Content warning: this article discusses sexual misconduct and harrassment.

Social media is usually the first place we turn to in order to gauge how well a show is going down with viewers. And these past couple of weeks, Twitter has been ablaze with opinions about one documentary.

Tim Westwood: Abuse Of Power aired initially on BBC Three last week but after backlash from viewers at being “hidden”, it’s now being re-released on BBC One tonight (4 May). The documentary is part of a joint investigation by The Guardian and the BBC reporting multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by the DJ. In the investigation, multiple women accused Westwood of sexual misconduct and claim “he misused his position in the music industry to take advantage of them”.

The report continues: “Three women have accused the DJ of opportunistic and predatory sexual behaviour, while four others allege they were groped by him at events.

“The earliest alleged incident took place in 1992; the most recent in 2017.” 

Westwood has strenuously denied all the allegations and has now stepped down from his Capital Xtra radio show “until further notice” after sexual misconduct claims.

Abuse Of Power promised to explore the accusations against the former Radio 1 DJ and included personal accounts from six Black women who accused him of misconduct, predatory sexual encounters and unwanted touching. 

The documentary, while an uncomfortable watch, was widely viewed as important as it gave Black women a platform in which to finally speak their truth.

In the documentary, we hear Pamela*’s story. In 2000, Pamela met Westwood through friends when she was 20 and Westwood asked her if she could intern for him, as she knew the hip-hop music industry and Westwood wanted to appeal to a “younger audience”, she says.

When she arrived in London, he picked her up personally in his car, “kept putting his hand on my leg” and touching her, she says. He took her to his apartment – although she was expecting to stay in a hotel – and she says that the whole scenario felt “unprofessional”.

“So, me, sat in his house thinking, ‘How am I going to get out of this?’” she says. “I’m in London, alone, with this guy who’s much older than me. Now, if I try to get out of it – who’s to say how he’s going to react?” Pamela says.

“So I just submit to it.” 

Throughout the documentary, the women sharing their experiences express their feelings of guilt and shame. In one scene, Pamela reflects: “How have I let myself be subjected to that?”

In her case, the work experience she was promised never happened and she left London to go back home as soon as she could.

As well as these individual – and very similar – accounts outlined in the documentary, we hear from women who detail their experiences of Westwood hosting club nights at their universities and groping them while posing for pictures.

It’s a sentiment that viewers have long been talking about online and the documentary prompted many claimed memories of Westwood:

Many felt as though the documentary, at 30 minutes’ long, was too short and should have been given more of a platform. The decision to air the show on BBC Three – whose audience is widely considered to be younger – rather than BBC One as a bizarre decision, especially given how important the subject matter is:  

Many viewers criticised the BBC’s continued employment of Westwood for two decades:  

Ultimately, the documentary was dismissed by many as just a snapshot of the rumours that have been widely circulated in the Black British community for years:  

If we really are to interrogate the way we platform older white men in positions of power, we need a longer, more in-depth investigative documentary that will bring allegations more to the fore: 

Significantly, though, the idea of Black women never being believed and viewed as adults – while still children themselves – is the unfortunate theme picked up by many commentators: 

Many hailed the women in the documentary as brave for speaking out against Westwood hoping it marked the start of a public reckoning for this once popular music figure: 

*Name has been changed

Tim Westwood: Abuse Of Power is airing on BBC One tonight at 10:40pm and is also available to watch on BBC iPlayer. 

Images: Getty