Original subtitles

Being famous made him feel powerful.

I hate him. I want to vomit.

He lifted my top up and sucked on my breast.

Abuse of power, undoubtedly.

That needs to stop.

I went to the downstairs toilet next to the kitchen and that's when he followed

me and tried to kiss me.

I remember he just shoved his tongue in my mouth.

I just...

I hadn't ever experienced anything like that before.

He has that power. It makes you feel small, it makes you feel weak.

If you have celebrity status, why can you not get women closer to your age

range? Someone shouldn't be on television, shouldn't have a publishing

deal, shouldn't have all this power, all this influence.

I would plead with me to share a bed with him, trying to coerce me into

sleeping with him.

There was an envelope that I later opened that had £300 in.

She said, oh, there's your hush money.

He used the fame to get women and it angers me that he

is still on TV as famous as he is. It's disgusting.

And tonight, my jungle-bound friend, is an extra special night because the

Comedy Awards is 15 years old.

It's 15 years old.

It's drunk, it's unpredictable, and it's probably going home with David Walliams.

When we met, I was 15, and he was promising to help me and to guide me.

I was 18.

I was quite vulnerable, coming from quite a vulnerable situation as a young

adult and in a vulnerable place, and I think he saw that and thought, I might

be...

easy to manipulate.

I was only a 15-year-old. When you see someone on telly, you sort of feel like

you know them already in a way. So you sort of feel, well, it'll be fine, won't

it? It makes me quite comfortable that I met him as a child when it's something

he's been doing with a number of young women multiple times.

I was just kind of, like, naive when I was 18, if I'm honest.

I think all of this should have come out a long time ago.

And how old are you, Will?

18. And how old are you, Daniel?

17. And how old are you, Daniel? 16.

Bingo.

You're a big boy for 16, aren't you, eh?

That's what I'll tell the judge.

David Walliams is an entertainer who's defined British culture for decades.

But I'm a lady. I don't have testicles.

Playing and toying with different personas is what he's built his career

on.

Laughed at on stage.

Watched week after week on television.

He's got a little bit just dribbling down your chin.

Not for the first time.

What? His books, read by millions of children.

who hasn't been to the dentist for a very long time.

For more than three years, ITV News and The Guardian have been investigating

David Walliams and uncovered serious allegations against him.

Multiple women accuse him of exploiting his power as a celebrity to prey on them

for sexual purposes when they were teenagers or young women.

Dozens more sources say they experienced or saw evidence of behaviour they allege

was inappropriate.

Walliams denies the allegations.

He was a figure of authority to me and someone that I looked to for guidance

and help.

And he used that power and abused that power the minute he felt he just about

could.

Alex had gone to a Little Britain signing in London when she met Walliams.

Her mum was with her and took this photograph.

The first thing he said to me was, oh, you're a very attractive lady.

I remember him just staring into my eyes the entire time.

It felt like he didn't blink and it was just really intense.

Which soup do you want for your tea?

That one.

That one?

Walliams was a hero of Alex's. She wanted to work in the comedy industry,

so gave him some sketches she'd written, along with a covering letter with her

contact details on.

A few days later, he called her.

I was home from school and the house phone rang and I picked it up.

And he said, hi Alex, it's David Walliams off the telly.

Alex was studying for her mock GCSEs. She was 15.

Walliams was 32.

He said, so when are your exams?

She made a record of their conversation and kept it. Her notes show that night

they discussed her age several times and she says Walliams offered to get her

work experience with him.

He said, right, so what, you're 15, 16?

I said, I'm 16 in May.

He said, I'm sure you're a very clever girl.

I said, no.

He said, no, I think you are. You're very smart and clever.

He said he thought my scripts are very funny.

He also said if you've got any new scripts or info, email them to me.

It's really hard to read.

I was just, like, full of hope.

and excitement in terms of my career and that someone thought that I was good.

He was doing that to, you know, ultimately try and sleep with me.

Alex says they spoke for an hour and at the end of that call, Walliams gave her

his email address after she reassured him she wouldn't pass it on.

He said that he trusts me.

Said not to give it to anyone.

She then sent Williams an email thanking him for reading her scripts and for

phoning her.

Later, he sent a postcard to her home address.

It was addressed to me and, like, a heart and then David and a kiss and,

like, keep in touch, keep up the writing.

