BBC Removes ‘Little Britain’ From iPlayer

The BBC is removing Little Britain and other shows from iPlayer as it reviews all content featuring David Walliams following today’s allegations.

A BBC spokeswoman told Deadline that the show that gave Walliams his big break will be taken down in its entirety.

“These are serious allegations,” said the spokeswoman. “As such, the BBC is looking carefully at all material featuring and written by David Walliams on our platforms. We are in the process of removing some programmes, including Little Britain, whilst this review is underway.”

Walliams co-created and starred in Little Britain with Matt Lucas. The sketch show, which started on the radio, poked fun at British people from various walks of life via exaggerated parodies, making subjects like Vicky Pollard into household names. Scenes from the show that used Blackface were removed a few years ago after a storm of criticism during the Black Lives Matter movement. The show is no longer available on Netflix.

As Deadline published this article, episodes of Little Britain and adaptations of Walliams’ hit children’s books such as Gangsta Granny were being removed from iPlayer. An episode of genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are? featuring Walliams was also taken down.

After failing to have articles blocked by lawyers, The Guardian and ITV News published allegations about Walliams earlier today. One of the women quoted in the article said she met him when she was 15 at a Little Britain fan event launching the show’s DVD. Another, who was 18 at the time, said she went to see Little Britain being filmed and Walliams “stared intently at her from the side of the stage,” before pursuing her by sending a card to her mother’s house.

Walliams is accused in the articles of exploitative sexual activity with girls and young women. The women accuse Walliams of using his celebrity to prey on women as young as 15, making contact with them through work to pursue them for sexual purposes.

Deadline has contacted Walliams’ legal representatives for comment about the allegations. In a statement to ITV News, Walliams denied all allegations against him. When trying to prevent publication, Walliams’ lawyers revealed that he had made two attempts to take his life because of the allegations.

“I am not a sexual predator… I have not broken the law,” Walliams said. “I am devastated that some of the women I met ten to twenty years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me.

He continued: “Looking back, I realise that at times I behaved thoughtlessly towards other people I had casual sexual relationships with… I realise 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.”