Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan has pleaded not guilty to harassing a transgender woman and damaging her phone.

The Bafta-winning writer, who also came up with TV sitcoms The IT Crowd and Black Books, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday to deny the charges of harassing Sophia Brooks on social media and damaging her mobile in October.

Linehan, 56, who created the three-season sitcom Father Ted in the 1990s with fellow Irish writer Arthur Mathews, said in a post on X in April that the allegations were related to an incident at the Battle of Ideas conference in London on 19 October.

Court documents show Linehan is charged with harassing the alleged victim, a transgender activist, by posting abusive comments about her on social media between 11 October and 27 October, and damaging her phone to the value of £369 on the day of the conference.

Outside court after the short hearing, he wore a T-shirt with a picture of a Daily Telegraph front page with the headline ‘Trans women are not women’, and said: “For six years, ever since I began defending the rights of women and children against a dangerous ideology, I have faced harassment, abuse and threats.

“I’ve lost a great deal, but I am still here, and I will not waver in my resolve.”

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Deputy District Judge Louise Balmain told Linehan his trial would take place on 4 September this year at the same court.

Linehan has become a strong vocal critic of the trans rights movement in recent years.

He was freed on bail with the condition not to contact the complainant directly or indirectly.

One of France’s most successful actors has been accused of sexually assaulting two women on the set of one of his films.

Gerard Depardieu, 76, has starred in more than 200 films over five decades, winning two best lead actor awards at the Cesars, as well as being nominated for an Oscar and 15 other Cesars.

On Tuesday, judges at the Tribunal de Paris are expected to reveal whether he has been found guilty of the two counts of sexual assault alleged to have happened in 2021, both of which he denies.

If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison or a fine of €75,000 (£62,000).

While the #MeToo movement ultimately led to the downfall of Hollywood film director Harvey Weinstein in the US, France’s #balancestonporc equivalent has struggled to gain momentum.

But Depardieu’s court case, coming soon after that of Gisele Pelicot, who waived her anonymity to reveal her husband had orchestrated her drugging and rape by more than 50 men, is proof for many that France is finally getting its own #MeToo moment.

Here, Sky News looks at the case – and what it means for women’s rights in France.

What is he accused of?

Depardieu is accused of sexually assaulting two female crew members on the set of the film Les Volets Verts (Green Shutters) in 2021.

The anonymous women both claim the actor forced himself on them on multiple occasions, touching them over their clothes, the court was told.

The first woman said in one incident, as she passed him in a corridor he grabbed her, pinned her down between his legs and rubbed himself against her waist, hips, and chest, making accompanying gestures and lewd comments.

The other woman claimed he touched her buttocks in public on more than one occasion, as well as touching her chest.

Depardieu denies the allegations and appeared in person at the Tribunal de Paris, telling the court: “I’ve always been told I have a Russian nature, I don’t know if it’s because of the drinking or the vulgarity.”

But he added: “I’m not touching the butts of women.”

Read more
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Depardieu acknowledges his ‘vulgarity’

One of the alleged victims claimed he behaved “like a madman” who took “pleasure in frightening me”.

Depardieu responded: “I understand perfectly if she’s a bit upset. I am capable of trash talk… I don’t have to talk like that, get angry like that, voila.”

He also claimed that he had been in a “bad mood” because the set was hot, which was difficult for him, being overweight.

The trial was due to start in October but was postponed until March after Depardieu’s legal team asked for a six-month delay due to his poor health. Suffering complications from diabetes and high blood pressure, they said he was unable to sit for long periods.

Separately, he also remains under investigation for the alleged rape and sexual assault of a 22-year-old actress. The woman claims Depardieu sexually assaulted her twice at his home.

She originally reported the alleged incidents in 2018 but the charges were dropped in 2019 following a nine-month investigation.

However, the case was reopened in October 2020 when the woman refiled the complaint.

In March 2022, Depardieu’s bid to get the case thrown out was rejected by Paris’s court of appeal, with authorities saying he would remain under investigation until the matter is either sent to trial or dismissed. He denies the allegations.