Walliams was keen to stay in touch but preferred to speak rather than email.

Alex felt encouraged so sent him multiple sketches over several months.

Despite first being enthusiastic to help, Walliams later replied saying he

could not respond but wished her luck.

And in March 2005 he asked her to stop sending him any more of her work.

He was the one spending hours on the phone to me, like telling me and

promising me that I could do all this stuff.

And then he'd shut it down, which was confusing for me because he had been so

approachable and chatty before and I just didn't want to let a connection go.

Computer says no.

Their communication was happening when Little Britain was at the peak of its

fame, and Walliams' dating habits were the butt of jokes.

And tonight, my jungle-bound friend, is an extra special night, because the

Comedy Awards is 15 years old. It's 15 years old.

And I told 15-year-olds it's drunk, it's unpredictable, and it's probably going

home with David Walliams.

We understand Jonathan Ross didn't write that joke only delivered it

David is gonna have to train for nine grueling months the following autumn

Walliams began training to swim the channel for comic relief Charity a major

part of his public image Also that October in one of their email

exchanges Walliams asked about Alex's age again

She told him she was still writing and joked back that she was now old enough

to drink but was in fact only 17.

She mentioned what she was doing at college and in several emails sent him

some recent photographs of herself.

In another email he asked her how much school she had left.

Next came compliments and requests for more pictures.

Alex then told him what she planned to do that evening.

One minute later, Walliams replied, you in the bath is a nice thought.

She responded,

Alex was 17, he was 34.

Then, at Walliams' suggestion, their conversation moved to the telephone.

And that, to me, was like...

That was when it really, like, properly shifted.

And then I remember that evening we spoke on the phone and, yeah, the tone

had massively become sexual.

Hello, I'm Scott instead of Chris and this is Matt Lucas and David Walliams

off of Little Britain. The morning after that call with Alex, Walliams was on BBC

Radio with Scott Mills.

You know what your image is, it's kind of womaniser.

And when you meet...

people do the blokes try and keep you away from the girlfriend what some sort

of rabbit animal yeah no no i'm a gentleman but no i just i love the

company of women you see he was asking for photos at first i just sent photos

of my face and then it was photos of my underwear and then he would put a lot of

pressure on me he was telling me how to pose and then actually be naked

I felt that he was asking for more than I felt comfortable with.

I hadn't done that before and I could really feel the imbalance at that point

already.

David Walliams says he does not recall and does not believe he asked Alex to

send him sexual pictures of herself.

And says he also believed she was 18 when they were emailing in 2005.

Nearly two years after their initial meeting, Alex and the comedian met in

person again, this time at his house.

I remember him just being this quite, like, glooming figure. He's a big guy.

I remember him coming at me and kissing me. It was a really pushy kiss.

I remember he just shoved his tongue in my mouth.

I just... I hadn't ever experienced anything like that before.

And then I just kind of followed his lead, really.

We went on his bed, and yeah, we had sex.

I remember he didn't use a condom.

I remember clocking it and feeling a bit like, that's not good.

But I was too young.

I really didn't, I really don't think I would have had the ability to get the

words out at that point to say, don't do that.

It just felt very pushy and very for him.

I felt like a prostitute, essentially.

You know, I was there for that reason and then I was out.

Between the ages of 15 and 18, Walliams offered Alex tickets to Little Britain

shows and got her backstage passes.

She says she had consensual sex with him on three separate occasions at his home

when she was 17 and 18.

One of those was oral sex.

Walliams denies he was pushy towards Alex, finds the suggestion distressing

and says she raised no concerns at the time. He also says he cannot recall but

believes he used a condom and that each time they had sex, he believed she was

18.

You were 17.

The sex was legal.

Having sex at the point that we did was technically legal.

But you have to look at the context of how we met and the process to get up to

that point.

We met when I was 15.

He was a figure of authority to me and someone that I looked to for guidance

and help.

And he used that power and abused that power the minute he felt he just about

could.

just about safe to yeah okay it's legal to have sex when you're 17 18 16 even

but the context of who you are having sex with if if that person is double

your age if that person has promised you things and is in a much bigger position

of power than you both in age in work in finance and in stature and size like

everything i really don't think that's okay i never said no

but

I felt unable to say anything or have any control in that situation once I was

with him. I can see by your eyes and your facial expression, it's totally

changing at this point.

