The BBC has removed the 2012 animated film adaptation of Julia Donaldson's children's book Room On The Broom, which featured David Walliams, after he was named as part of an alleged sexual misconduct investigation by The Guardian and ITV News. Walliams, a best-selling author and former Britain's Got Talent judge, is 55. One woman described her alleged encounter with Walliams when she was 15 as "sexual assault", while multiple women accused him of "grooming" them when they were teenagers. Walliams denies any wrongdoing.
On Friday, the Metropolitan Police said it had received a number of non-recent "serious" sex offence allegations against him "in recent days". Earlier in the week the BBC said it was carrying out a review of "all material" featuring and written by Walliams on its platforms and was in the process of removing some of it. In the Room On The Broom film, Walliams voices a frog alongside Gillian Anderson as the witch and Simon Pegg as the narrator, with just three lines across the 30-minute film, along with some "ribbits".S1S2
A BBC spokesperson said: "These are serious allegations. 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 under way." Walliams rose to fame alongside Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch series Little Britain, which ran from 2003 until 2006, and they later created and starred in Come Fly With Me, which aired on the BBC for one season in 2010. Both shows are currently unavailable on iPlayer, as is a 2020 episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featuring Walliams, and adaptations of his children's books including Gangsta Granny and Billionaire Boy.S1S2
Other broadcasters have also acted. Channel 4 has taken down episodes of 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown and the 2021 special Chitty Flies Again featuring Walliams. Sky has removed his work from its platform and has notified the producers of the upcoming film Fing!, based on his 2019 children's book, of its intention to exit as the UK and Ireland licensee. Sky said: "The allegations made against David Walliams are extremely serious." Angel Studios confirmed it would still release Fing! in the US, but a cameo featuring Walliams would be removed and he would not take part.S1S2