In April 2023, investigative French media outlet Mediapart reported claims of 13 women who said Depardieu sexually assaulted or harassed them between 2004 and 2022.

In an open letter in the newspaper Le Figaro that October, Depardieu said he had “never abused a woman”.

A group of 50 French stars, including singer and wife of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy Carla Bruni, wrote their own open letter defending him in Le Monde, condemning what they described as his “lynching” and describing him as “probably the greatest” French actor.

A week later, President Emmanuel Macron condemned the “manhunt” for Depardieu, calling him an “immense actor” who “makes France proud”.

Who is Gerard Depardieu?

Depardieu was born in Chateauroux, central France in 1948. He left home at the age of 16 for Paris, where he got his first acting job with a travelling theatre company.

After a few minor film roles, his break came in 1973 with a lead part in Bertrand Blier’s film Les Valseuses (Going Places) – alongside his former theatre friends Patrick Dewaere and Miou Miou.

From there his popularity boomed and he became one of the most prolific French actors of the 1980s and 1990s.

He won awards for his roles in The Last Metro and Cyrano de Bergerac, which also received an Oscar nomination. He was made president of the Cannes Film Festival jury in 1992.

His success also saw him become a Chevalier of France’s Legion d’Honneur and its Ordre national du Merite – two of the country’s most prestigious honours.

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Across roughly 250 films, he has worked with more than 150 directors, including Jean-Luc Godard and Ridley Scott.

He became close friends with Robert De Niro after they starred together in Bernardo Bertolucci’s film 1900 in 1976.

Depardieu married fellow actor Elisabeth Depardieu in 1971. She starred alongside him in Jean de Florette and Manon Of The Spring in 1986. They had two children, who both became actors. Their son Guillaume died from pneumonia aged 37 in 2008. The couple divorced in 1996.

He announced his retirement from acting in 2005, claiming he had made “enough” films and wished to pursue other things.

In 2012 he moved to Belgium to avoid paying taxes in France. He wrote an open letter to the then prime minister, saying he was surrendering his French passport because he wanted “nothing to do” with his home country and the government was trying to “punish success”.

Vladimir Putin personally signed an executive order to give him Russian citizenship in 2013. Two years later his films were banned in Ukraine over comments he made questioning the country’s sovereignty as an independent state. He has since condemned Russia’s war there.

He also claims to have been given citizenship by the United Arab Emirates.

In 2023 he was stripped of his National Order of Quebec after a documentary revealed him making lewd comments and sexual gestures on a trip to North Korea in 2018, which the region’s premier described as “shocking”.

Why is the Depardieu case so important in France?

The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements in the US saw women in the creative industries calling out sexual harassment and assault by their male counterparts.

But it “didn’t really take off in France” in the same way, Sarah McGrath, chief executive of Women For Women France, an organisation fighting against gender-based violence, tells Sky News.

While she saw colleagues around the world “thrilled that victims could finally feel confident to talk about the crimes they’d be subjected to”, she says in France “we had a very different experience”.

In 2018, dozens of female French stars and intellectuals signed an “anti-MeToo manifesto”, condemning the movement as a “witch hunt” and defending men’s sexual freedom to proposition women.

Although some, notably Depardieu’s co-star and friend Catherine Deneuve, have publicly U-turned on the issue, it demonstrated a resistance to change in French society.

Blanche Sabbah, a French feminist activist and comic book author, says: “We love to talk about being the cultural exception in France.

“We have this idea that if you are some kind of artistic genius then you are less accountable for bad behaviour – and that we’re more sexually liberated – and don’t concern ourselves with moral panics like in the US. I think that stopped the [MeToo] movement in its tracks.”

Ms McGrath describes this “cultural exception” as “an attitude that a man’s reputation and livelihood is more important than victims”.

Both women also point to a “general distrust” of claimants and “false ideas” they are bypassing the courts and telling their stories in the media to “get money”.

