The BBC is under pressure to respond to allegations that Stephen Nolan, one of the corporation’s highest-paid presenters, sent sexually explicit images to colleagues and was the subject of a bullying claim.
Political parties in Northern Ireland called on the BBC to provide a full response to the allegations about the region’s most influential and controversial broadcaster.
The Irish News reported on Tuesday that Nolan sent unsolicited sexual images of a potential guest to staff on his radio and television shows on BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Northern Ireland in 2016.
The guest was Stephen Bear, a Celebrity Big Brother winner wanted by Nolan for his TV show. “I want Bear!” Nolan wrote in one message, saying in another: “If I don’t get Bear tomorrow night, I’m sending more Bear photos.”
One recipient of the images, which showed Bear’s penis, said they were “beyond the pale” in an internal complaint to the BBC, according to the Irish News.
The newspaper cited documents and interviews that described a difficult work environment. One former colleague made a bullying claim, which was not upheld, while two others underwent counselling for work-related stress.
Nolan, 49, earned between £400,000 and £404,999 directly from the licence fee in 2022-23, making him the fifth-best-paid BBC on-air presenter after Gary Lineker, Zoe Ball, Alan Shearer and Huw Edwards. The figures omit Nolan’s earnings for other TV programmes made for the BBC by his production company, Third Street Studios.
Nolan has made no public comment about the allegations. Adam Smyth, the director of BBC Northern Ireland, said the corporation had to consider fairness and confidentiality when handling any workplace-related complaint.
“We take these obligations seriously and in the interests of everyone involved. It is for these reasons that we cannot comment on the specifics of any individual case, who/what it may have involved or its outcome,” he said.
Sinn Féin said licence-fee payers deserved transparency and accountability. “Recent revelations relating to The Nolan Show raise very serious questions for the BBC management, which need to be answered candidly. Audience figures and ratings should never lead to the tolerance of bad practice or inappropriate behaviour by radio and TV presenters,” the party said.
Gregory Campbell, a Democratic Unionist party MP, said “radio silence” from the BBC was not acceptable. “There are significant multilayered issues that have been highlighted and all of which deserve a full response from the BBC,” he said.
Nolan succeeded in landing Bear for his show in 2016, during which both men stripped to their underwear for a segment on modelling. In March, Bear was sentenced to 21 months in prison for sharing a private video of him having sex with his ex-girlfriend.
Nolan’s Radio Ulster show often sets the agenda in Northern Ireland with investigations and combative political interviews. Sinn Féin and the Social Democratic and Labour party boycott the programme.
The Irish News cited documents in which Nolan’s team made abusive comments about politicians and insulted William Crawley, another BBC radio presenter.
