On Thursday, The Guardian published an exposé on Noel Clarke, where multiple women shared allegations of verbal abuse, bullying, and sexual harassment against the actor and filmmaker. Clarke is perhaps best known to American audiences for his role as Mickey Smith in Doctor Who. He won a BAFTA Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema Award this year for his contributions to British cinema by writing, directing, and producing the Kidulthood, Adulthood, and Brotherhood film series.
But as The Guardian reported, two weeks before Clarke was given the prestigious award, BAFTA had been informed of the multiple allegations, still awarding Clarke because there was “no evidence that would allow it to investigate” the claims. After the newspaper’s exposé was published, BAFTA suspended the filmmaker, releasing a statement that reads, “In light of the allegations of serious misconduct regarding Noel Clarke in the Guardian this evening, BAFTA has taken the decision to suspend his membership and the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema award immediately and until further notice.”
The Guardian spoke to 20 women, who each detailed their stories—some on the record and some anonymously—of the mistreatment at the hands of Clarke. These allegations include “sexual harassment, unwanted touching or groping, sexually inappropriate behaviour and comments on set, professional misconduct, taking and sharing sexually explicit pictures and videos without consent, and bullying between 2004 and 2019.”
Gina Powell, who worked for Clarke as a producer on Brotherhood, told the publication that she experienced constant harassment at the hands of the multi-hyphenated filmmaker, who once told her that when he hired her, he planned to “fuck her and fire her.” He also bragged about obtaining footage he took without consent during naked auditions. One of the videos featured Brotherhood actor Jahannah James, during her audition for the film Legacy. The actor told The Guardian that Clarke had promised her the audition wouldn’t be filmed.
Other accounts of Clarke’s misconduct from several women—including Powell—who detailed physical touch, kissing, groping, and indecent exposure without their consent. Powell recalled an instance where Clarke exposed himself in a car and she told him it was “not right.” But the next day, Powell says Clarke scolded her and while alone in an elevator, he groped her to get “what he was owed.” An anonymous crew member from a film that Clarke produced and acted in also shared that she had a similar experience, where she was groped in a storage room on set. An actor who appeared in Kidulthood as a teen said that near the beginning of filming, he “put his tongue in [her] mouth” and after that, would constantly sexually harass her. “It’s upsetting for me to realize how fucking vulnerable and inexperienced I was at that age. I was too scared to say anything,” she said. Clarke had asked the actor to appear in the sequel, Adulthood, which included a “full-on sex scene” with him. She told him that she refused to do the scene, and Clarke responded by saying she’d “never work again.”
There are numerous other accounts by women who’ve shared similar, horrific stories at the hands of Clarke. But the filmmaker denied all allegations to The Guardian through his lawyers, who said he “categorically denies all of the other allegations, from all 20 women, in some cases questioning their credibility.” But inappropriate tweets from the actor and producer have resurfaced, including one that reads, “What’s ur favourite thing about the sex you’re attracted too? (My PR answer would B everything about a woman) But #CantLie VaJayJay all day.”
The consequences have been swift for Clarke, too. According to Deadline, All3Media, the production company that backs Clarke’s own production company Unstoppable Film and Television, launched an investigation into the allegations. Talent agency CAA also dropped Clarke, and so did Industry Entertainment and UK managers 42.
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