TV writer kept 30-year secret of office sex assault by executive

TELEVISION WRITER Kay Mellor has revealed that she was sexually assaulted earlier in her career – a secret she has kept from even her closest family for three decades.

Yorkshire-born Mellor, inset, whose credits include Fat Friends, Band Of Gold and new show Love, Lies And Records, said she had kept the incident secret, even from her husband, until now.

In a report published in yesterday’s Observer newspaper, the 66-year-old revealed that she was in her 30s and working as a producer when she was invited to see an unnamed TV executive, who has since died, in his office about developing one of her scripts.

She claimed that “at first everything was fine”, and added: “I thought he was going to say ‘write up the first episode and we’ll see’ but instead he sat down very close to me, which made me uncomfortable and then lunged at me and tried to kiss me. “I pulled away and said: ‘I’m sorry, this is not what I’m doing here’ and he replied: ‘Oh really – what did you come up here for then? What did think you were doing?’” The “gobsmacked” screenwriter said she kept thinking she must have done “something wrong” and as she went to open the door “he said ‘Kay’. She told the newspaper: “I turned around and he’d exposed himself. He stood there looking at me and said: ‘Is this what you want?’”

Mellor, who was born in Leeds, said she felt “soiled by the experience” but hopes talking about the incident, at a time when Hollywood and politics have been embroiled in sexual harassment scandals, would encourage other women to speak out.

She regrets not reporting her experience at the time but will not be identifying the alleged attacker, as “naming him once he’s dead does nobody any good”, she said.

The writer is the latest wellknown figure to make allegations as the sexual harassment scandal in the entertainment industry continues to gather pace.

Scores of allegations of sexual harassment have been made against American film producer and executive Harvey Weinstein in recent weeks and accusations have since been levelled at other Hollywood figures such as Kevin Spacey and Dustin Hoffman.