Reginald Perrin star Leonard Rossiter, who died in 1984, has been accused of performing a sex act as he watched three BBC staff trying to rape a male TV extra
Screen legend Leonard Rossiter is the latest celebrity name to be embroiled in the sex scandal engulfing the BBC.
The Rising Damp star, who died in 1984 aged 57, has been accused of performing a sex act as he watched three BBC staff trying to rape a male TV extra.
An anonymous male accuser told The Sun the trio twice assaulted him at BBC Television Centre in West London when he was 18.
He said Rossiter, who also starred in the much-loved series The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, watched the second 1960s attack.
It is the latest scandal to hit the Corporation following the mountain of claims made about Sir Jimmy Savile.
Today, the alleged victim branded the BBC a 'cesspit of depravity' as he recalled the assault, one of two he said he suffered at the TV Centre.
Police are now investigating after the man stepped forward to give a statement and detectives are understood to be considering arrests.
The accuser was an 18-year-old extra on the set of a controversial BBC play titled The Year of the Sex Olympics when the attacks took place in 1968.
He told The Sun: 'In the rehearsal room in TV Centre one BBC man tightly held my wrists while two others were behind me trying to rape me.
'I was the victim of two assaults. The second time they obviously tipped off Leonard Rossiter because while I was struggling and shouting for help he was in the room. He obviously found it all a big turn-on. He was watching with glee.'
'The staff who attacked me were animals and thought they could get away with anything. It left me devastated and caused great stress. I get so angry just thinking about it.'
The teenager was so disgusted by the attacks he confronted a senior BBC man working on the show.
He said nothing was done, so he stormed off the set with a female extra who said she too was attacked.
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Screen legend: Actor Leonard Rossiter as Rigsby, the landlord in the television comedy Rising Damp
One of TV's greatest stars: Leonard Rossiter in the much-loved show Rising Damp
Rossiter's accuser alleges the Rising Damp star watched as a trio attacked him at BBC Television Centre in west London and performed a sex act while they did it
The pair were ordered to strip off and smothered in gold paint during filming of the weird play, in which Rossiter - who died aged 57 in 1984 - played the co-ordinator of judges presiding over couples having sex.
The Year of the Sex Olympics was later broadcast on BBC2. Rossiter’s accuser called police after being appalled by stories of sexual abuse within the BBC which have emerged amid the Jimmy Savile affair.
A BBC spokesman told The Sun: 'The BBC cannot comment on individual cases. It will help the police in any way it can in the course of any investigation.'
Rossiter, who was born in Liverpool in 1926, had a long and distinguished career in the theatre but is best known for appearing in the hugely popular sitcoms Rising Damp and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.
In Rising Damp, which first ran from 1974 to 1978, he played the cowardly landlord Rigsby who lorded over a seedy bedsit. At its peak, 18 million viewers watched the show.
He also starred in 21 episodes of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin which first aired between 1976 and 1979. Both series have been repeated a number of times since.
Rossiter starred with Joan Collins in a series of successful and endearing Cinzano commercials regularly voted one of the nation's TV ads.
In 2002 BBC presenter Sue MacGregor revealed in her memoirs she had an affair with him. Raine, Rossiter's second wife, was unaware of the affair, but described the marriage as 'up and down'.
Rossiter died from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in 1984 while waiting to go onstage at the Lyric Theatre, London, where he was performing in Joe Orton's play, Loot. His funeral took place at St Mary's Church, The Boltons, London.
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