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John Barrowman has called his naked scandal on Doctor Who ‘nothing outrageous’ and claimed everybody on set was ‘laughing.’
In 2021, the actor, who starred as Captain Jack Harkness, was accused of repeatedly exposing himself on the set of the BBC One sci-fi series and its sister show Torchwood.
However, Barrowman, 58, has defended his alleged behaviour in an interview with STV’s Scotland Tonight, insisting he has ‘no regets’ over his conduct which had left him ‘blacklisted completely’ from the entertainment industry.
He told presenter Rona Dougall: ‘I don’t regret anything. It’s not so much regret; it was something that was stupid and silly and it was done. I don’t look back and go… because at the time, everybody was laughing. Everybody on set was having a laugh.’
The Arrowverse actor also denied that his alleged misconduct on set was ‘basically flashing’ and instead claimed that he would remain naked in between nude scenes to ‘save time’ as it was a ‘closed set.’
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Asked if he ‘flashed’ his co-workers, Barrowman said: ‘No, no, no, no, no. This is where it gets a little misconstrued. I was not walking around flashing people randomly and doing things like that.
‘If I were doing a nude scene … they’d say, ‘”do you want to go back to the trailer?’” I’d say, “no just leave me here” – it was meant to be a closed set – and I’d say, “leave me here and let’s save time, I’ll just stand here and it’ll save time that I don’t have to go back, have to change, then you have to bring me back and we have to start all over again”.
‘So I would stand there, if I was in a nude scene, completely naked, and if somebody walked on set, which they weren’t supposed to or they were, I might just do something like that [jiggles] and it was nothing outrageous. I didn’t see it as outrageous. It was a different time.’
Barrowman has previously played down his alleged misconduct; in his first TV interview after the allegations emerged, Barrowman insisted his ‘silly behaviour’ had been ‘exaggerated.’
On Lorraine in 2021, he said: ‘I think that if it was now it would be crossing the line. I think that something that happened 15 years ago – it was bawdy behaviour, silly behaviour.
‘It was being done in the confines of the set and we were like a family working together. The fact that it was stories that I’ve already told, I’ve been telling them for years. I haven’t hidden anything.
‘They have been exaggerated and they have tried to turn them into sexual harassment, which it absolutely is not.’
In his first statement after the allegations, Barrowman addressed his ‘tomfoolery’ and insisted that his ‘high-spirited behaviour’ was ‘only ever intended in good humour to entertain colleagues on set and backstage’.
He continued: ‘With the benefit of hindsight, I understand that upset may have been caused by my exuberant behaviour and I have apologised for this previously.’
The Guardian first reported the allegations in 2021 after speaking to two former runners who claimed that Barrowman ‘would get his genitals out on a regular basis’ on set but stressed that it was not sexually predatory behaviour.
Scotland Tonight: A Conversation with John Barrowman airs tonight at 8:30pm on STV and STV Player.
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