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Last night, stars of stage and screen turned up in support of Amanda Abbington’s new play When It Happens To You. The play, on at the Park Theatre in north London, attracted more of a buzz because Abbington is at the centre of a BBC row after she made allegations of bullying on prime-time show Strictly Come Dancing.
TV presenter Dermot O’Leary and Channel 4 broadcaster Krishnan Guru-Murthy both attended the play’s opening night. Guru-Murthy was one of Abbington’s co-stars on Strictly last year and he interviewed Abbington in the run up to opening night about her claims of misconduct on the show.
“This play has, it’s certainly reinforced my belief that you can be in a rehearsal room and be nurtured and looked after,” Abbington said of her preparation for When It Happens To You.
But she described her experience of learning new dances in the studio with her professional partner Giovanni Pernice as “a lot of time spent in a room that was toxic.” She added: “I didn’t want anyone else to go through what I had been through in that room and what past contestants had been through in that room.”
The Channel 4 news anchor shared a photo online of him with Abbington and another Strictly 2023 co-star, TV presenter Les Dennis, after the performance. “Went to see the press night of When it Happens to You starring Amanda Abbington,” Guru-Murthy wrote. “Quite stunning piece of work and a brilliant production that examines that horrific statistic that one in four women here are believed to be the victims of rape or sexual assault,” he continued.
Pernice has forcefully denied Abbington’s accusations that he was “cruel” during their time together on Strictly.
