Noel Clarke rebuilding TV career after sexual misconduct allegations

Actor Noel Clarke, who was accused of sexual misconduct by more than 20 women, reveals he’s writing a new TV pilot in a bid to relaunch his career following allegations that left him ‘contemplating suicide’

• Clarke, best known for acting in Doctor Who and co-creating The Hood Trilogy, was accused of sexual misconduct by more than 20 women in 2021
• He denied the allegations, and in March 2022 police said no criminal investigation would be launched in relation to the sexual offence allegations 
• After a period away from the spotlight, the actor, who said he contemplated suicide after he was ‘cancelled’, says he’s writing a new TV pilot 
• Clarke tweeted today that he’s now looking for new writers to collaborate with 

British actor Noel Clarke, who was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women last year, has revealed he’s rebuilding his career with a new TV pilot. 

The actor, 46, best known for appearing in Doctor Who and for co-creating The Hood Trilogy, has been active again on social media since the summer and today put a call out for new writers to collaborate with him. 

In February 2021, Clarke was accused by more than 20 women, who knew the star in a professional capacity, of sex offences in an article published by The Guardian.

The allegations – spanning a 15-year period – included claims of unwanted touching or groping, sexually inappropriate behaviour and comments on set, the covert filming of a naked audition and the sharing of explicit pictures without consent. 

In a statement at the time Clarke said he ‘vehemently’ denied ‘any sexual misconduct or criminal wrongdoing’ and no criminal charges have been brought against him.

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Back in the TV ring? Noel Clarke, best known for acting in Doctor Who and co-creating The Hood Trilogy, was accused of sexual misconduct by more than 20 women in 2021 . No criminal charges were brought against him and he’s now re-launching his career 

Clarke pictured receiving an Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema award at the BAFTAS in 2021, just days before The Guardian published an article with accusations by women who he’d worked with saying they’d experienced sexual misconduct 

He added that he was ‘deeply sorry’ if some of his actions had affected people ‘in ways I did not intend or realise’, and vowed to get professional help ‘to educate myself and change for the better’.

Posting on Twitter and Instagram today, the father-of-four invited up-and-coming writers to get in touch, saying: ‘How many of you are writers? Want to write? Thought of a TV idea and not started? 

‘I’m going to write a new TV pilot and thought we could go through process together.’ 

In the summer, the star posted a video revealing he turned to therapy after the allegations surfaced, saying: ‘I’m not admitting anything, I stand by what I said in the beginning. 

‘I’m not an abuser, I’m not a bully, I’m not a predator but therapy helped me with the trauma of everything that happened. It nearly killed me.’

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday earlier this year, Clarke said he’d contemplated suicide following the allegations. 

‘Twenty years of work was gone in 24 hours. I lost everything,’ he told the newspaper, adding that his career has been cancelled by the allegations.

‘The company I built from the ground up, my TV shows, my movies, my book deals, the industry respect I had. In my heart and my head it has damaged me in a way I cannot articulate.’

After a period away from the spotlight, the actor, who said he contemplated suicide after he was ‘cancelled’, says he’s writing a new TV pilot

 Clarke tweeted today that he’s now looking for new writers to collaborate with

Following the allegations against Clarke, ITV pulled the concluding episode of drama Viewpoint, in which he starred, and broadcaster Sky, which had aired Clarke’s series Bulletproof, said it was halting work with him.

Bafta also suspended his membership of the organisation and his outstanding British contribution to cinema award, which he had been given in 2021.

In March this year police said no criminal investigation would be launched in relation to sexual offence allegations made against him.

Scotland Yard said in a statement in March 2022 that there had been a thorough assessment by specialist detectives, but it was determined the information would not meet the threshold for a criminal investigation.

The statement said: ‘We have shared our findings with the third party organisation and updated the complainants who subsequently contacted us following the initial report.

‘If any further criminal allegation related to those already assessed are reported then it will be thoroughly considered.’

In the past year, Clarke and his wife Iris, who have been together for two decades, have had a new baby they haven’t dared tell anyone about. Financially the family has been left ‘running on fumes’. Most seriously, at his lowest, Clarke was suicidal. 

He said: ‘I didn’t care about anything. My mind was destroyed.’

He said he pocketed a folding hunting knife bought as a souvenir while filming Auf Wiedersehen, Pet in Arizona 20 years ago and planned to cut his own throat.

Until a year ago Clarke was part of the British film and TV establishment. He could be seen on screen in the BBC’s Doctor Who and top-rated police dramas on ITV and Sky. He is pictured with Billie Piper in Doctor Who

‘I needed to do something unsurvivable,’ he said. ‘I was reaching for a book and the knife fell out of my pocket. My 11-year-old said, ‘Daddy, why have you got that?’

‘I said, ‘It’s just to pick the dirt out of my nails…’ And he said, ‘Oh, OK,’ and somehow the ordinariness of that snapped me out of it. Up to that point, I had been waiting for the right moment to kill myself. I was out of here. Done. I didn’t care about anything. My mind was destroyed.’

The father-of-four also said: ‘I’m not a predator. I have crossed the road to avoid walking behind women since I was 15 years old.’

He continued: ‘I’ve been a regular dude, for sure, I flirt. Have I ever made a saucy comment? One hundred per cent. But not to the extent that it warranted the destruction of my life.

‘I can’t say I never talked about sex at work. We’re adults in a workplace and people make jokes and have conversations with each other that cross the line.’

One of Clarke’s first TV appearances was in Channel 4 series Metrosexuality, and he went on to garner fame for his roles as Mickey Smith in Doctor Who and Wyman Norris in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.

He later wrote and starred in the acclaimed film trilogy Kidulthood, Adulthood and Brotherhood, and directed two of them. He was first recognised by Bafta in 2009, when he won the Rising Star prize.

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