Graham Fletcher-Cook’s widow is fighting the BBC for £800,000 compensation, claiming he was poisoned by asbestos dust while filming BBC shows as a child.
Graham, whose the older brother Dexter Fletcher directed Rocketman, had roles as a child in many big films including Bugsy Malone, Sid and Nancy, Cry Freedom and The French Lieutenant’s Woman.
He sadly died in May 2019, aged 55, after developing the asbestos-related lung cancer mesothelioma.
The star was diagnosed with mesothelioma in February 2018 and died just 15 months later.
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And his widow, Jeanette Monero, who is a film SFX artist, is suing the BBC for £800,000 damages, claiming her husband was exposed to hazardous asbestos fibres while working on BBC show sets, at Television Centre, in White City as well as BBC Bristol, and Shepperton, as a young actor.
“During the course of his work with the BBC, he was regularly brought into contact with substantial quantities of asbestos dust,” his widow’s QC Michael Rawlinson claims in court papers.
“The sets were often constructed from fireproof insulation board containing asbestos dust,” he continued.
During filming, sets were often “modified” or moved by technicians while Mr Fletcher was close at hand.
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“Cutting of the boards in particular would create a heavy exposure,” the barrister added.
Despite the risks, Mr Fletcher was not warned of the hazards or provided with a face mask by the BBC, who were negligent in failing to keep safe his place of work, it is alleged.
Ms Monero says the BBC was on notice that there was “no safe level of exposure to respirable asbestos dust”.
“The BBC specifically knew this, since it had broadcast at least one programme on this topic prior to the commencement of Mr Fletcher’s work with them,” claimed Mr Rawlinson.
The BBC accepts that Mr Fletcher worked for it as a child and then young actor between 1974 and 1986, but insists that he was self-employed and that his roles were “irregular”.
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BBC bosses are denying liability and suggest that any exposure may have occurred while Mr Cook attending Creighton Comprehensive School, in Muswell Hill, north London as a child in the 1970s.
They are also disputing the £800,000 compensation claimed by Monero at the High Court.
Defence lawyers say Mr Fletcher only worked for around 15 days “in studio”, and with relatively little time spent on set.
They also insist that sets were almost all made of wood and timber, with asbestos in minimal use.
“In general, if there was any extended break for scenery to be fabricated Mr Fletcher would have been stood down to the Green Room,” argues defence QC David Platt in court documents.
Part of his widow’s £800,000 case is based on claims that he would have carved out a highly successful directing career from the age of 55, turning out a movie every three years.
The case reached court for a brief pre-trial hearing last week, pending a full trial of the claim at a later date.