he said.

The wider fallout for the industry

Bayles joined VAL four years ago to oversee its comedy slate. The company was founded in 2017 by Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong. At VAL he was involved in the BBC sitcoms Such Brave Girls and Push. He previously produced Channel 4’s Catastrophe and became a Channel 4 commissioning editor in 2017.

The case of Jack Bayles shows how the Brand verdicts are pushing scrutiny beyond the comedian himself to the people and workplaces around him. Brand, 51, was found guilty of one count of rape and three of sexual assault after six women gave evidence. He was cleared of two further rape charges and one allegation of attempted indecent assault. Jurors heard he used his fame to pursue women, sometimes within seconds of meeting them, and that he ignored pleas to stop. None of his celebrity friends or former colleagues gave evidence in his defence.

Reports elsewhere said the Metropolitan Police is still investigating two further rape allegations against Brand. The force’s chief, Sir Mark Rowley, said he would not be surprised if more alleged victims came forward. The Daily Mail also reported criticism of the BBC for “buck-passing” over Brand, after it emerged he had boasted that his bosses were “incredibly tolerant” of his behaviour at work.

For now, Bayles’s step back is described as a pause while VAL reviews the situation, not a final decision on his future. Brand awaits sentence.

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File photo: 20191017 BBC Studios London, BBC Radio Theatre, New Broadcasting House photo by Amy Karle.jpg by Igbofur, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.