Chapter 1: What led to the accusations against Craig McLachlan?
A massive weight's been lifted off Craig McLachlan's shoulders. As you can imagine, we have a lot to say. It was Victoria's legal system that cleared the actor, who was in Sydney, to hear the verdict via video link. We've maintained a dignified and respectful silence for the past almost three years. Not guilty. The Craig McLachlan case.
Our panel seven spotlight show in 2021 covered the ABC's manipulation of the McLachlan accusers' interviews.
Sorry, that is not journalism.
That is obscenely manipulative propaganda.
Hello, my name is Vanessa Scammell and I am here not as a conductor, which is my chosen profession, but as someone who has been a part of a story, a story that has yet to be told in its entirety.
My story centres around how reckless and unsubstantiated allegations can destroy people's lives and how such allegations effectively halted the career and life of one of Australia's most successful actors and personalities.
This is a podcast that examines, among other things, how difficult it is to change a narrative when page one guilt has been assumed and how the erosion of one of the most basic of human rights, the presumption of innocence, is ruining lives and establishing dangerous new social parameters.
This story contains nuance and detail that has otherwise been neglected in the black and white telling of this story. A story that has so very many shades of grey.
Episode 1 The Witch Hunt
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Chapter 2: How did the media's portrayal impact Craig's life?
On January the 8th, 2018, my life partner was accused of bullying, intimidation, sexual harassment and indecent assault in the workplace by three female performers, castmates, who had shared the stage with him four years earlier in the 2014 Australian production of The Rocky Horror Show, in which he had starred as the transsexual from Transylvania, Dr Frankenfurter.
The allegations were sensationally published as front-page news across the nation. Television breakfast shows ran the story repeatedly on a 30-minute cycle for hours on end. And that evening, the Australian national broadcaster, the ABC, kicked off its new ratings season with a half-hour special dedicated to the shocking revelations.
Those allegations equated to an immediate personal and professional demolition. In an instant, his hard-earned career was vaporised. Those allegations also led to him being criminally charged. After a protracted legal battle, he faced those charges in the Melbourne Magistrates Court and on December 15, 2020, three years after the initial allegations were made, he was found not guilty.
He was acquitted of each and every charge. My partner's name? Craig McLachlan.
Acquitted. An acquittal is a judgment or verdict that a person is not guilty of a crime of which he or she was charged. In other words, not guilty of any wrongdoing. Neighbours.
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Chapter 3: What was the response to the allegations from Craig's partner?
Everybody needs good neighbours.
Many of you listening may know Craig from his early years on Neighbours during the show's golden era, where he rose to stardom playing the role of the lovable larrikin Henry Ramsey. Or perhaps you know him as the inimitable Dr. Frankenfurter from the Rocky Horror Show, as a Gold Logie winner, or as the award-winning 1950s mystery-solving doctor from the Dr. Blake Mysteries.
Or perhaps you don't know him at all. Either way, none of that matters. For in this instance, rather than this podcast being a celebration of an artist's stellar career, this is a story of what can happen when allegations are taken to the press before police, when page one guilt is assumed and due process is relegated to a distant second place.
This story shows what happens when a so-called public interest story is carved in stone and a narrative is set before it enters a court system. when a public trial is carried out without the necessary considerations and observations of any rules and regulations of the law.
What happened to Craig was akin to a Salem witch hunt, the merciless shutting out and cancellation of a man who could be described as a tall poppy, a vicious and relentless pylon where friendships were shattered, trust was lost and faith in humanity crushed. What isn't well known is that throughout this ordeal and prior to it, I was present.
I toured with Craig on the 2014 Rocky Horror Show, which is when the alleged incidents were said to have occurred. I was present in the theatre on an almost daily basis. In fact, I was part of the extended theatre family. I was a constant visitor to his dressing room backstage during this production, and I witnessed regular friendly visits to Craig from cast members who made these allegations.
I saw firsthand the joking, the friendships, the cheekiness and the fun that was part of the backstage culture of the Rocky Horror Show.
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Chapter 4: What does 'page one guilt' mean in the context of this case?
After these catastrophic allegations were aired and published in 2018, almost four years after the Rocky tour of 2014 had ended, our lives changed forever. In the carnage that was wreaked, I took on the role of managing Craig's case. I attended each and every court appearance, Zoom call, Teams meeting, briefing.
I participated in each and every phone call, interview, road trip, nervous breakdown, calamity, broken friendship and, ultimately, I was there for Craig's victory. For the first time, you will hear my account of what unfolded when on January 8, 2018, a press story was released that obliterated the life we once knew.
