A joint investigation by The Guardian and ITV News details allegations of grooming and sexual assault against the British comedian.
British comedian and children’s author David Walliams has been accused of grooming teenage fans and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl at his house, according to an investigation published Tuesday by The Guardian and ITV News. Al Jazeera reported that multiple women provided firsthand accounts alleging misconduct by the 55-year-old entertainer. The reporting outlets gathered evidence through interviews with more than 100 people, including Walliams’ colleagues, relatives, friends and former romantic partners, Deadline reported.
Accounts from accusers and set workers
Almost all the women who brought claims were identified only by their first names. A woman named Jade stated that Walliams reached out to her in 2007 through a social media account showing her age as 15, and subsequently invited her to his house when he was 36. She accused him of grooming and sexual assault. Lawyers representing Walliams denied that any sexual contact occurred between them.
Another woman, identified as Alex, said she met Walliams when she was a 15-year-old aspiring comedy writer and he was 32. She alleged they engaged in sexual conduct at his home when she was 17 and he was 34. “I think I was groomed, 100 percent,” she told The Guardian. Under UK law, it is illegal for someone older than 18 to deliberately communicate with a child under 16 for a sexual purpose. Walliams’ legal team stated that he believed Alex was 18 at the time.
Allegations also involved his decade-long tenure as a judge on the television competition Britain’s Got Talent. Deadline reported that Walliams allegedly brought teenage fans into his dressing room and asked an 18-year-old woman and her companion to visit his hotel and home after meeting on set. In addition, former runners on the production shared complaints in workplace WhatsApp groups. Messages showed Walliams told one runner she always put a smile on his face and commented “Hot” under her social media picture. Another runner stated that he stared at her chest in a way that made her feel uncomfortable and that she overheard him refer to her by her body parts.
Legal battle and Walliams’ response
Before the investigation became public, Walliams tried to block the reporting by seeking a High Court injunction to stop ITV News and The Guardian from publishing his name. A High Court judge rejected his request last week. During the legal proceedings, his attorney, Sara Mansoori, told the court that Walliams had made two attempts on his life after receiving letters requesting comment on the claims, resulting in his admission to a hospital for psychiatric care last month. A summary of the court judgment noted that parts of the alleged behavior could constitute criminal offenses if proven true.
Walliams strongly denied the accusations in statements to journalists, rejecting claims that he targeted teenagers or exploited his celebrity status for sexual encounters. In a written response, he said, “I am not a sexual predator… I have not broken the law,” while adding that he felt devastated to learn women he met one to two decades ago felt hurt or anger toward him. He acknowledged that he sometimes acted thoughtlessly during casual sexual relationships and failed to consider other people’s feelings, but maintained that he never abused his position of power.
Broadcaster reactions and career fallout
Broadcasters and production firms connected to Walliams responded quickly to the publication. The BBC announced it would pull certain shows from its schedules and conduct a comprehensive review of all content on its platforms featuring or written by Walliams.
Production company Fremantle UK, which produces Britain’s Got Talent for broadcaster ITV, stated that it felt disturbed and concerned by the serious claims. Fremantle stated that Walliams has not appeared as a judge on the series for over four years and that no formal complaints about his conduct were made during his time on the programme or afterward. While Fremantle has not started a formal inquiry, the company encouraged anyone who experienced impropriety on its sets to step forward. ITV noted that Fremantle oversees daily operations and duty of care for the show, adding that network officials had never received misconduct reports about Walliams.
Past disputes and background
Walliams rose to prominence in the early 2000s as a co-creator and star of the sketch series Little Britain alongside Matt Lucas, and later wrote more than 40 books that sold approximately 50 million copies worldwide. However, the latest allegations follow earlier controversies surrounding his work and professional relationships.
HarperCollins stopped publishing his back catalog and dropped him last year following accusations in The Daily Telegraph that he harassed young female colleagues, which he denied. In September, Deadline revealed that talent management agency YMU had ended its active representation of Walliams and removed his profile from its roster after discussions held earlier in 2026. Walliams had also exited Britain’s Got Talent in 2022 after audio leaked in which he used derogatory language toward auditioning contestants, an incident that prompted an apology and a later legal settlement with Fremantle.
