Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator — a chilling look at a celebrity abuser

I mean this quite seriously: the documentary left the reviewer wishing for more programmes about good men, a steady inoculation against despair. Those thoughts arise across the two-hour episodes of Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator as they trace the arc of a once-beloved entertainer and the damage he caused.

Harris made his name as a king of light entertainment in the 1970s and 80s, known for daft songs such as Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport and Jake the Peg, and for a wobble-board version of Stairway to Heaven that helped revive his public profile in the 1990s. He parlayed those talents into a long TV career, painting and presenting for decades; he was even liked by the royal family and painted the queen’s 80th birthday portrait in 2005.

In 2013 Harris was arrested as part of Operation Yewtree. Officers had received evidence that he had abused young women and girls over decades; his earliest known victim, “A,” was the then 13-year-old friend of his daughter.

United Kingdom

rolf harris, primetime predator, documentary, operation yewtree, abuse, entertainer, wobble-board, royal family, queen portrait, victim