I want to vomit.

I hate him.

Even after she distanced herself from Walliams, Alex says he continued to

pursue her and ask for sex for nearly two more years.

But she refused.

Looking back now, Alex is clear about what she feels happened.

My body reacts when I think about it. It's like a trauma response.

I think I was groomed 100%. David Walliams denies grooming Alex.

He claims he wrote to her at 15 to encourage her writing.

He does not recall offering her tickets to his shows or work experience.

He says he is mortified to learn that their brief consensual relationship has

caused her sadness.

Because you always seem to be in the paper with different women.

Yeah. How do you pick them up?

Just meet them out. At this point in his career, Walliams' public relationships

with women were often joked about.

You're a bit like an illegal taxi driver.

You lure them into a false sense of security and then you pounce.

Well, a lot of these ladies are just friends of mine.

Jade was not a friend of his. She too was a teenager when she met Walliams.

a teenager who'd had a difficult childhood.

I didn't want to be touched in that way at all. I mean, I was only a 15-year

-old.

Early in 2007, Little Britain Live had been on tour.

Walliams got in touch with Jade a few months later.

For today's assembly, I've arranged something a little bit special.

She says he reached out to her on social media and her date of birth was on her

profile page.

I was 15 and I was sitting on MySpace in the evening.

I commented on a picture of his and I was basically agreeing with other

comments. It wasn't directly to him.

I received a message just to say, like, thanks for the comment.

a direct message, a private message, and then he signs it with D with a kiss.

I ignored it because I thought he just sort of said that to everyone.

Why would he want to talk to me?

And then about 10 minutes later, I received another one just to say, are

you there?

And that's when I replied to him.

He asked for my number and he called me within about 10 minutes.

He called from a withheld number.

Jade says their contact then moved to email, the same email address Walliams

had used with Alex.

You get this celebrity approaching you.

That's a whole different level of attention.

Then you think, oh, I must be a bit special in a way.

Shortly after William's 36th birthday, Jade was in London and she says they

arranged to meet in Soho.

She was 15.

And yeah, I went in and just sat with him at the table.

I was very, very shy.

I was quite quiet.

So it was a lot of him sort of asking questions and things.

It was a bit about school, but it wasn't long until he asked me if I'd ever had

sex before.

I said I hadn't. I didn't like talking about that sort of stuff.

Jade says she confided in Walliams that she'd been sexually abused when she was

younger. A short time later, she told us he suggested they leave.

There was this, I'm going to say, alleyway, and he took me down there to

say bye.

He didn't push me up to the wall, but sort of...

edged sort of into this sort of corner where we couldn't be seen.

And that's when he kissed me.

His tongue was used.

It was... I don't want to use the word aggressive, but it was quite... He was

excited.

Jade told us Walliams then invited her back to his house and she agreed to go.

I think I was still naive to what he wanted to happen.

I didn't think he would want sex, especially that quickly.

His car was parked at the Brewer Street car park and then we drove to his house.

It was an Aston Martin, like a nice greeny sort of colour.

We went into a side door of the house and he was leaning up against the

counter.

I just went silent.

So he asked me to come over and gave me a hug.

That's when he kissed me again.

I hate this bit.

He lifted my top up and sucked on my breast and then tried to put my hand

down his trousers.

And that's when I pulled away and said no.

He had an erection at the time.

I wasn't ready for sex.

I didn't want to do that with him or with anyone.

I didn't want to be touched in that way at all. I mean, I was only a 15-year

-old. What was his response at that point?

He said that we should wait until I'm 16 and then said to keep in contact.

I remember him saying that.

That comment will always stick out in my mind. Even at the time when I got a bit

older, that's a very strange thing to say.

He obviously wanted that one thing.

She left William's house that day and didn't see him again, but says the

impact of that experience has stayed with her for 19 years.

Jade doesn't want his books in her house.

I've told my kids not to read them.

There was one point, and I did feel a little bit bad.

My son was reading it in school with his class, and I said to him, I'm not really

comfortable with that.

I struggle with it.

Sometimes, if I think about it a bit too much, about the reality of what

happened, it's a sexual assault.

It's a grooming.

It's completely wrong in every way.

If you look to your left, you'll see spine.

If you look to your right, you'll see spine.

