A long-running investigation by ITV and into the conduct of comedian and author David Walliams has moved into the public spotlight. Despite extensive legal efforts by Walliams to suppress the findings of this three-year inquiry, the testimonies of multiple women alleging predatory behavior have now been released. These accounts are featured in an hour-long documentary, which is currently available on ITVX and YouTube. Given how little has – in meaningful, practical terms – changed since, you wonder at how shocking this now seems.
The documentary presents a series of testimonies from women who allege that Walliams exploited his fame and status. The claimants vary in age, including some who were 15, 17, 18, and 19 when they first encountered him. Many describe a consistent pattern where they were charmed by Walliams through gifts, party invitations, and show tickets before being coerced into sexual situations they did not consent to or felt unable to escape. Contributors frequently highlighted the comedian’s physical stature, describing him as a looming figure, which added to the power imbalance during these encounters. It largely follows what is rapidly and increasingly enragingly becoming a traditional format. Most of them mention his physical size too: “He’s a big guy”; “His huge head in my lap”; “Quite a looming figure … coming at me. Of being approached and charmed by Walliams, of having attention, invitations to parties, show tickets and gifts lavished upon them, and then of being manoeuvred into sexual scenarios they were not expecting, didn’t want or didn’t feel able to say no to – by virtue of their isolation, his celebrity status, or the psychological debt we now call “grooming” that they were in; usually, but they all tell similar stories.
Public archive footage included in the documentary highlights how these behaviors were often treated as a joke within the industry. In a 2004 British Comedy Awards clip, Jonathan Ross remarked that the then 15-year-olds in attendance were likely going home with Walliams. Similarly, comedian Alan Carr later compared Walliams’ approach to women to that of an illegal taxi driver. Such clips are presented to reflect the enabling culture that persisted around the star, leaving many viewers to question why such behavior remained unchecked for so long. Contemporary footage attesting to the jokes and insinuations in the public domain at the time are shown and mental vertigo sets in.
Specific accounts illustrate the vulnerability of the women involved. One woman, referred to as Alex, stated she was 15 when she and her mother met the then 32-year-old Walliams at a signing. After providing him with her phone number, she received a call from him, which she recalled left her full of excitement and hope. Another woman named Jade, who was 15 at the time of meeting the 36-year-old comedian, recounted agreeing to go to his home under the assumption that sexual intimacy would not be expected. Walliams has denied all allegations and has expressed being devastated and mortified by the accounts provided by these women. Often because they suddenly bring the innocence of youth into such painfully stark view. “Alex” was 15 when she and her mum met a 32-year-old Walliams a, occasional phrases strike through the thickening miasma of horrors. Some for other reasons – an upbringing in care, perhaps, or previous experience of sexual abuse, some were vulnerable because of their youth. Rare will be the woman watching who does not respond viscerally to such phrases due to her own experiences of men approaching her. According to he, They would wait until she was 16 and to stay in touch. It is only left to hope that it brings about equally meticulous change.
The documentary also examines the role of those in Walliams’ professional orbit who may have enabled his behavior. A former associate identified as Ben noted that the pursuit of money, fame, and success often leads individuals to protect those who provide them. Meanwhile, a former employee named Katie shared that she reported concerns to HR at HarperCollins, the publisher that recently severed ties with Walliams. Katie described how informal, internal measures were eventually put in place to ensure young women were not left alone with the comedian, remarking that had he not been such a significant commercial asset, he would have been viewed simply as a predatory individual. Perpetrated against them by a famous man apparently enabled by his fame and the people intent on maintaining the freedom of a lucrative asset, sit before a camera and give their testi, women with claims of historic abuse. Encouraging a degree of trust – especially if you are young enough to have no real idea of how the world works or that you should perhaps not believe in an avuncular facade presented, say, by an endlessly encouraging judge of acts on a popular show such as Britain’s Got Talent, they also talk of the familiarity that fame breeds.
