BBC Director General Tim Davie has opened up the first time about the Strictly Come Dancing crisis and apologised following complaints of abusive behaviour

BBC Director General Tim Davie has spoken for the first time about the Strictly Come Dancing crisis – saying that he was “very sorry” if contestants suffered on the show.

Davie interrupted a media Q&A session during the unveiling of the corporation’s annual report to acknowledge the recent allegations about the BBC’s flagship show.

He admitted: “I’m very sorry that anyone has had an experience on Strictly that hasn’t been wholly positive.”

And he was also quizzed on whether he would pull the show off air as a result.

Tim said: “Simply put, from my point of view, I need to be assured that we have the right safeguarding procedures and duty of care processes in place to deliver a full show. And that is the first question I ask as director general. I think I am assured by the robust actions actually, that we have taken in terms of the changes we’ve made, production team members in the training room, the two new roles, in terms of welfare producers, that we are in a position to deliver a very good season this year.

“And that’s been my focus. So I think it’s always been about how do we make sure that we deliver a show that is fun, entertaining, but also appropriately support everyone involved. And with that reassurance, absolutely. I’m looking forward to the next season.”

Will Bayley spoke on BBC Breakfast about problems he faced on the show. Asked if that was a problem for the show continuing, Tim added: “I think we’re in the same territory is my previous answer, which is, I think we need to clearly you always learn from things. And I did think will Bailey spoke very eloquently with a degree of generosity actually, in terms of how he spoke this morning. And we clearly need to listen and learn. What I would say is we have a very serious set of protocols and processes around the show.

“I think overall we have a very good record across the BBC of delivering formats and entertainment programmes across the board through thousands of hours of broadcasting so you do need to consider these things proportionately, but seriously.

“I think the door is always open for people come to come to the BBC, and discuss things and that we can do to improve. But overall, I think we’ve got the systems in place and we’ve got the processes in place. And we keep updating and changing to reflect information as it comes in. But I think we can deliver the show successfully this season.”

The next question he was asked was regarding duty of care for contestants. It was put to him that he had taken his eye off the ball when it came to what happened in the training room. He was also asked why he didn’t bring in the new protocols sooner. Davie said: “I’m very sorry that anyone has had an experience on strictly that hasn’t been wholly positive.

“I think that is something that we do reflect on, and I’m sorry about that. I think that there are clearly learnings, specifically, with regard to oversight in the training rooms that we have needed to address. And with the benefit of hindsight you always look at these things and say ‘could we have done more?’ Of course you could.

“But the key here is you address the situation. And as I say, I won’t go into repetition. But the measures we’ve taken, I believe, are an appropriate and fair response to what we know now in terms of making sure that the training rooms we have the right oversight, and that people have a positive experience coming through the show.

“I do believe overall, the hundreds of people have come through this show and had a positive experience.

“It is not right to characterise it that we haven’t had significant duty of care provision in the show. Having said that, there’s clearly some learning here and I think the team have acted to address that. If we get any fresh information. Of course, we act fairly, proportionately, and address it.”

In this year’s report, a picture of Strictly was used on page one with the show heralded as one of the jewels in the BBC’s crown, winning the Entertainment Programme BAFTA just two months ago. But the series is now deep in crisis as to how it moves forward and keeps the family-friendly image that has made it so popular for two decades.

Two of the professional dancers are not returning for the new series – Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima, who admitted kicking his partner Zara McDermott in rehearsals last year. And the BBC is still to reveal the results of its probe into the show following complaints from celebrities. Some pros have faced claims they mistreated the stars during training sessions, pushing them too hard in some cases allegedly abusing them.

At the unveiling of the annual report, it was also revealed the BBC’s top earners.