The writer and TV producer John Lloyd has said it "makes his blood run cold" to look back on a comedy sketch from 1980 that shows young children being abducted and put in a BBC van bound for a children's TV show hosted by Rolf Harris.

The disgraced Australian children's entertainer was sentenced to five years and nine months in jail last week for abusing girls as young as seven.

This week, a video clip from the satirical sketch show 'Not The Nine O'Clock News', which was written and co-produced by Lloyd, was widely shared on YouTube containing a joke about Harris's hit children's programme "Rolf on Saturday OK?".

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The sketch, which runs over the credits, features Rowan Atkinson and Mel Smith snatching children from the streets and bundling them into a van adorned with the name of Harris's programme.

The footage, first broadcast in December 1980 in episode seven, series three of the BBC comedy show, was described as "revealing" by online commentators and posted on the blog of the former Daily Telegraph columnist Norman Lebrecht with the caption: "Watch, and wonder. Who knew?"

Lloyd said that he and the team had been making a "pathetically mild" joke about how they "had to drum up an audience for a terrible Saturday show" - and that it was "awful" to look back on the video in the wake of Harris' sex abuse convictions.

He told The Independent: "It is extraordinary how spooky it is, it's almost prophetic.

"It makes the blood run cold to watch it now thinking about what he had done."

Lloyd said the sketch was run under the credits in the first place because it wasn't particularly strong - the producers' way of "not bigging it up too much" - but that it was a completely different experience to watch it now.

"It's not funny with hindsight - it's absolutely grotesque," he said.

The clip is described on YouTube as having been 'banned', but Lloyd insisted it hadn't been and rejected any suggestion that he or anyone on the writing team "knew" about Harris's abusive reputation.

He said: "There’s this idea that people who do satire are uncaring or cruel – but there was huge amounts of editorial discussion every week about where the line was and if we had crossed it.

"I’d never heard of anything about Harris, and even if I had it would beggar belief to do [this sketch] – the lawyers would be all over us."

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Lloyd, who is also known for his work on Spitting Image, Blackadder and QI, said that BBC controllers also watched Not the Nine O'Clock News output "like hawks", and said: "If there had been any rumours at all about Harris at that higher level they would have stopped [the sketch] straight away."

Shape Created with Sketch. Rolf Harris: A life in pictures Show all 20 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Rolf Harris: A life in pictures 1/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris in 'Stars on Sunday' TV Programme (1969 -1979) 2/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris and his daughter painting a wall together, 1967 3/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris on the 'Rolf Harris Show', 1973 4/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris in 1968 5/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris smiles during the 'The Rolf Harris Show' in 1973 6/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris with art book he wrote for children in London, 1978 7/20 Rolf Harris Australian entertainer Rolf Harris gets ready to blow his didgeridoo to promote a concert at Central Hall, Westminster, staged to raise money for research into cancer in children at the Royal Marsden Hospital. Keystone/Getty Images 8/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris sketches a picture of Bambi, 1986 9/20 Rolf Harris bbc 10/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris and his wife at the David Frost's Society Party in London, 2001 11/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris performing at Glastonbury 2010 Getty Images 12/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris performs in 'The Rolf Harris Show' in 1973 13/20 Rolf Harris "Rolf Harris" book signing in London, 2010 14/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris with his portrait of the Queen at a London art gallery in 2010 Getty Images 15/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris at the Daily Mirror's Pride Of Britain Awards 2012 in London 16/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris and his wife Alwen attend the Press & VIP preview at The Chelsea Flower Show at Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, 2010 Getty Images 17/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris surrounded by media leaves City of Westminster Magistrates Courts in London, 2013 18/20 Rolf Harris Entertainer Rolf Harris and his wife Alwen Hughes (L) arrive at Southwark Crown Court in central London, 6 May, 2014 Reuters 19/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris is surrounded by members of the media as he leaves Westminster Magistrates Court, in central London, 2013 20/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London, 27 June 2014 1/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris in 'Stars on Sunday' TV Programme (1969 -1979) 2/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris and his daughter painting a wall together, 1967 3/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris on the 'Rolf Harris Show', 1973 4/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris in 1968 5/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris smiles during the 'The Rolf Harris Show' in 1973 6/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris with art book he wrote for children in London, 1978 7/20 Rolf Harris Australian entertainer Rolf Harris gets ready to blow his didgeridoo to promote a concert at Central Hall, Westminster, staged to raise money for research into cancer in children at the Royal Marsden Hospital. Keystone/Getty Images 8/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris sketches a picture of Bambi, 1986 9/20 Rolf Harris bbc 10/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris and his wife at the David Frost's Society Party in London, 2001 11/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris performing at Glastonbury 2010 Getty Images 12/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris performs in 'The Rolf Harris Show' in 1973 13/20 Rolf Harris "Rolf Harris" book signing in London, 2010 14/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris with his portrait of the Queen at a London art gallery in 2010 Getty Images 15/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris at the Daily Mirror's Pride Of Britain Awards 2012 in London 16/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris and his wife Alwen attend the Press & VIP preview at The Chelsea Flower Show at Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, 2010 Getty Images 17/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris surrounded by media leaves City of Westminster Magistrates Courts in London, 2013 18/20 Rolf Harris Entertainer Rolf Harris and his wife Alwen Hughes (L) arrive at Southwark Crown Court in central London, 6 May, 2014 Reuters 19/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris is surrounded by members of the media as he leaves Westminster Magistrates Court, in central London, 2013 20/20 Rolf Harris Rolf Harris arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London, 27 June 2014

Since Harris's sentencing on Friday last week, more reports have emerged of allegations about his conduct - some of which will never now be put before a jury.

It was revealed on Friday that the Crown Prosecution Service will drop charges over claims Harris browsed websites featuring girls as young as 13 because it was "no longer in the public interest" to pursue a second trial.

Today it emerged that Harris's plumber claimed he found a stash of child sex abuse images under floorboards at a home owned by the entertainer in the late 1960s and early '70s.

And at the weekend the TV presenter Vanessa Feltz and the singer Linda Nolan separately claimed that Harris had sexually assaulted them live on TV and backstage at a concert.

Harris, 84, was jailed last week after being found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault against four victims between 1968 and 1985.