ABC to Air Two-Part Rolf Harris Documentary Primetime Predator on June 9

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation will premiere a new two-part documentary on Rolf Harris on Tuesday, June 9, with survivors speaking publicly about his crimes for the first time.

Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator looks at the late entertainer’s public rise and private abuse, tracing his path from suburban Perth to fame and influence in the United Kingdom. The series is also set to examine the pattern of abuse that developed over decades behind the scenes.

Former television entertainer Rolf Harris arrives at Southwark Crown Court on May 22, 2017 in London, England. Convicted sex offender, Mr Harris, is currently on trial on four counts of alleged indecent assault against three teenagers between 1971 and 1983. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

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Before his downfall, Harris was a familiar name in television, radio and music in the U.K., the U.S. and Australia. His 1963 single “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the U.K., “Two Little Boys” was the final No. 1 of the 1960s, while “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” reached No. 9 in 1960 and “Sun Arise” hit No. 3 in 1962. In 1993, he returned to the U.K. top 10 when his cover of “Stairway to Heaven,” from the Australian TV show Money or the Gun, reached No. 7.

He was also commissioned in the mid-2000s to paint Queen Elizabeth II, a sitting later turned into a documentary.

Harris’s decline began in 2013, when he was questioned and arrested under Operation Yewtree, the investigation into sexual abuse involving figures from the English media elite, including the late Jimmy Savile. He was convicted in 2014 of multiple indecent assaults on women and young girls between 1968 and 1986 and sentenced to five years and nine months in prison. He was released in 2017. He denied wrongdoing and never apologised to his victims.

He died in 2023 at the age of 93. In a statement announcing the series, the ABC said, “In the years since, the silence that once protected him has begun to lift,” adding that the documentary “gives voice to those who were previously unable to, as they share their experience on their own terms.” The broadcaster also said Harris’s 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.”

Before the Yewtree investigation, Harris moved in Britain’s highest circles, where he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, a Member of the Order of the British Empire and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In Australia, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia and inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. ARIA has since removed his name from the record books.

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