Following a contentious restoration, the BBC has reinstalled Eric Gill’s Prospero and Ariel sculpture outside its London headquarters, reopening decades-old debates about art, legacy, and morality. The Grade II*-listed work, a fixture at Broadcasting House since 1933, was twice vandalized in recent years—first in 2022, then again in 2023—by a man who struck it with a hammer while reportedly shouting “paedophile.”
David Chick, 52, of Northamptonshire, pleaded not guilty to causing over £150,000 in damage during the 2023 incident. Already under investigation for attacking the same statue the previous year, he was released on conditional bail in March 2025 and barred from approaching within 100 meters of the artwork. His trial is set for May 2026 at Southwark Crown Court.
Gill, who died in 1940, remains one of Britain’s most celebrated 20th-century sculptors and typographers. Yet his posthumous reputation unravelled in the late 1980s when diaries exposed his sexual abuse of two daughters. The BBC, which commissioned the Shakespearean figures in the 1930s, stated it “in no way condones Gill’s abusive behaviour” but defended the restoration as a preservation of artistic heritage.
The £529,715 conservation—funded directly by the BBC—included repairs to the Portland stone façade and a new protective glass screen. A QR code added to the site directs viewers to contextual material about Gill’s crimes and the restoration process.
“There were no easy options after the criminal damage,” a BBC spokesperson told Artlyst, noting collaboration with Historic England and Westminster City Council. “We’ve balanced preservation with transparency.”
Duncan Wilson, CEO of Historic England, endorsed the approach: “Contested heritage demands nuanced engagement. The BBC’s solution—retaining the physical work while addressing its fraught history—offers a model for reinterpretation.”
Critics, however, argue the decision prioritises aesthetics over accountability. “This isn’t complexity—it’s complicity,” said art historian Dr. Priya Varma. “We wouldn’t tolerate a gallery wall label explaining a murderer’s brushwork.”
As the statue returns to its plinth, the question lingers: Can art be severed from the artist’s sins? For now, the BBC’s answer hangs in plain sight—shielded but still shadowed.
Image: Eric Gill’s Prospero and Ariel (1933)