The Judas Kiss Zinc Cafe, Potts Point, Sydney Sometime in late September 2017 Disclaimer. Sections of certain conversations and the verbalising of text messages and emails are being voiced by actors. Ness!
Craig! Hey! Craig and I stopped mid-sentence and looked up as our good friend and colleague, Christy Whelan-Brown, bounded out of a Sydney cafe towards us and into our arms. We had been walking up Maclay Street towards our regular gym in King's Cross. We had been deep in discussion, going through each of our travel logistics for the weeks ahead.
I was about to head off on a concert tour whilst Craig was due to start rehearsals in Melbourne for his fourth tour of the Rocky Horror Show, starring as the sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania, Dr Frankenfurter.
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Chapter 5: How were the allegations received by the public and media?
Ness? Craig? We turned to see our friend running towards us, arms outstretched, embracing us warmly. It was a beautiful sunny Sydney day. I remember that she was dressed in active wear with her hair pulled back in a high ponytail. Craig and I were in our routine black gym gear. I was wearing my favourite kiss cap.
He wore a grey one that had been gifted to him by his director of photography on the Dr Blake Mysteries. The things you remember.
Oh, my God, it's Miss. Craig and I just had the best time together. It was awesome.
Earlier in 2017, our friend Christy and Craig had completed their second year working together on a television comedy drama series called The Wrong Girl, and the latest season had just finished airing. Craig and Christy had been playing the roles of Eric and Nicky, hosts of a fictional morning breakfast show. Just weeks before, on September 2, 2017, I had received this text message from her.
Chapter 6: What role did the legal system play in Craig's case?
Oh, Ness, we were so out of control together. Not going to lie, Mickey and Eric... These being their character names... Hosting a TV show is gold. We laughed and laughed. Hope you're wonderful. Can't wait to see you soon. Kisses, kisses, love, love, love.
So, back on the street, our friend enthusiastically reiterated and added to her text sentiments...
Craig and I had the best time together. It really was awesome. Nicky and Eric need their own spin-off show. Seriously, it was the best time I've ever had.
She looked me directly in the eyes to let me know how much it had meant to her. I was reminded of how tall and imposing she was as I looked up and returned her gaze. Christy and Craig were like two kids who loved to egg each other on and this series had been no exception. The Tour de Force was the image she had sent Craig a few months earlier.
Chapter 7: What cultural movements influenced the narrative around the accusations?
In July of 2017, she sent a selfie, a photograph of herself sitting on a toilet, red underpants pulled down to her knees as part of a long-running joke. As the two of them reminisced about the show, she held our hands. How's your show going? I asked. I had seen her social media posts documenting the fact she was performing a part in another musical theatre production. Oh, it's fine. We open soon.
But more importantly, are you two going to be around? My hubby is coming up this weekend. We must have dinner. Craig had first worked with her husband when he had been a 17-year-old kid and I had also done a number of musical productions with him. I considered him to be a close friend. I explained that I would be away but would love to catch up with her when I got back for a beach day together.
She replied with words to the effect of, I would love that and as for you... She directed her gaze towards Craig... I can't believe you're doing Frank again.
Chapter 8: What can we learn from the outcome of Craig McLachlan's case?
Christy had played the role of Janet in the 2014 Rocky Horror Show production that had toured Australia. But unlike other cast members, the producers hadn't invited her back for this latest tour, nor had they invited her back for a return season in 2015. We walked and chatted further until she realised the time. Well, I'd better run. Rehearsals.
She pointed to an apartment block just a few streets away. I'm staying there while I'm doing the show. We are neighbours. Love you both. She said as she waved us goodbye. Just over eight weeks later, on January the 8th, 2018, a story broke across every media outlet in the country.
Three women from the cast of the 2014 Rocky Horror Show had come forward alleging that Craig McLachlan was calculated, manipulative and a predator and that they had been the victims of bullying, harassment and indecent assault whilst working on the show. Our friend Christy was one of the three women.
By late 2016, Craig had wrapped up what would prove to be the final season of the hugely successful ABC period drama, The Dr Blake Mysteries, in which he starred as the main protagonist, Dr Lucian Blake.
It's lovely, really lovely, having you look after me.
I just think he needs looking after.
I have found my home. Thank you for caring and for being my friend.
Lucy and Blake was a doctor and war veteran who had returned to his rural beginnings in the country town of Ballarat in the 1950s. By the end of 2016, four complete seasons of the show had aired in Australia, enjoying consistent sky-high ratings. In fact, the highest in the ABC's domestic drama history, routinely winning its time slot against all the other networks.
On Christmas Eve 2016, having just completed post-production on the latest Blake shoot, that being Series 5, Craig received a phone call from the show's creator.
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