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Women began discussing Noel Clarke’s past sexual misconduct in response to the #MeToo movement, the high court in London has heard, as he began giving evidence in his libel claim against the Guardian.
Cross-examining Clarke for the Guardian, Gavin Millar KC told the actor he had begun to panic because the movement “began to catch up with you”.
But during often combative cross-examination on Monday, the former Doctor Who star, said his female accusers were variously “lying”, “seeking attention” and had “jumped on the bandwagon”.
He said the Guardian had “smashed my life for four years with this rubbish, this nonsense … I did not do this, I would not do this. I have got children, this is not true.”
The 49-year-old actor is suing Guardian News and Media (GNM) in relation to seven articles and a podcast published between April 2021 and March 2022 in which more than 20 women accused him of sexual misconduct.
On his first day in the witness box, Clarke was asked about a series of allegations that had been made against him by a number of women.
They included an account by Mila*, an actor who claims he made sexually inappropriate comments during a scene in which she was required to strip, and also obtained inappropriate and intrusive footage of her which he shared.
Clarke told the court that Mila’s motivation for complaining about him years later was that, after her career prospered, she regretted doing the film.
“She regrets the fact that people can look back and see a film where she was semi-nude … If she regrets that there is nothing I can do about it,” Clarke said. “I’m sorry about that because she’s lying.”
He claimed that she had “jumped on the bandwagon”, saying: “You [GNM] flashed my face across the papers and I became a target for people who wanted to air their grievances.”
The court heard that in December 2020 Clarke spoke to Mila because he had heard that she was unhappy and she told him she had been “very uncomfortable”.
The actor said that he agreed to a conversation because he was panicking. He told the court someone was trying to blackmail him with allegations of sexual assault.
But Millar said the real reason Clarke had been panicking was because of the worldwide reckoning against men who had mistreated women.
“In 2019, the #MeToo movement began to catch up with you and women began talking about your sexual misconduct,” said the barrister.
Another actor, Sophia*, alleges Clarke grabbed her hand and put it on his crotch while undoing his trousers.
Denying the allegations, Clarke said: “She is lying, she has filed it [her witness statement] to get attention. She has filed it to be a part of something she thinks is noble.”
Asked by Millar how she would get attention, given her witness statement was filed under a pseudonym, Clarke replied: “You [at the Guardian] all know who she is.”
He said she would get “comfort” from speaking to Guardian journalists and criticised her for not giving oral evidence.
He was also questioned about Thalia Hambi-Fisher, a choreographer and dance teacher, who claims that, during a 2009 lunch with Clarke, he asked her to go to the bathroom and take a photograph of her “pussy” for him.
“That doesn’t sound like something I would say,” the writer-director said. But asked by Millar if he liked seeing pictures of women’s vaginas, Clarke replied: “I can’t say no to that completely.”
He told the court he could not say Hambi-Fisher was lying as he could not recall going for lunch with her, but added: “I will not have said those words to her regardless of what you have said about my like for certain things.”
Asked whether it would constitute sexual harassment, Clarke said: “In today’s lens, if it was said, sure. In 2008 or 2009 it might have been a cheeky comment.”
The actor also criticised Millar for “attacking my art” and telling him how to to do his job when quizzed on his conduct during sex scenes in films he was directing.
“You expected a dozen rapes [to be alleged in response to the initial Guardian article] and you got Doctor Who allegations from 21 years ago,” he told the court.
Another actor, Penelope*, claims Clarke touched her with his erect penis, close to the entry of her vagina, while filming a sex scene, and also exposed it to her in between takes. Footage of the finished scene was shown in court in which Clarke pulls down his trousers.
He told the barrister: “There’s no way I can get an erection that quickly … Maybe you can.”
After one exchange with Millar, Clarke became visibly emotional, and used a tissue to wipe his eyes.
He admitted to being “flawed”, not having a “halo” nor being “a perfect guy”, but stressed: “I am not what they [the Guardian journalists] have branded me.”
Clarke is expected to continue giving evidence until Wednesday, with the trial scheduled to conclude next month.
*Some names have been changed for legal reasons.
