$1 Million Bail Or Bill Cosby Remain In Custody Pending Trial

TV show comedian Bill Cosby is accused of aggravated indecent assault and has now been arraigned (formally charged).

He made a brief appearance before a judge in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, but entered no plea during the hearing. He will remain free on £674,000 ($1million) bail pending trial.

This is the first time criminal charges have been brought against the US entertainer after more than 50 women came forward to claim he assaulted them.

The announcement sets the stage for a Hollywood celebrity trial which could potentially result in prison for the 78-year-old in the twilight of his life.

Bill Cosby has previously denied all the allegations against him.

In bringing the case, Montgomery County district attorney Risa Vetri Ferman overruled her predecessor, who declined to charge Cosby in 2005 when Andrea Constand first told police he assaulted her at his mansion outside Philadelphia.

Prosecutors say the TV star urged the former Temple University employee to take pills and drink wine in 2004.

Ms Constand, now 42, was "frozen, paralysed, unable to move," Montgomery County District Attorney-elect Kevin Steele said.

Cosby acknowledged under oath a decade ago that he had sexual contact with Ms Constand, but said it was consensual.

Charges were announced just days before the 12-year statute of limitations for bringing charges was set to run out.

Prosecutors reopened the case over the summer after testimony was unsealed in Ms Constand's related civil lawsuit against Cosby and dozens of other women came forward with similar accusations.