Sir Cliff Richard has begun legal action against the BBC and South Yorkshire Police after he was investigated over sex assault allegations.

Live television pictures, including shots from a helicopter, showed police searching Sir Cliff's Berkshire penthouse in August 2014 while he was on holiday.

It led to him being publicly named, but he was never arrested or charged.

Claims - relating to a period between 1958 and 1983 - were made by four men but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropped the case in June because of insufficient evidence.

Sir Cliff, 75, said he was "thrilled" and that he had always maintained his innocence over the "vile accusations".


The CPS last month dismissed a challenge by one of Sir Cliff's accusers who wanted a review of the decision.

Image: The police were shown searching Sir Cliff's apartment in Berkshire

A spokesman for the singer said today: "We can confirm that Sir Cliff today issued legal proceedings at the High Court against both SYP and the BBC. It would not be appropriate to comment further."

Legal papers filed at the High Court in London confirmed the legal action but did not provide more detail.

A BBC spokesman said: "While we haven't received any notification of action, we've said previously we are very sorry that Sir Cliff has suffered distress but we have a duty to report on matters of public interest and we stand by our journalism."

Sir Cliff's long-running career has seen him sell 250 million records - including Living Doll, Summer Holiday and 1988 Christmas number one Mistletoe And Wine.