Craig McLachlan

 ( 1965 Births ) 

McLachlan subsequently left the 2018 production of The Rocky Horror Show. Victoria Police announced they were investigating complaints from two of the women.

McLachlan filed defamation suits against the ABC and Fairfax Media in February 2018; he also named Whelan Browne in a defamation suit. Producers of The Doctor Blake Mysteries announced that production would be temporarily suspended pending the outcome of investigations. The production company, December Media, "cleared the actor of any misconduct" during the show's run. In April, it was announced McLachlan would not be returning to the series.

McLachlan's defamation case was due to be heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 4 February 2019; however, the suit was postponed pending the outcome of the related criminal proceedings. On 11 January 2019, Victoria Police charged him with one count of common assault, eight counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted indecent assault. At a hearing in April 2019 it came to light that one of the indecent assault charges had been dropped and that the case would be determined by a magistrate alone. In November 2019, a contested hearing of the charges began, with Stuart Littlemore as defence lawyer.

The magistrate described McLachlan's evidence as contrived and his emotions as "not seeming genuine", also characterising the women who gave evidence as "brave and honest witnesses". "Actor Craig McLachlan's courtroom singing 'unnecessary', magistrate says" by Caroline Schelle, news.com.au, 18 December 2020 The magistrate also said that McLachlan likely touched the women while they were performing, but that she the was not persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt he knew they were not consenting. During the course of the trial, McLachlan's lawyers argued:

The hearing ended on 15 December 2020 with McLachlan acquitted on all charges, and McLachlan subsequently received $500,000 in costs from Victoria Police to pay his legal fees.

In May 2021, Seven News' Spotlight programme claimed that the ABC had "manipulated" McLachlan's accusers when it interviewed the women in 2018. The programme showed ABC journalists (off camera) appearing to coach the accusers by offering specific words and phrases for them to say in their interview, such as "predatory" and "power imbalance".Archived at Ghostarchive and the target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Wayback Machine: The ABC rejected those claims. McLachlan filed a defamation suit against the ABC and Nine newspapers over media reports of the 2014 Rocky Horror Show tour allegations for which he had been tried and acquitted. On 15 May 2021, fresh allegations were made about the actor's behaviour, including from Jeanne Downs, a former UK television star who accused the actor of groping her live while a guest on her popular children's show in 1990. McLachlan applied to discontinue the suit ten days into the trial, on the same day the defence was set to begin calling witnesses, upon learning his acquittal in the criminal matter would be withheld from the jury.