REMOVED, CLEARED, THEN CROWNED

Jim Davidson was preparing to enter the Celebrity Big Brother house in January 2013 when he was arrested at Heathrow Airport.

The comedian and former BBC presenter was questioned under Operation Yewtree over allegations dating back approximately 25 years. His solicitor said Davidson vigorously denied them and had cooperated fully with police.

He had been widely expected to appear in the new series of Celebrity Big Brother. Instead, he was absent when the programme launched. The arrest had intervened before any charging decision had been made.

Davidson was arrested for a second time in March after further allegations were reported. For months, his name appeared alongside an investigation associated in the public mind with some of Britain's most notorious offenders, although police stated that the claims against him were not connected to Jimmy Savile.

Davidson remained publicly accused but legally uncharged.

In August 2013, police confirmed that no further action would be taken. Davidson said he had been able to provide material that contradicted the accounts and demonstrated where he had been at relevant times. No criminal proceedings followed.

Five months later, he entered the next series of Celebrity Big Brother. The programme from which he had disappeared during the unresolved investigation now broadcast his return to public life.

On 29 January 2014, viewers voted Davidson the winner. After leaving the house, he said that he remained "slightly damaged" by what had happened, but that truth would ultimately prevail.

His victory did not prove that every viewer had reconsidered the allegations. A public vote is not a court judgment, just as an arrest is not a conviction.

But the sequence was unusually stark. Davidson was removed from one television moment when suspicion surrounded him. He returned to the same programme after police decided there would be no charges—and was chosen as its winner by the public.

The cancellation arrived at the start of the investigation. The reversal had to wait until the following series.

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