Rolf Harris’ disturbing behaviour is once again under the spotlight following the release of Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator, with broadcaster Vanessa Feltz recalling the moment she says he touched her inappropriately during a live TV interview.
The new Prime Video documentary explores the disgraced entertainer’s crimes and raises questions about what those closest to him knew.
It has also prompted renewed attention on Vanessa’s account of interviewing Harris on The Big Breakfast in 1996.
In her interview, Vanessa said Harris’ wife, Alwen, was standing just a foot away while the alleged incident unfolded.
The documentary, meanwhile, examines Alwen’s role, with contributors questioning whether she accompanied Harris to television appearances to keep an eye on him.
Rolf Harris ‘gropes’ Vanessa Feltz on live TV
Vanessa first shared her account after Harris died in 2023. Speaking on TalkTV, she looked back at interviewing him on Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast in 1996.
The interview has since resurfaced following the release of Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator.
At the time, Vanessa was The Big Breakfast’s “On the Bed” presenter, interviewing celebrity guests while sitting on the programme’s famous bed.
She said she had been excited to meet Harris, but the interview quickly became deeply uncomfortable.
Vanessa recalled: “His wife Alwen was standing literally a foot away to the side of the bed.”
As the programme went live, Vanessa said she could hear her beaded dress making a noise.
“The noise was my [beaded] dress being crunched between Rolf’s fingers as he started at my ankles and began to bring my dress further and further up my legs,” she recalled.
Vanessa said she placed a blue cushion between them, but claimed Harris ignored it.
She explained that The Big Breakfast was “very innocent and very fun” and watched by children.
“But I can feel my dress coming, further and further and further and further up to my thighs.
“His wife, remember, is standing just a few inches away. She couldn’t have been more than a foot and a half away.”
‘I needed to do something immediately’
Vanessa said she realised she had to act.
“His hand, meanwhile, was getting closer and closer and closer and closer.
“And then it got to the edge of my knickers. I knew that if I didn’t do something immediately, it was going to be a proper full-on assault.
“So I did what you’re never allowed to do as a presenter, which is throw to a break when I want to, not when the director says you can.
“I couldn’t afford to wait one more second.”
Vanessa said the atmosphere was silent during the advert break.
“I didn’t say a single word, he didn’t say a single word, his wife didn’t say a single word,” she admits.
The documentary also hears from Harris’ former Animal Hospital co-host Lynda Bryans, who remembers Alwen accompanying him to work.
“A car would come and pick up Rolf and bring him to the venue. But in his car was also his wife. Every day,” Lynda recalled.
“I find that a bit odd and, on reflection I wonder, did she come there to keep an eye on him. Was she there protecting him from what she knew he would be capable of?”
Lynda added: “In contrast to Rolf who was friendly and charming, Alwen was a little bit more distant. She was just off camera every time he was on camera, watching.”
Read more: Rolf Harris accused of ‘treating the Queen like a child’ in eery clip from new Prime documentary
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