When you see someone on the TV, you sort of think you know them in a way and you

don't expect that sort of thing.

I think you trust them more, don't you?

So I think it was, in a way, maybe a little more of a shock, I suppose, that

he can use that to do that sort of thing. He has that power.

It makes you feel small, it makes you feel weak.

Walliams denies he had any sexual contact with Jade.

He rejects any allegations of criminal activity and says he has never engaged

in the grooming of young women.

Jade and Alex say they continue to feel anxious about what happened to them, so

want us to protect their identities.

They believe Walliams used his celebrity status to make contact with them, which

they claim later became sexual.

Other women feel he abused his position to pursue them too.

They describe their experiences with Walliams as damaging.

Can you just say your name so I can put it on tape, please?

Lily Cratemore.

Lily is one of those women.

She wants to be seen.

When we were 18, as young women, we were in a time where men were men,

they did what they did, and you just had to find a way to survive that, you know?

You were hardened to it. It's just what men did, right? But now we know that

that's not what men should do.

William spotted Lily in the audience at a Little Britain recording, but he'd

also seen her before on television.

She'd appeared on the show Model Behaviour when she was 16.

Growing up, her mum had mental health problems, so she lived in foster care or

with her grandparents.

David had tracked down the production company and asked the production company

for my personal details, my contact address.

They'd resisted, but he'd persisted.

Walliams then sent her this card.

He'd also run into her at a lingerie event.

When I saw you at the Little Britain recording, I was enraptured.

Then when I saw you in Asian Provocateur, I so wanted to speak to

you, but amongst all the frilly knickers, I couldn't find the words.

I'd love to take you out sometime.

I know...

we've never spoken but you seem lovely david williams

lily was a big comedy fan and agreed to meet

him at one point she stayed at his house when she had nowhere else to live

definitely crossing a line physically in moments when i was young

trying to coerce me into sleeping with him would plead with me to share a bed

with him

and you know poor at me you know trying to almost make me feel sorry for him or

something lily refused to ever have sex with him definitely

said no numerous times when i was staying with him those first few days it

became apparent that i didn't feel safe there and it wasn't a good situation so

i needed to go stay somewhere else yeah pursuing me when i was at a vulnerable

age

and placed in my life for sexual gratification.

They stayed in contact on and off for five years.

She said he promised to help her build a career in photography and introduce her

to artists.

He even took her to a celebrity party.

There's no suggestion any of the people in this picture knew of Walliams'

alleged wrongdoing.

But looking at it now isn't easy for Lily.

I'm obviously really uncomfortable there.

Poor baby.

What is it that you're accusing him of?

Grooming. Grooming me. I was a young adult, but yeah, I was a vulnerable

young adult.

Making me feel special, plying me with gifts, and then sort of

disregarding me when he wasn't getting what he wanted.

I do remember him once messaging me, oh, you've been such a good friend, you've

never gone to the papers about me.

So he obviously knew what he was doing was wrong and inappropriate.

Walliams says he does not remember messaging Lily and did not act

inappropriately or target her because she was vulnerable or young.

He believed their friendship was special and he denies his offers of help or

gifts were to groom, manipulate or coerce her into sleeping with him.

and feels devastated by her account daily mirror readers and itv viewers

have voted you britain's most inspiring public figure

during the time lily knew williams he was awarded

a pride of britain award and he went to buckingham palace to be honored by the

late queen for being one of britain's top achievers

He was a household name.

Little Britain was massive.

So to have his voice on the other end of the phone was beyond surreal.

Ella was another model, another teenager Walliams had seen, this time in a

magazine. He got her number from her agent, then out of the blue he left her

a voicemail.

It said something to the effect of, you know, this is David Walliams, I'm a

great admirer of yours from afar, I would love to take you to dinner.

Flattered a celebrity wanted to meet her, Ella agreed, as long as she could

take a friend.

I was quite a sheltered 19-year-old, having recently moved to London.

On the one hand, I thought he was likely gay.

On the other hand, it was just so tempting because I'd never met a

celebrity before.

Walliams then sent a handwritten card and flowers to Ella's student house and

invited her to a party at his home with other celebrities.

I'd picked up on the fact that these...

You know, these quite high profile celebrities felt uncomfortable in my

friend's presence.

And one of the guest's wives did pull me aside at one point and was like, you

know, you're very young. Be careful. Be careful.

