Actor Noel Clarke has lost his High Court libel claim against the publisher of the Guardian after a judge found he was ‘not a credible or reliable witness’.
The shamed star’s career is now in tatters after the court defeat.
Clarke, 49, sued Guardian News and Media (GNM) over seven articles and a podcast, including an article in April 2021 that said 20 women who knew him professionally had come forward with allegations of misconduct.
Clarke denied the allegations, while GNM defended its reporting as being both true and in the public interest.
Mrs Justice Steyn dismissed Clarke’s claim in a judgment this morning, saying that the newspaper ‘succeeded in establishing both truth and public interest defences to the libel claim’.
She added: ‘I have accepted some of Mr Clarke’s evidence… but overall I find that he was not a credible or reliable witness.’
The judge said Clarke’s case ‘lacked any proper foundation and led to numerous witnesses being asked speculative questions as to their connections, without a case being put that they conspired and colluded to invent allegations – or any evidential basis on which such a case could have been put’.
Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner said its libel victory over Clarke was a landmark for investigative journalism in the UK.
Noel Clarke – pictured earlier in the hearing – sued Guardian News and Media (GNM) over seven articles and a podcast
Clarke (centre) denied the allegations, while GNM defended its reporting as being both true and in the public interest
She said: ‘This judgment is 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.’
A trial earlier this year heard from multiple witnesses who made accusations against Clarke, including that he had allegedly shared nude photographs of them without their consent, groped them, and asked them to look at him when he was exposed.
Barristers for Clarke told the court that there was a conspiracy of people with financial and personal grudges against him who engineered his downfall because they could not bear to see him receive a Bafta award.
The trial of the libel claim was held from early March to early April at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
Clarke, who has previously appeared in TV shows including Doctor Who, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Bulletproof, gave evidence over several days.
At one stage, he appeared visibly emotional as he claimed the publisher had ‘smashed my life’.
He said: ‘They have smashed my life for four years with this rubbish, this nonsense. Four years.’
Clarke is known for his role in Doctor Who as Mickey. He is pictured here alongside Billie Piper who played Rose Tyler
The actor in 2021 as DC Martin Young in the ITV Series Viewpoint
Clarke’s career now lies in tatters after a judge threw out his libel case
He continued: ‘I did not do this, I would not do this. I have got children. This is not true.’
He later said that while he was ‘a flawed guy’, he added: ‘The reason I stand here four years later is I am not what they have branded me.’
Philip Williams, representing the actor, said that his client was a ‘casualty’ of a media ‘purge’ following the emergence of the MeToo movement.
He continued that Clarke was made a ‘scapegoat’ and was an ‘easy target’ because he was at the height of his success when the media industry ‘zealously sought to correct itself’.
The barrister also criticised the Guardian’s investigation, saying the newspaper ‘manifestly failed to do its job properly’.
Mr Williams asked the court to find the claim successful, saying the Guardian’s reporting has caused serious harm to Clarke’s career, with ‘continuing hostile reactions online and in public discourse’.
Gavin Millar KC, for GNM, said there was ‘not a shred of evidence’ to support Clarke’s claim of a conspiracy, describing it as ‘nonsensical and rather desperate speculation’.
He said Clarke had a ‘very clear motive to lie’ because he ‘stands to lose a great deal’.
Clarke (second from left) collects the Best Loved Drama at the TV Quick and TV Choice Awards in London in 2006 alongside co-stars Billie Piper, Camille Coduri and David Tennant
In written submissions, Mr Millar said Clarke ”sed his power to prey on and harass female colleagues’ over a period of 15 years.
He said: ‘This was a careful and thorough investigation conducted conscientiously by Guardian journalists who were aware of the potential pitfalls.
‘They received information from a wide range of sources with direct evidence of misconduct and in each case carefully considered and tested the information they were given, electing to publish only such information as they believed was credible.’
Londoner Clarke won the Most Promising Performer award in 2003 at the Olivier Awards for his performance in Where Do We Live at the Royal Court Theatre, and then significantly widened his fan base by playing Billie Piper’s boyfriend, Mickey Smith, in Doctor Who.
He later wrote and starred in the acclaimed film trilogy Kidulthood, Adulthood and Brotherhood, directing two of them.
He won the Bafta rising star award in 2009, and a Bafta for outstanding British contribution to cinema in 2021.
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