The new CEO of Channel 4, Priya Dogra, has apologized to the women who made the rape allegations which “deeply troubled” them. Married At First Sight UK (MAFS)but he stressed that the network “cannot investigate the allegations against these men.”
Dogra, who has been in the job for just two months, delivered his second press statement this morning at Channel 4’s annual report conference, where the focus was MAFS and faced many questions about this scandal.
Dogra refused to apologize yesterday after the BBC broadcast Panorama documentary and in-depth news article about MAFS allegations, but today he said he is sorry. Speaking, members of Parliament on the Culture, Media & Sport committee contacted Channel 4 with many questions about this issue.
“I have heard women’s accounts, which are very troubling,” said Dogra, who commissioned an external review of Channel 4’s handling of the incident. MAFS allegations to be reported later this summer. “Their distress is palpable and for that I am very sorry.”
Dogra said Panorama “it was hard to watch” and “it was hard to hear women talk about their experiences.” Yesterday, his predecessor Alex Mahon called the allegations “very serious and worrying,” and said they “deserve another look.”
These allegations include two counts of rape and one count of non-consensual sexual activity. The three suspects accused of wrongdoing deny the charges, while Channel 4, which says it was made aware of the allegations a few weeks before Monday night. Panorama, and the producers of CPL Productions, said social contracts were followed. However, Channel 4 has commissioned two external reviews, one from a legal firm “examining the welfare provisions in place at the time of the claims” and the other from BBC One Controller Lorraine Heggessey, who is investigating whether “any changes should be made to the current agreements MAFS UK.”
Dogra emphasized today that Channel 4 “cannot investigate the allegations against these men, which they deny.”
“We are a broadcaster, we are not a judge, allegations of this kind are investigated by other agencies, including when complaints are filed, the police,” said Dogra. “What I could do, and did, is send an external review, which I did a few days after I was first contacted by the BBC in April.” His comments came a day after the Metropolitan Police urged the victims of the scheme to come forward.
Dogra explained the reports that MAFS UK was canceled as “totally inappropriate” and said the network “can’t make a ‘decision'” on season six until reviews are complete. That season is “heavily filmed and still being edited right now,” according to chief content officer Ian Katz. “Obviously we’ll see if there are any recommendations from the reviews when we get them,” he added.
“Jigsaw identification”
Channel 4 took it all MAFS UK catalog back down before Panorama and Dogra said this was done in part “with great caution” to avoid “speculation that could lead to a jigsaw puzzle of women Panorama program or any other participants.” “That’s why this program was dropped and I believe it’s a job that should be done under the circumstances,” he said.
Katz, who is about to step down after nearly a decade as Channel 4’s chief content officer, said he was “very confident that, based on the information we had at the time, we made the right decisions and ensured that the women involved were kept safe if any issues were brought to our attention and given the right support.”
According to BBC News, one of the women who accused her husband on the screen of rape showed MAFS social team his bruises and told them everything, except the alleged attack itself.
Reflecting on examples like these, Katz admitted there was a “gap” between Channel 4 feeling they had “made the right decisions” and “a situation where you have participants who have gone through the program and feel very depressed.”
“I think if you talk to anyone who has worked with me, you will know that I personally care about the well-being of the people who participate in our programs, and in all my hours here, I have put the well-being of donors at the absolute center of our mission,” he added. So, when people attend one of our shows and come out feeling like they’re not being taken care of, I think that’s a mistake.
Three external welfare reviews have been conducted during Katz’s tenure, some MAFS, one on the suicide of true crime producer John Balson and the behavior of Escape to the Chateau hosts Dick and Angel Strawbridge.
In response to a question from Deadline, Katz denied that Channel 4 has a wider social welfare problem and said the review “is evidence of how seriously we take those problems and allegations, and how hard we look at them.”
He noted that Balson and Strawbridge’s review found “we did the right things and took the right steps at the right time.” Balson’s review found that Channel 4 had acted “reasonably and appropriately” in its duty of care before the producer took his own life. Channel 4 cut ties with Strawbridges after that review.
“Financial pressures” did not lead us MAFS, Dogra said
Dogra and Katz were speaking candidly to the media about today’s Channel 4 Annual Report.
Dogra declined to comment on the axing MAFS will hit a milestone for Channel 4 and “challenge the perception” that financial pressures are forcing the network to green-light popular reality shows such as MAFS.
“We generate over £1B ($1.34B) in revenue and have invested £600M of that in our plans,” he added. “We have a diverse range of initiatives, and our job is to continue to invest in the UK arts sector and manage all the other costs we get from the company. I don’t think that’s any different to any other business, especially not any other media business.”
Channel 4’s revenue was the lowest for the full year 2025, while we continued to post a pre-tax deficit of around £10M and spent £640M on content.
The network today revealed it has renewed its £150M credit facility for the next five years on “competitive terms…
Channel 4 highlights from 2025 inclusive Virgin Island, Patience again Mitchell and Webb Assist.
Surprisingly, the press release announcing Channel 4’s success did not mention it MAFS. However, the Annual Report, which was apparently published before the allegations were discovered, called for the latest season of MAFS “It’s Channel 4’s most broadcast show of the year – it was broadcast a lot MAFS UK constant series (up 10% in 2024).
