David Walliams revealed as celebrity behind failed High Court injunction

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independent.co.uk

David Walliams pictured with his arm around Lilly Creightmore at a celebrity packed charity event with Jonathan Ross and Ricky Gervais (Scott Myers/Shutterstock) Scott Myers/Shutterstock

Matt Lucas and David Walliams (Lou and Andy) attend an instore signing to celebrate the DVD launch of 'Little Britain Live', (PA) independent.co.uk

David Walliams is no longer being represented by his former agency (James Manning/PA) (PA Archive) PA Archive

Walliams is a hugely successful children’s author but was dropped by his publisher in 2025 (PA) independent.co.uk

ITV and The Guardian documentary: David Walliams accused of targeting teens as young as 15 standard.co.uk

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David Walliams has been named as the "well-known man" who took legal action against the Guardian and ITV News to stop them publishing allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Mr Justice Nicklin dismissed the injunction bid on 3 November; the two outlets published their joint investigation once the window to appeal had closed. Walliams, 55, a judge on Britain's Got Talent from 2012 to 2022 and the author of children's books that have sold more than 50 million copies, denies all wrongdoing.

The allegations reach back to 2003 and, in several cases, to women who were teenagers when the contact began. One woman describes an encounter with Walliams when she was 15 as a "sexual assault"; another says he began contacting her at 15, after they met at a Little Britain fan event, and that a sexual relationship began when she was 17. Lawyers for the media organisations told the High Court the allegations concerned his "abuse of power and status" to engage young women in "inappropriate and exploitative sexual activities". A Britain's Got Talent employee describes finding very young female guests in Walliams' dressing room while the comedian wore only a towel.

His answer to the investigation was a letter addressed to the journalists preparing it. "Looking back, I realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with," Walliams wrote. "I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law." He acknowledges a relationship with a junior intern in 2017 — the woman has described it as consensual but an abuse of power — and concedes he did not always take people's feelings into account. That, he writes, is something he regrets.

The facts around him had been assembled long before any court ruling. An employee who raised concerns with management and human resources about messages Walliams had sent a young colleague says nothing happened. Staff changed working arrangements so that young female employees would not visit his home alone. A senior colleague described the £300 Walliams gave one employee as a thank-you gift as "hush money".

The injunction had been sought on the grounds that publication posed a risk to his life; the court was told he had attempted suicide twice before. He sued ITN, which produces news programmes for ITV, Channel 4 and others, and Guardian News and Media. For as long as the case ran, the court record identified him only as a "well-known man".

A week after the ruling, the accounts of women who were teenagers when he first approached them were published under his name.