"The Fall of an Untouchable" is the title of a documentary recently broadcast on France 2.

In fact, Patrick Poivre d'Arvor was untouchable throughout most of his career as a newsreader and TV presenter, which stretched back to the 1970s.

First and foremost thanks to his aura as the star announcer of the evening journal of the private broadcaster TF1.

Between 1987 and 2008, “PPDA”, as the seventy-four-year-old is called by his compatriots, commonly drew forty percent of viewers.

In addition to his main job as a newscaster, the urban gossip hero also made a name for himself as a host of cultural and literary programs.

But alongside the appeal of PPDA's mischievous smile and honeyed voice, the documentary also highlights his professional failings.

In the 1990s, for example, the journalist edited an “exclusive interview” with Fidel Castro from a press conference;

had a conversation with an alleged bodyguard of Saddam Hussein, who turned out to be an impostor;

and was convicted of embezzling company assets.

First lawsuit for rape

A much more serious affair has been smoldering around the - according to self-characterization - "woman lover and seducer" since the beginning of 2021 a first lawsuit for rape was filed against him.

The number of women accusing Poivre d'Arvor of sexual assault has reached a critical mass with the joint appearance of 20 prosecutors in a special broadcast by investigative web newspaper Mediapart on 10 May.

The allegations range from "inappropriate conduct in the professional environment" to "sexual harassment" and "sexual violence" to "rape" (in eight cases).

The cases are believed to have occurred between the 1980s and 2015;

the alleged victims are now between twenty-eight and sixty-three years old.

Most of them did not know each other before 2021.

Their testimonies consistently paint a picture of a "sex offender" who was constantly on the hunt, luring his victims with his fame and power and ending up abusing them.

Typically, he invited young editors, trainees or visitors to watch his TV show live.

Then he took her to his office, treated her to increasingly lewd questions and forced her to perform oral sex.

Those who refused were threatened with professional consequences.

There was a staggering abyss of power and prestige between Poivre d'Arvor and his alleged victims;

some were initially flattered by his interest;

plus the element of surprise.

Among the plaintiffs are two minors and a former anorexic,

Star journalist sees himself as a victim

The former star journalist sees himself as a victim of a "return of Puritanism, cleverly draped in the guise of alleged protection of women".

He sees himself as collateral damage to the "#MeToo crash wave" and its "excesses and derailments".

The plaintiffs lusted after media fame or were "feminists of the last hour who came to help a former colleague, a friend or simply a women's activist".

In his defence, Poivre d'Arvor quotes letters from four plaintiffs, each of which they wrote to him after the alleged assault.

The passages quoted do not sound like a traumatic encounter.

The case shows how difficult it is to deal with allegations of abuse.

Four months after the original 2021 class action lawsuit filed by eight women, the judiciary is closing the investigation.

The competent court found that seven of the lawsuits were time-barred, and the last one lacked evidence.

It should be noted that Poivre d'Arvor is presumed innocent.

But due to the accumulation of new testimonies, three more lawsuits have been filed against him, which the judiciary is investigating.

An investigating magistrate has taken on the 2021 lawsuit, and new investigations are underway.

"Mediapart" suspects a systemic failure at TF1.

Most of the attacks are said to have taken place in an office in the heart of the TV editorial office, surrounded by colleagues and assistants, sometimes with the door open.

But nobody wants to see anything