Ella says Walliams insisted on showing her around his house.

He kept being really persistent about giving me this grand tour of his house.

He was really, really persistent.

And I was just like, no, no, I don't want to see your stupid house.

Eventually, I relented. And then I remember walking into his bedroom with

him, feeling him come up really close behind me.

I turned around and his hands were placed at either side of the window. And

he's a big man.

It's quite intimidating.

And he lent him for a kiss.

I just remember being going and ducking underneath his arm, running away.

I felt vulnerable and I felt intimidated and I felt like I wanted to get away

from him.

I would have been scared if I'd been on my own with him.

I'll never forget this because it was one of the most surreal

things that's ever happened to me.

I remember him coming to sit next to me and he just lay down.

put his huge head on my lap and, you know, holding my face and saying,

please don't leave, please don't leave, please stay with me. And he was begging

me to stay.

And this went on for a while and we kept insisting that we wanted to leave.

And then something shifted in him.

I can't remember what he said, but it was basically like, get out.

What's making you sit there and talk to me about this and what's your

motivation, I suppose?

My overwhelming emotion is relief.

I know my story fits a certain pattern.

Abuse of power, undoubtedly.

William says after making what he describes as a clumsy pass at Ella, he

made no further approaches.

He denies putting his head in her lap.

He claims he had no intention of intimidating or making Ella feel

uncomfortable.

The boy in the dress.

You can show people.

That's quite beautiful.

Would you like to see what he's put in the book? Never mind, this is a

children's book.

William's writing career took off the same year he met Ella, in 2008.

And he published his first children's book.

When I sign them for children at shops, I won't be doing that.

Then four years later, Walliams' profile increased even more when he joined

Britain's Got Talent as a judge.

Unfortunately,

I do have a complaint.

It was too good.

He was by this stage a married man.

And appearing on television every Saturday night, attracting another

legion of young fans.

Fans like Sarah, who also thinks Walliams used his fame to strike up a

relationship with her.

If you have celebrity status, why can you not get women closer to your age

range?

Is it for manipulation?

Sarah was invited to a Britain's Got Talent show by a friend of hers who'd

been chatting to Walliams on social media from the age of 17.

Sarah was studying media at college.

I grew up watching Britain's Got Talent with my mum, my sister and my dad and

stuff.

So I was like, it'd be cool to go and watch the show.

I was just kind of along for the ride.

As guests of Walliams, Sarah and her friend were given special seats behind

the judges and had their photograph taken.

Within hours of the show finishing, Walliams then found Sarah on social

media too.

We were at the train station and we were just on the platform waiting for the

train and then my phone just pinged.

And then he'd message me to go back the next day.

It was just weird.

It was just a weird situation and I was just, I can't believe I'm being invited

to this and I'd be stupid to say no.

He was like, come to my hotel and...

We'll get some food and then I'll take you over to Britain's Got Talent.

Sarah took some photographs when she was there.

Afterwards, she thanked Walliams.

He suggested they keep in contact and for her to email him.

She was keen and responded.

Walliams then asked Sarah for her email address and to tell him when she might

next travel to London.

She was considering studying in the capital.

Walliams made another suggestion.

He then was like, if you think of moving down here, you can come over, stay at

mine, and think about how you feel about London.

I said to him, I'll only come on the condition that my friend comes.

I wouldn't even say I felt apprehensive or anything like that.

It's like this is going to be fun.

And then he told us that he booked us for a spa day on the Sunday and we'll

like have drinks and food and we'll watch films and it'll be like a fun

little weekend.

That was literally all I thought it was going to be.

I was so innocent.

As well as paying for their expensive spa treatments, Walliams had bought food

and drink he knew Sarah liked.

My favourite alcohol is rosé.

So he had bought alcohol, he had bought my wine.

She says the situation then changed.

He was stroking my leg on the sofa, but I was like, oh, like it's not that bad

in terms of what he could be doing.

I went to the downstairs toilet next to the kitchen, and that's when he followed

me.

He kind of put his arms around the back of my waist, like, pulled me in towards

him and tried to kiss me.

I was like, I've got a boyfriend, like, you can't, you can't do that.

After that, Sarah realised she'd drunk too much and hours later the girls tried

to go to bed.

We got to the third floor.

He tried to take me to the fourth.

