Yvette Fielding has revealed she was sexually assaulted by Rolf Harris during her time as a Blue Peter presenter.
In an interview with The Sun, the 55-year-old revealed that disgraced comedian and artist Harris, who died last year aged 93, squeezed and patted her bottom.
Fielding, who became the youngest ever presenter of the children’s show at age 18 in 1987, said the encounter occurred early on in her five-year stint.
She said: “It was very confusing and shocking — just bizarre to think Rolf Harris was squeezing and patting my bottom and I am standing there, thinking, ‘I don’t know what to do’.
“Other people in the industry must have known what he was like and you left me alone in the studio with him’.
“That shouldn’t have happened.”
Harris was a BBC stablemate, presenting Cartoon Time around the time of the incident, and would remain seemingly upstanding for years.
However, in 2014, he was convicted of indecently assaulting four girls and young women and was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison. He was released on licence in 2017.
Fielding left Blue Peter to work on shows such as What’s Up Doc? and, later, Most Haunted - which she still works on today alongside producer husband Karl Beattie.
She said it was a “different time” to work in showbusiness when she was 18 and that pats on the bum were “everyday occurrences”.
“In my time it didn’t matter what went on — ‘Is the show doing well, are we getting good viewing figures?’
“‘Yes we are, keep going. Let’s cover it all over and get on with it’.”
Fielding said she also had the misfortune of encountering shamed sex offender Jimmy Savile when the presenter was on the show.
“He took my hand and started stroking it. ‘Look into my eyes’, he said, ‘And tell me what you’re thinking’,” she said.
“He was grotesque.
“I just don’t understand why the BBC allowed him to get away with that for as long as he did.”
The BBC has been approached for comment.
Harris was a household favourite for decades before his dramatic downfall, after being convicted of a series of indecent assaults against young girls.
Stripped of his honours, he died of neck cancer and old age in May last year, aged 93.
Savile spent much of his career at the BBC, presenting programmes such as Top of the Pops and Jim'll Fix It.
