James Martin controversy explained as Saturday Morning's new series continues
James Martin's Saturday Morning show returned earlier this month for its latest series.
The chef, 51 - who fronted the BBC's Saturday Kitchen for a decade until his departure in 2016 - has hosted the ITV weekend cooking show since it launched in 2017. It features celebrity guests and provides recipes to viewers at home.
It returned just a couple of weeks ago and comes following reports that the show was "hanging in the balance" last year. It was over allegations about James' conduct on Saturday Morning and another ITV show, Spanish Adventure.
James Martin is the host of shows like Saturday Morning, which he's fronted since 2017, on ITV (ITV/Blue Marlin)It was reported by Deadline on July 26 last year that James had been accused of "intimidating his crew on multiple occasions". It said ITV had told him to "change his behaviour" after receiving a complaint in May about his conduct.
The outlet said that concerns had been raised about his "treatment of crew" whilst filming James Martin's Spanish Adventure earlier that year. It said that he was accused of "berating people," "reducing them to tears" in front of colleagues and changing schedules "at the last minute".
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A former colleague, said to have worked with him on several occasions, said: "What's remarkable is I saw this behavior on every project I did with him and it feels conscious. I think he just feels like it's OK to behave like that."
ITV was said to have been approached in May by some of his colleagues from Spanish Adventure. The broadcaster was then said to "posited solutions" to James' production company Blue Marlin Television, including providing training and "clear policies" related to conduct.
Deadline said it understood that the complaint was the second time that ITV had been made aware of "misgivings about [his] conduct" following "a separate incident" in 2018. It was reported that he made a "foul-mouthed tirade" against staff then after a drain was blocked at his home during the production of Saturday Morning. The outlet said a formal complaint was made around that time over "repeated incidents of inappropriate, intimidating and bullying behavior" on Saturday Morning.
Blue Marlin TV subsequently issued a statement, which read: "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. 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."
They added: "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."
The chef, pictured in a promotional photo for Saturday Morning, has also fronted shows like Spanish Adventures for the broadcaster (ITV/Blue Marlin)Whilst ITV said at the time: "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.
"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."
The spokesperson for broadcaster ITV added: "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."
The Sun shared apparent leaked audio of his 2018 rant on July 27. He reportedly swore 42 times in 10 minutes and the rant is said to have been on a video call with colleagues following an incident at his home. It was reported that a drain got blocked during production of Saturday Morning.
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He's quoted as having told them that he was "absolutely furious" and claimed at one point that a driveway that he said cost him £26,000 had been "ruined" because someone "put a load of oil" in a bin that then "dripped everywhere".
James is believed to have told those on the call: "Show me [and] my house some more f***ing respect - otherwise, you're gone." He's also quoted as having said: "If I haven't got a plumber round at my house to give me a quote and a guy to tarmac by tomorrow, somebody is going to get fired. [...] I'm sick of being treated like a f***ing piece of sh**."
He issued a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, that same day. James' statement on the platform began: "Firstly, I would like to publicly and sincerely apologise to the crew involved in this incident, as I did at the time."
James continued: "I have always strived to keep my private life private. However since details of a conversation, which was secretly recorded in January 2018, are now five years later being made public by a former member of our production team, I have decided to make a statement.
"The end of 2017 was one of the most fraught and difficult periods of my life. I was dealing with the death of my last living grandparent, my grandfather, and on account of work commitments I could not attend his funeral."
He added: "Later that month I was burgled at night by a team of masked men, who entered my house while my partner Louise was at home alone and I was away working. I was devastated that she had to go through that alone."
He went on to announce that he had been diagnosed with cancer, writing: "On top of this I was then diagnosed with cancer on my face and I had to have surgery, which I couldn't do until two days before Christmas when we had finished filming. Since then it has returned on several occasions and I have to have regular treatments."
He concluded by writing: "After all this stress I was in a very emotional state, and when after filming in early January 2018 I discovered my home had been flooded while filming, I was extremely upset. I can only say I am human and following a build-up of personal life pressure, I admit that I overreacted regarding the damage to my home."
It was later announced that Saturday Morning had been renewed by ITV. James shared the news whilst on tour in October, saying: "I want to thank everyone for their support. It's been a difficult time and I've not been well. But I wanted to let you know about the future of my Saturday show as ITV have just made a decision yesterday. So, ITV has decided to renew [it] for another year. We've just found out." The latest series launched on ITV earlier this month and airs on Saturday mornings from 9.30am.
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