“It’s simply not true and comes from a lack of understanding that the French justice system does not play a protective role for victims of sexual violence,” she says.

“Victims are actually more likely to come out with debts of thousands of euros if they go through the justice system, which far exceeds any compensation they might get.”

But while the “balancestonporc” – report your pig – hashtag struggled to gain momentum in 2018, the women say they have seen a shift – particularly following the case of Gisele Pelicot and the conviction of her husband for raping and inviting at least 50 other men to rape her while she was drugged and unconscious.

“It’s taken time, but finally we’re getting somewhere,” Ms Sabbah says. “Gisele’s case serves as a reminder that our culture has a huge influence on how we behave.”

Those found guilty in the Pelicot case were aged between 20 and 70 and included a journalist, nurse, firefighters, and a DJ.

“She has proven that this is the problem of every man – that what you think your favourite movie star can do serves as an argument for justifying what crimes you would commit as a ‘normal’ person’,” Ms Sabbah adds.

Regardless of the outcome of the Depardieu case, both women agree that his prosecution represents a “huge step forward” for women’s rights and victims of gender-based violence.

“There have been three or four convictions [of men for gender-based violence] recently, so I think the way those cases are perceived now is different to how it was in 2018,” Ms Sabbah says.

“We have gone from ‘classement sans suite’ (no further action) to movie stars on trial.”

The biggest night in British TV, this year’s BAFTA TV Awards saw the golden masks handed out to a wide spread of shows – with the BBC’s Mr Loverman the only show to take home two awards.

Hosted by Scottish actor and presenter Alan Cumming, the night kicked off with a Traitors skit, before handing out 29 awards, interspersed with a live performance or two.

While Baby Reindeer had gone into the night the most nominated, it took just one prize, as did the much talked about Mr Bates vs The Post Office. Meanwhile, Rivals and Slow Horses, which had also been hotly tipped, went home empty-handed.

Here are some of the top moments from the 2025 TV BAFTAs.

‘Hello cheeky chops!’

Jessica Gunning took the first prize of the evening, greeting her award by saying: “Hello cheeky chops!”

Gunning, a first-time nominee, said Baby Reindeer had “changed my life”, reminiscing about her childhood playing make-believe and inventing imaginary friends, never knowing she would eventually end up using her dramatic skills to win a BAFTA.

The role of Martha has already won her an Emmy, a SAG award and a Golden Globe in the US.

Gunning also wished her co-star and creator of Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd, a happy birthday (his 36th), calling him “nipple”, a nickname her character Martha gave to Donny (Gadd’s character) in the show.

‘Liars and bullies’

Mr Bates vs The Post Office took the limited drama prize, with producer Patrick Spence telling the audience: “Our show didn’t change the law, the people of this nation did that,” before going on to say it showed the public “cannot abide liars and bullies.”

Flagging the journalists and the campaigners who covered the wrongful conviction of the sub postmasters convicted due to the Horizon IT scandal, he called making the show, “the greatest privilege of our lives”.

Later, when accepting the special award earned by ITV for commissioning the show, the channel’s managing director Kevin Lygo said he had “never seen anything quite like” the impact of Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

Flagging the large number of people impacted by the scandal who were still waiting for compensation, Lygo didn’t mince his words, demanding: “Hurry up and pay these people what they’re due.”

Watch your mouth

Several winners were so excited they could not refrain from a little blue language.

Accepting his first BAFTA for best male comedy performance, Danny Dyer dropped the f-bomb numerous times.

In his speech, Dyer thanked his co-star and the show’s creator, Ryan Sampson, calling him “one of the greatest things to have come out of Rotherham”.

He praised Sampson for “never doing the same thing twice”, adding with tongue in cheek, “It’s not something I can say”. Dyer concluded his speech with a nod to his family, and a final trademark “f***”.

Meanwhile, a very excited Sophie Willen stepped up to accept the prize for scripted comedy.

