Chuckle Brother shock at Dave Lee Travis sex trial

One of the comic duo, who perform as the Chuckle Brothers, said it had come as a “complete shock” to him to hear claims that DJ Dave Lee Travis indecently assaulted a stagehand in a pantomime in which they had starred.

Paul, left, and Barry Elliott, aka The Chuckle Brothers. Picture: Contributed

The children’s television entertainers – real names Paul and Barry Elliott – shared the bill alongside Travis in Aladdin in 1990 where the alleged incident is said to have happened, London’s Southwark Crown Court yesterday heard.

Travis, 69, denies two counts of indecent assault and one of sexual assault.

Paul Elliott told the jury he never heard claims that Travis had been inappropriate with anyone. He said: “Never at all. The first that I heard about it was in the newspapers and it was a complete shock.”

He also dismissed suggestions female staff had to be chaperoned and told not to go to Travis’s room, saying: “Never saw anything like that. We were sharing the bill and we would have been told of anything that was going on.”

One of Travis’s alleged victims claims the former BBC Radio 1 and Top of the Pops host was interrupted by the Chuckle Brothers during the alleged assault, the prosecution has said.

Stephen Vullo QC, defending, asked if he had seen a stagehand come out of Travis’s room. He replied: “I never saw anything or had any suspicions.”

Also appearing at the trial was Dee Dee Wilde, a member of Pan’s People, the all-girl dance troupe on Top of the Pops, who said Travis was a professional “lovable big bear of a man” but sexual predator Jimmy Savile was “a rather nasty man”.

As a Radio 1 DJ up to 1993, Travis was a regular host on Top of the Pops host and a contemporary of Savile.

Ms Wilde said the dancers suffered bruised bottoms after relentlessly being pinched on a trip to Madrid.

Mr Vullo asked: “From what you know of Mr Travis, did he fall in to the category of a man who thought it was OK to pinch?”

Ms Wilde replied: “Absolutely not. In fact, you felt safe with Dave.”

In contrast, when recalling Savile, she said: “I felt totally uncomfortable in the presence of Jimmy Savile and so did the other girls as well.”

Ms Wilde, who set up Pan’s People, which performed on the show from 1968 to 1976, told the jury the dancers sometimes put up with the odd “very flirtatious” man who thought they could “try it on and so would try it on”.

Ms Wilde said of Travis: “I liked him tremendously. I did not see him do anything inappropriate in all the years I have known Dave.”

The trial continues.