My friend grabbed my other hand.

And then we went into our rooms on the third.

Not being from London, she remembers not feeling able to leave the house.

I didn't know where I was.

I could have run out of the door. I wouldn't have known where I was.

I wouldn't have known who to call. I wouldn't have known what to do.

Walliams refutes the suggestion he got Sarah drunk to take advantage of her and

does not recall anyone being drunk.

He says he did not force himself onto Sarah and denies there was any sexual

contact with her.

He maintains both women were friendly the next day and did not raise any issue

with him.

I just thought, what a weird old man, like trying his luck.

But looking back, I think he wanted something sexual.

I would definitely say he used his status in celebrity.

In the weeks that followed, Walliams continued to message Sarah's friend,

asking if Sarah was interested in him, because she'd stopped all contact.

Eight months later, Sarah's friend received a letter from the television

star's lawyers at the time.

Walliams says he believed Sarah's friend was planning to sell a false story to

the papers.

Let us be absolutely clear.

You are at a significant risk of committing a serious civil offence

should you disclose to the press or any other third party private information

concerning our client.

Should you disclose our client's private information, he will be entitled to

issue a legal claim against you.

Obviously, they work for him and they do what he says.

So, you know, he says to them to tell those girls to drop it, then that's what

they'll do. But I think all this should have come out a long time ago.

Are you happy being involved with this, speaking about this now?

I don't know if I'm happy.

It's more... I don't think proud is the word, but just, like, if it does help

someone.

We've done what we needed to do.

Walliams says claims he targeted teenage women and used his celebrity status to

manipulate them to have sex with him are false.

Meanwhile at Britain's Got Talent, he'd asked other teenagers, other young women

to be his guests on the programme.

I was someone who he...

I invited to meet him when I was 17, so still a child.

He's the sort of person who had obviously a lot of access to young

women, teenage girls.

Walliams arranged tickets for the girls after contacting Abi on Twitter.

I know now I'm kind of part of a...

of inviting young girls and young women to his dressing room. It wasn't just a

one-off thing, and I think that is a really concerning way for someone to act

when they have this access.

Abi says she and three other teenage girls were left on their own with

Walliams in his dressing room, claims his lawyers have previously denied. But

Abi is adamant.

I know they've said before that we were...

Never alone with him, which is just categorically not true.

I mean, it's just not true. Like, that's not what happened at all. It was

absolutely the case. The door was shut and we were alone with him.

Back in 2020, Abby put her concerns online.

She questioned why the comedian had wanted to meet her at 17.

maintained contact with her at 18 and renewed his attention to her at 19,

commenting on her appearance.

She believed Walliams was using his celebrity status to pursue young women.

It's an open secret in the industry. Everyone knows that it's happening.

I just think it's kind of disgraceful that he's still on TV.

Walliams' lawyers claim he hosted guests of different ages, genders and

backgrounds at Britain's Got Talent, with no focus on young females.

And he denies there is an open secret about his conduct.

And it wasn't just guests at Britain's Got Talent who had concerns either.

Worries were felt backstage among some staff too.

It made me feel small and almost disembodied, like I was not a person but

just a body.

He referred to me, not by my name, but as the arse.

One of the other male crew had asked him for a drink or something and he said,

yeah, get the one with the arse to bring it to me. I had the instinct to avoid

and protect myself.

The one interaction I had with him before I started avoiding him, that he'd

been staring at my chest rather than acknowledging me as a person.

I didn't like being in that environment, having someone speak about you like that

and not having anyone bat an eyelid.

And there's just a vibe you get when someone is being predatory.

William says he did not recall making the remark about Amy and denies he

stared at her chest or was predatory. He rejects claims he behaved

inappropriately. or harassed young women at Britain's Got Talent.

But we have spoken to multiple other former staff members

on the programme, who also told us they thought his conduct towards young female

employees was inappropriate.

I think there was a general sense on the production that David did

what he wanted.

And that there was something sexual about how he behaved that was

uncomfortable.

I was a judge runner for that week of live shows to kind of do whatever's

needed or to help them with their guests or to sort their food for them or help

source. an iron for their clothes, like it can literally be anything.

But there were scenes he witnessed that made him feel uncomfortable.

There was an occasion where I was called to David's dressing room to do a task

and when I went in there was two very young people in there and David

had like had a shower and then was like in a towel.