The Taskmaster alumni told the crowd: “I’m not allowed to swear and all I want to do is go beep, beep”, before calling her win “bloomin’ fabulous”.

Willen – whose part autobiographical comedy Alma’s Not Normal tackles the care system, drug addiction, mental illness, and terminal cancer – called her cast and crew “shit hot”, before catching herself, then repeating “shit, shit”.

‘I love you James’

Taking the prize for female performance in a comedy, Ruth Jones channelled her inner Nessa, saying: “I’m not going to lie, this is immense.”

Thanking the cast and crew, she became emotional as she added: “The person I would like to thank most is my dear, dear talented friend James Corden.” The cameras, of course, then panned to a chuffed-looking Corden, sitting in the audience.

She went on to say that without him, “Vanessa Shanessa Nessa Jenkins would not exist”, paying tribute to their 17 years writing together, adding, “long may it continue” – and so perhaps giving hope for a new Jones/Corden collaboration to follow Gavin And Stacey’s final act?

War amid the awards

In a sobering moment amid the glitz and the glamour, the director of best single documentary, Ukraine: Enemy In The Woods – filmed by Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline – paid tribute to two contributors to the film who had since been killed in conflict.

Jamie Roberts spoke about two young men he had worked with on the film, before adding: “They are not here – they are now dead.”

The winner of the current affairs category, State Of Rage, also offered a heartfelt message as they accepted the award for the programme, which follows a Palestinian and Israeli family in the West Bank.

German State Of Rage director Marcel Mettelsiefen said: “It would be wrong to stand here without acknowledging what’s happening in Gaza.”

Speaking as a parent, he said: “This violence needs to stop now,” then adding, “let’s break this silence together.”

‘I’ve interviewed musicians – and a few monsters’

Former Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark received a standing ovation as she collected her BAFTA fellowship – the body’s highest accolade.

Accepting her award, Wark said: “Thank you so much to BAFTA. It is a privilege and an honour to have my name added to such an incredible roll call. My work continues to give me so much, not just wonderful friends and colleagues.”

The veteran broadcaster continued: “Things have changed so much, so radically, since the ’70s, not least the shoulder pads, the office drinks trolley, shooting on reversal for a fast edit, and film crews, the size of football teams, but always the chance to learn and grow and I’ve been lucky to interview everyone from politicians to painters, architects, economists, musicians and a few monsters.”

Wark added that the “most joyous change in television” has been “the number of women in senior roles”.

Would I Lie To You wins its first BAFTA

Everyone loves a conspiracy theory, and this year it could be courtesy of BAFTA and a big boat.

Accepting the entertainment award for perennial favourite Would I Lie To You, host Rob Brydon said: “This is a surprise.”

Team captain Lee Mack then added: “We’ve been nominated for eight years but now ‘Mr Cruises’ has done it for us,” referring to Brydon’s adverts for P&O Cruises – the sponsor of the event.

“The whiff of scandal is in the air,” quipped Brydon.

In Memoriam

The In Memoriam section of the night was accompanied by live music by concert violinist and social media sensation Esther Abrami.

Always a poignant moment in the evening, it included a wide variety of stars who passed away this year, including Shannon Doherty, Tony Slattery, Paul Danan, Henry Kelly, Linda Nolan, Michael Moseley, The Vivienne and Timothy West.

Poirot presents best actress

Awarding the best actress prize, Sir David Suchet channelled his most famous on-screen character, Hercule Poirot, greeting the audience with “Mesdames, Messieurs” to wild applause.

He went on, in the words of the bumbling Belgian detective: “I expect you’re wondering why I’ve gathered you here tonight?”

In a surprise win, Industry star Marisa Abela took the prize and had to be helped up on to the stage due to the length and tightness of her sparkling black gown.

Clearly surprised by her win, and becoming tearful, as she paid tribute to her drama school teacher who she said was in the audience that night, she also thanked her mother, also an actress, without whom she said she’d never be on the stage accepting her first BAFTA aged just 28.