I wasn’t a great fan of Craig McLachlan, the show-business personality. I knew him mostly for his television ‘look-at-me’ appearances and his part in that disgusting musical, ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ – that corrupt bit of musical slime, aimed at the youth.
That was until I saw McLachlan in ‘The Doctor Blake Mysteries’. His performance – getting into the character of Doctor Blake – made him for me unrecognisable as Craig McLachlan. Is this really Craig McLachlan? I asked myself. It ranks among the best acting performances I have seen on Australian television.
So, it was tremendously disappointing when the series was forced to shut down due to yet another disputed accusation against a man for sexual misconduct. The background to the shutdown, and the reason one of the best acting performances ended, is explained by Bettina Arndt in the article below.
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Craig McLachlan under siege
– Not guilty but still under attack by the feminist mob.
Bettina Arndt, Apr 09, 2026
Over this month the Melbourne Comedy Festival will feature three women performing sketches celebrating “small moments in life that make us laugh.” These supposedly funny skits include a send up of a 2020 court case where one of Australia’s best-known entertainers, Craig McLachlan, was found not guilty of 13 charges of indecent assault and assault.
It’s hardly comedy gold. Particularly when one of the “funny” women was the star accuser — whose claims were shredded in court.
You would have thought this woman would be hanging her head in shame. But no. She’s out there claiming the court got it wrong.
That’s despite the fact that the magistrate awarded costs against the police. With the exception of cases which are withdrawn, costs are very rarely awarded against the police in criminal prosecutions. For a court to do so, it must have considered that it was an unmeritorious prosecution; in other words, charges should never have been laid in the first place. Victorian police ultimately paid out half a million dollars which is the highest payout ever against the police in Victoria!
This is confirmation that the allegations made by this witness and her fellow complainants didn’t stand up. All 13 charges were dismissed, and the police were forced to write Craig a fat $500,000 apology cheque.