Noel Clarke became a household name playing Mickey in Doctor Who and established himself as a writer and director with a trilogy of films inspired by his upbringing in west London – Kidulthood, Adulthood and Brotherhood.
In April 2021, he received a special Bafta for outstanding contribution to British film. A few days later, the Guardian ran a series of articles – and an episode of this podcast – containing accusations by more than 20 women that he groped, harassed or bullied them.
One was Lisa Graham, who met him when she was working at a Comic Con in Bournemouth and had to chaperone him. He spoke crudely about pregnant women, propositioned her sexually and put his hand on her inner thigh.
But Clarke claimed all the women were lying, and began a libel case. Four years later, Graham found herself at the high court to give evidence in support of the Guardian’s reporting. Ultimately Mrs Justice Steyn rejected Clarke’s claims and ruled the newspaper had succeeded in both its defences: of truth and public interest.
Graham, along with the reporters Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne, explains what the process was like for them, while the Guardian’s editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, explains what was at stake for the media organisation – and for investigative journalism in general.
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