James Martin has apologised for “any offence or upset caused” after being accused of “bullying” his ITV colleagues on “multiple occasions”.
The TV chef is believed to have received a warning about his behaviour from ITV in May following a complaint from an employee while filming of James Martin’s Spanish Adventure, Deadline claimed.
The outlet reported that the 51-year-old reduced members of production to tears, and changed schedules that would have only given employees working on the shoot a few hours of sleep.
Martin is also claimed to have shown up late despite being the one to change the schedule.
It is believed that this is the second time ITV has been made aware of Martin’s conduct following a separate incident in 2018, in which the chef allegedly grew angry with a member of staff after his drain became blocked while filming an episode of James Martin’s Saturday Morning at his home.
According to the outlet’s report, production staff on the show said that the British culinary star has been “repeatedly” accused of “inappropriate, intimidating and bullying behaviour”.
In response to the two allegations, Martin and his production company, Blue Marlin Television, issued a joint statement on Wednesday and said that “lessons have been learned” as they try to move on from the furore.
The production company has made numerous shows with Martin and has taken responsibility for a separate incident, where his home and garden were damaged while filming in 2018.
A Blue Marlin spokesperson said: “An unfortunate incident occurred after filming James Martin’s Saturday Morning in 2018 where James’ home was badly damaged.
“Blue Marlin Television accepted responsibility. James was shocked by what had happened and on reflection acknowledges he responded emotionally, which he wholly regrets.
“James apologises for any offence or upset caused, as he did at the time to the crew involved.”
Adding: “Following this and some issues filming James Martin’s Spanish Adventures, James and Blue Marlin Television agree that lessons have been learned which have been discussed with members of the team and with ITV.
“Blue Marlin Television and James Martin have taken on board ITV’s recommendations and their sharing of best practice, and are in the process of fully implementing.
“Since the 2018 incident, Blue Marlin Television has continued to film over 500 shows at James’ home.
“Blue Marlin Television remains committed to ensuring the welfare of all those with whom they work is of the utmost priority.”
Prior to the statement from Blue Marlin Television, ITV also released a statement regarding the allegations, saying: “Following a complaint we received in May from members of the Blue Marlin production team about the filming of James Martin’s Spanish Adventure, we contacted Blue Marlin to discuss these concerns and to understand how the issues raised were being addressed and what actions were being taken.
“As a result, we made a number of recommendations for Blue Marlin to implement as soon as possible, sharing best practice of some of our own relevant procedures around staff welfare and reiterating our Supplier Code of Conduct.
”At ITV people and their welfare are our highest priority. The production companies who make shows for us have primary responsibility for the duty of care of everyone they work with, both on and off screen.
“We make clear our expectations in this regard as part of our pre-greenlight duty of care processes. This includes having appropriate independent controls in place to enable everyone who works on their shows to confidently and confidentially raise concerns.”
The Standard has contacted James Martin’s rep for further comment.
