‘Little Britain”s dirty secret: Why did nobody stop David Walliams?

Alex had just returned from school and was watching The Simpsons in her bedroom when the phone rang. It was January 2004. The voice on the other end said, “Hi, it’s David Walliams. You know, off the telly!”

She was 15. Walliams, then 32, had met her at a fan event where he signed autographs dressed as his Little Britain character. He had called her attractive and taken her scripts. The call led to emails and further contact that she recorded in notes across four sides of A4 paper.

Those early exchanges marked the start of a years-long pattern that ended up before a High Court judge this month. Walliams sought to block the Guardian and ITV News from publishing allegations of sexual misconduct spanning two decades. The court turned him down, allowing the stories to emerge after three years of reporting. What hangs in the balance is how institutions and audiences reckon with a comedian whose fame once shielded him from scrutiny over his dealings with teenage fans.

What the investigation reports

Alex documented the first phone call in notes written in youthful scrawl. Walliams asked if she was 15 or 16, expressed surprise she was still at school, and gave her his email. Over the next two years they spoke on the phone and exchanged emails. She says the relationship became sexual when she turned 17.

Jade tells a similar story of initial contact at 15. She alleges Walliams invited her to his home weeks later and initiated sexual contact. Most other women who spoke to the outlets were over 18 at the time of their encounters. The accounts highlight a distinction between the age when contact began and when any sexual activity occurred.

Additional sources describe workplace conduct at Britain’s Got Talent and at HarperCollins. Several accounts allege inappropriate sexual relationships with a junior female employee and pursuit of another. The Guardian states HarperCollins severed ties with Walliams after these concerns accumulated. In September 2026 the publisher confirmed it would cease reprinting his back catalogue once existing stock sold out.

Walliams’ response

In a letter sent to the journalists before the 10 November 2026 publication, Walliams wrote that he is “not a sexual predator” and has “not broken the law,” but added he is “devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me.” He acknowledged behaving “thoughtlessly” in some casual relationships. His lawyers did not dispute the accuracy of the accounts. No further public statement from Walliams has appeared since the stories ran.

Career timeline and prior incidents

Walliams rose to fame with Little Britain, which aired on BBC from 2003 and reached audiences of 10 million. The show was pulled from BBC iPlayer, Netflix and BritBox in 2020 over blackface and racial stereotypes; an edited version returned in 2022. He joined Britain’s Got Talent as a judge in 2012 and won the National Television Award for best judge four times before leaving in 2022 after a leaked recording captured him making “disrespectful comments” about contestants.

HarperCollins stopped publishing new Walliams titles after the Telegraph reported allegations of harassment of junior staff in 2025. Walliams denied behaving inappropriately. The publisher’s 2026 decision to drop the back catalogue followed further internal complaints, the Guardian reports.

Legal and institutional outcomes

The High Court refused the injunction around the time of the 10 November 2026 publication. HarperCollins stopped distributing Walliams titles in September 2026, a decision still in effect. Reports as of that period noted no criminal charges. Walliams has not issued a further public statement. Any civil claims that might arise sit apart from that earlier snapshot of events.

What remains unresolved is whether additional outlets or employers will take action and whether any civil claims will follow. The publishers and broadcasters named in the coverage have not announced further reviews. That deficit leaves the public theater of accountability stalled at the point of revelation, with little sign of institutional follow-through on the power imbalances the allegations describe.