ABC Documentary ‘Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator’ Will Recount the Entertainer’s Hidden Abuse and Rise to Fame

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is turning to one of the country’s most notorious cultural scandals for a new two-part documentary: Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator, which will premiere Tuesday, June 9.

Most pointedly, the series includes interviews with survivors who have never spoken publicly before. ABC says the film aims to trace Harris’ “double life,” following the path from suburban Perth to the upper reaches of British fame and influence while laying out the abuse that went on for decades behind that public image.

Before his collapse, Harris was a familiar presence across television, radio and the charts in the U.K., the U.S. and Australia. In America, “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963. In the U.K., “Two Little Boys” became the final No. 1 of the 1960s, while “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” peaked at No. 9 in 1960 and “Sun Arise” climbed to No. 3 in 1962. He later returned to the U.K. top 10 in 1993 with a cover of “Stairway to Heaven,” tied to the Australian TV show Money or the Gun, which reached No. 7.

His profile only grew from there. In the mid-2000s, he was commissioned to paint Queen Elizabeth II, and that sitting was turned into a documentary. He also moved easily through the highest levels of British life, collecting an OBE, MBE and CBE over time.

But the story that matters now is the one that overtook all of that. Harris was questioned and arrested in 2013 under Operation Yewtree, the investigation into sexual abuse involving figures from the English media elite, including Jimmy Savile. A trial followed in 2014, and he was found guilty of multiple indecent assaults on women and young girls between 1968 and 1986. He received a five-year-and-nine-month sentence, was released in 2017, and never apologized to the people he hurt. He also continued to deny wrongdoing.

Harris died in 2023 at 93. In announcing the documentary, ABC said, “In the years since, the silence that once protected him has begun to lift,” adding that the series “gives voice to those who were previously unable to, as they share their experience on their own terms.” The broadcaster also said his death “has finally lifted a veil of fear once cast by this powerful figure, and survivors who long feared retribution are at last able to speak.”

That reckoning extends beyond the U.K. Harris was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in his native country and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, before ARIA later removed his name from the record books. In Britain, he was made an Officer, Member and Commander of the Order of the British Empire across different points in his career.

Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator will air at 8.30pm AEST on ABC TV, with both episodes available to stream on ABC iView.