Despite feeling uneasy on several occasions, Mark didn't report his

concerns.

At the end of the series, judges often gave their runners a thank you gift.

Mark was surprised by his from Walliams.

There was an envelope that I later opened that had 300 pounds in and like a

signed card.

And when I mentioned that in front of one of the production coordinators, so

quite a senior production staff member, she said, oh, there's your hush money.

The entertainer denies he was buying Mark's silence and says there was

nothing that needed covering up.

Williams says he tipped staff every year and the amount he gave Mark was no

higher than normal.

He describes Mark's comments as smear.

It was absolutely stunning and beautiful.

I'm going to kick this off with a yes.

The celebrity continued to work on the programme, taking part in ten series of

Britain's Got Talent.

Why have you decided to talk about this?

Right now I feel very anxious and it still is quite like a bodily reaction to

something that I think in your gut you just know is wrong. That it feels wrong

that it's taken this long for that behaviour to start to be interrogated.

Mark left the show the year Walliams got an OBE in 2017 and the presenter's

appearances went on.

Three years later, Walliams was recorded making derogatory and sexually explicit

remarks about contestants on Britain's Got Talent.

Then in 2022, when details of the recordings were leaked, he left the

show, apologising for making the disrespectful comments, saying they were

private conversations.

Fremantle later agreed a financial settlement with him.

Despite the controversy, Walliams continued to be one of the UK's biggest

selling authors with HarperCollins.

A writer who has sold more than 26 million books in the UK alone, making

£156 million in sales.

But there were concerns about Walliams' conduct towards women at that company

too. ITV News and The Guardian can now reveal that he had a sexual relationship

with at least one junior employee and pursued another.

In the job that he had, he didn't behave the way that he should have done.

After a young female staff member confided in Katie, she felt compelled to

alert management about William's behaviour.

The girl was really junior and she was like, can I show you some messages?

I saw the messages.

I just thought, they're gross.

Just not appropriate for an author to be messaging a member of staff like that.

She definitely wasn't pleased about it and definitely wasn't interested.

Katie was so concerned about the emails the young woman had received, she says

she raised the issue with two different departments.

She was just so young. I think she would have been early 20s.

So I told my line manager and we told HR, but because he was responsible for

HarperCollins hitting their targets every year, nothing ever happened.

David Walliams admits contacting the young woman and asking her to meet with

him. He says at the time he was heartbroken and lonely after his divorce

and was hoping to meet someone.

Amid growing unease at the publisher, Katie says normal ways of working had to

be changed for the author.

It's common practice to send the editorial assistants or even interns to

authors' houses to collect manuscripts if they were really important

financially.

We wouldn't usually trust a courier with anything like that, but we would never

send any of the girls on their own to his flat.

We never sent anyone on their own.

Despite concerns, some young women at HarperCollins claim they were still

asked to go to Walliams' home by themselves.

In 2017, an intern who'd met him at a publishing event was later sent to his

home alone.

Walliams admits he had a sexual relationship with her, but the young

woman told colleagues that although it was consensual, she later considered it

an abuse of power.

The author maintains that at no time did he behave inappropriately towards women

or sexually harass them at HarperCollins.

Yet his literary juggernaut moved on and in 2018 Walliams appeared in a

television adaptation of one of his books.

But staff at HarperCollins say by this stage they were sharing warnings about

him.

that you shouldn't leave your intern alone with him that he would try and get

contact details and there was an agreement if you went to his house you

had to go in a pair you couldn't go by yourself

Once at a book signing with Walliams, Helen was struggling to keep up with her

workload. She asked for more staff to help, but her manager refused.

She says her boss wouldn't let any other female employees come into the room with

Walliams.

She just said, look, we just need to keep exposure to a minimum, OK?

None of them are coming down.

You're doing it by yourself.

You're not blonde.

And just kind of thought, like...

OK, so I'm just kind of chucked in front of him as a human buffer.

Like, I have to do all this work because I'm not at risk.

It was just all women supporting women. It was almost like we were trying to

protect each other because no-one else was protecting us.

And he was the biggest seller, the biggest moneymaker within that

department, was he? Yeah, massively.

And we were getting massive amounts of income.

Not just from the books, but from events he was doing around the books.

And it was just like this big brand.

