Actor and director Noel Clarke has lost a £70 million libel battle with The Guardian after a High Court judge backed the newspaper exposing him as a “sexual predator”.
The former Doctor Who star, 49, was riding high in 2021 with a hit ITV drama, a collection of acclaimed films in his back catalogue, and he was awarded a BAFTA for outstanding contribution to cinema.
But his star was sunk overnight when The Guardian published claims from 20 women, accusing Clarke of sexual assaults, secretly filming nude auditions, and making lewd remarks on set.
Clarke sued the newspaper, claiming it had published false allegations, acted as “judge, jury and executioner”, and destroyed his showbiz career.
But the legal gambit backfired spectacularly on Friday, as Mrs Justice Steyn delivered a damning judgment which concluded most of the sexual misconduct and bullying claims were “true”, and the reporting was also firmly in the public interest.
The judge said Clarke had lied to the court, was not a credible witness, and when faced with damning evidence he had “desperately invented a baseless allegation of forgery or falsification of documents”.
After the ruling, Guardian editor-in-chief Kath Viner hailed it as a “deserved victory for those women who suffered because of the behaviour of Noel Clarke”.
“Going to court is difficult and stressful, yet more than 20 women agreed to testify in the High Court, refusing to be bullied or intimidated.
“This is also a landmark judgment for Guardian journalism, and for investigative journalism in Britain. It was important to fight this case. This was a deeply-researched investigation by some of the Guardian’s best reporters, who worked diligently and responsibly. The judgment is clear that our investigation was thorough and fair, a template for public interest journalism.”
She added: “I hope today will give encouragement to other women in similar situations who have been too fearful to raise their voices for fear of the consequences.”
The High Court trial aired in detail the complaints against Clarke, including female co-stars and production crew who say he propositioned them for sex.
Clarke accused The Guardian, its reporters, former friends, and some of the women who complained about him of engaging in a “conspiracy”.
But the newspaper backed the work of its journalists, insisting its reports on Clarke had been true and were in the public interest.
Among the stories about Clarke was an account from Joanne Hayes, a costume assistant on Dr Who, who said he invited her to his trailer and made comments about women with long hair, saying: “Nice to have something to hold on to when I do them from behind”.
The judge concluded: “It was an alarming incident. Mr Clarke made offensive and inappropriate sexual remarks to a young woman in a professional setting when the two of them were alone. His sexual advance was unsolicited, unwanted and naturally felt to be threatening by Ms Hayes.”
She added of Clarke: “The strong impression that I gained is that (he) felt that he could sexually proposition any woman he wanted.”
The judge said an actress had been involved in a shoot while unnecessarily naked from the waist down, Clarke bullied and humiliated a junior crew member after she rejected his attempt to kiss her, and another actress was left “profoundly shocked and distressed” by the way a nude scene was conducted.
“(He) directed and filmed the scene in the way he did for his own sexual gratification”, said the judge.
The trial heard Clarke had publicly asked fans to send him “naughty” pictures, and the judge found he had exploited a vulnerable woman with “harmful” demands for explicit material.
Clarke, an actor, director, and producer on hit films and shows such as Kidulthood, Star Trek, and Doctor Who, was awarded the BAFTA rising star award in 2009.
The Notting Hill-born star had completed the ITV drama Viewpoint when in April 2021 the claims of misconduct dropped. The finale of that show was hastily shunted off the TV schedules, and the fourth series of Sky show Bulletproof was axed.
“Once a prominent figure within the British media industry, his ability to work is now significantly restricted”, Clarke’s lawyer Philip Williams told the High Court trial.
“He has become ‘completely exiled’ from the film industry, and is perceived as a criminal by all those who previously trusted and worked with him.”
Clarke was suspended by BAFTA, after a storm about the accolade he had been presented with just as the allegations were emerging.
Sirin Kale, one of the journalists who worked on the stories about Clarke, told the trial they spoke to more than 70 “direct and corroborative” sources, while those who first came forward appeared to be “acting out of a sense of moral obligation, to prevent Mr Clarke from being able to abuse or harass other women”.
When the newspaper was working on the story, Clarke was said to have hired private investigators and was accused of putting pressure on women to stay silent, the court heard.
Paul Lewis, the Guardian’s head of investigations, said the actor had a “reputation for being threatening, for using legal action against people who crossed him.”
The first article was published on April 29, 2021, under the headline: ‘Sexual predator’: actor Noel Clarke accused of groping, harassment and bullying by 20 women.
The judge found in her ruling that there “has been no conspiracy to lie”, and dismissed Clarke’s claim of collusion between the women to mislead the court as “inherently implausible”.
The ruling on Clarke was delivered electronically by the judge, with no hearing in court.
In recent days, Clarke has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to repost articles about Gina Carano, who was axed from TV show The Mandalorian over offensive social media posts, and the possible return to Pirates of the Caribbean of Johnny Depp, who himself lost a High Court libel action after he was branded a “wife beater”.