If he hadn't been making the money, if he hadn't been this big TV guy, if he

hadn't been like that, they would have just got rid of him.

Because he would have just been some random creep called Dave.

David Walliams says he did not behave inappropriately towards young female

employees at HarperCollins.

Eventually in 2023 the publisher began an internal investigation into Walliams'

conduct. Multiple people we've spoken to have confirmed that one woman who left

the company was paid a five-figure sum and signed a strict separation

agreement.

David Walliams dropped by his publisher over alleged inappropriate behaviour.

Then in December 2025,

HarperCollins announced it would not renew its contract with the author or

publish any of his new titles.

And in September this year, the company said it wouldn't print any of his back

catalogue either. The final chapter of their 20-year relationship over.

In a statement the publisher told us HarperCollins UK has decided not to

publish any new titles by David Walliams. The author is aware of this

decision.

HarperCollins takes employee well-being extremely seriously and has processes in

place for reporting and investigating concerns.

Walliams denies that he sexually harassed anyone at HarperCollins or

behaved inappropriately in the workplace.

Someone shouldn't be on television, shouldn't have a publishing deal,

shouldn't have all this power, all this influence, all this ability to do

things without criticism, without questioning, without any form of

justice.

See a woman.

Think she's attractive.

Find out how to contact her. Send her flowers.

Take her out for dinner. Invite her back to yours. If she doesn't come, be sad.

Phone her every day until she agrees that the next time she will come to his.

Ben still works in the entertainment industry.

An industry where references to Walliams' reputation and behaviour have

been made on different programmes for years.

I've always dreamed about being a dad slash children's author.

A bit like David Walliams, but less sinister.

And it's hard for Starmer. Imagine knowing your colleague is a massive

creep, but you continue working with them anyway so you can keep your career.

We call it the Matt Lucas dilemma.

The answer is 700 billion. What is the question?

Is it how many messages have there been in the female comedians' WhatsApp groups

since the David Walliams stuff came out?

How many David Walliams books are currently sitting in warehouses waiting

to be pulped?

Ben believes the industry has shielded Walliams.

Money. Fame.

Success.

Everyone wants to be around it. Everyone wants to protect it.

It's when you hear those same things said time and time again, those same

patterns, the same patterns of behaviour, the same cover-ups from

above, the same angry responses, the same legal letters sent threatening

people, that it's always the same.

If you keep seeing the same thing over and over again, you recognise it. You

know it.

It is that person.

There's no doubt. And it's something that if we don't talk about, people

suffer in silence.

David Walliams disputes the accusations made by Ben.

In response to this investigation, Walliams said, Looking back, I realise

that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual

relationships with.

I realize I did not always take people's feelings properly into account.

That is something I regret.

And whilst a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous,

abusing that power is something else entirely, and it is something that I

never did.

I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law.

I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now

expressed hurt or anger towards me.

ITV News and The Guardian also approached each of the organisations

referred to in this documentary.

Fremantle UK, who produces Britain's Got Talent, said, During his time on the

show and in the four years since, no complaint has ever been made either to

Fremantle UK, the broadcaster or regulator regarding his behaviour.

Nevertheless, if anyone feels they have been the subject of any impropriety or

wrongdoing by anyone, we encourage them to come forward.

Psycho Entertainment, who created the show, told us it had no knowledge of the

allegations described and was not made aware of them at the time.

And ITV, the channel that broadcasts the programme, said, We are very sorry to

hear about the concerns that have been raised.

Britain's Got Talent is produced for ITV by Fremantle, an independent production

company. Although ITV is the broadcaster of the programme, the producer has day

-to-day responsibility for the running of the production, including all aspects

of duty of care.

But after years, behaviours and actions of individuals and institutions are

under scrutiny.

It angers me that he is still on TV, as famous as he is.

And I look at my daughter, who's not far off that age now, and to think of a 36

-year-old man being any way like that with her makes me feel sick.

He's disgusting, he's horrible, he's a groomer.

The thing I found most galling and infuriating is that it's the systems

around him that enable this behaviour.

Abuse of power.

That needs to stop.

I feel it's my duty to stop this happening and I want to do it to protect

my younger self.

I want to do it to protect future people that he could have interactions with.

He's just abused his power massively.

Being famous made him feel powerful.

David Walliams decades of power and influence are now being challenged by

women who refuse to be ignored.