Sky today halted all work with Noel Clarke and cancelled filming of his new show over sexual harassment claims – as ITV faced pressure to axe tonight’s final episode of thriller Viewpoint after criticism of its ‘crass’ decision to air a sex scene with him.
Sky said ‘effective immediately’ it would be ‘halting’ Clarke’s ‘involvement in all future productions’ until an undefined date.
The actor, 45, has starred in three series of Bulletproof, an East London crime drama, with filming on the fourth set to start later this year.
Young appeared in the penultimate episode of Viewpoint yesterday, which aired an hour after 20 women accused him of sexual harassment, groping and bullying between 2004 and 2019 in claims he has vehemently denied.
TV presenter India Willoughby joined growing numbers of Twitter users calling on the channel to ‘do the right thing’ and axe tonight’s final episode of hit crime drama, which has been running every day this week.
She wrote: ‘Let’s see if ITV do the right thing and drop tonight’s final episode of Noel Clarke drama #Viewpoint , while the allegations are investigated. Big on statements this year. One for the women, seeing it’s a female orientated channel?’
Others criticised ITV for continuing to air last night’s episode of Viewpoint, which included a sex scene involving Clarke as lead character DC Martin Young and the actress Alexandra Roach.
Noel Clarke pictured in the five-part drama Viewpoint, which follows a tense police surveillance investigation into a tightknit Manchester community. The show went ahead on ITV last night (including this sex scene with co-star Alexandra Roach) despite the furore
TV presenter India Willoughby joined growing numbers of Twitter users calling on the channel to ‘do the right thing’ and axe the hit crime drama, which has been running every day this week
A spokesperson for Sky said today: ‘Sky stands against all forms of sexual harassment and bullying and takes any allegations of this nature extremely seriously. Effective immediately, we have halted Noel Clarke’s involvement in any future Sky productions.’
Clarke said in response to the allegations: ‘In a 20-year career, I have put inclusivity and diversity at the forefront of my work and never had a complaint made against me.
‘If anyone who has worked with me has ever felt uncomfortable or disrespected, I sincerely apologise. I vehemently deny any sexual misconduct or wrongdoing and intend to defend myself against these false allegations.’
‘Incredibly crass decision to broadcast this,’ one Twitter user wrote last night, with a second adding: ‘Well this is uncomfortable.’
Others also vented their anger on the social network.
Debbie Blackman tweeted: ‘Very awkward about showing #Viewpoint tonight. I want to see what happens but doesn’t seem right somehow.’
Christian Bevan said: ‘Why are @ITV still showing #Viewpoint? Surely you have to pull the programme.’
And Noel Elkins added: ‘Totally wrong decision for @itv to be showing #Viewpoint.’
Clarke has starred in three series of Bulletproof, an East London crime drama, (pic) with filming on the fourth set to start later this year
Others also vented their anger against ITV on the social network. MailOnline has contacted the channel for comment
ITV bosses took urgent steps to remove all mention of Clarke from the continuity announcements for Viewpoint yesterday, according to reports.
A source told Daily Star: ‘Viewpoint was billed as ITV’s big crime drama but it’s now in turmoil.
‘The news broke an hour before episode 4 was due to air and ITV made an active decision not to mention Noel in the voice over announcement on Thursday.
‘Bosses are now in talks about how to proceed promoting the rest of the show which continues on Friday.’
MailOnline has contacted ITV for comment.
ITV bosses took urgent steps to remove all mention of Clarke from the continuity announcements for Viewpoint yesterday, according to reports. Pictured is Twitter reaction against ITV
Bafta has now suspended the award-winning director’s membership and his outstanding British contribution to cinema award, which he was handed earlier this month at the Royal Albert Hall.
Clarke, who is married to former make-up artist Iris Da Silva with three children, wrote and starred in the acclaimed film trilogy Kidulthood, Adulthood and Brotherhood as well as many TV hits including Doctor Who.
But he has been rocked by allegations by women that he has worked with that he is an alleged ‘sexual predator’, who claim he harassed, groped and bullied at work, which he denied in a statement from his lawyers.
He said he ‘sincerely apologised’ to colleagues who felt ‘uncomfortable or disrespected’, but slammed claims of sexual misconduct or wrongdoing as ‘false allegations’.
The claims were levelled against Clarke, best known for appearing in Doctor Who and for co-creating The Hood Trilogy, in The Guardian last night.
Paul Ritter as Leonard Vance, Alex Kingston as Ruth Hattersley, Reece Shearsmith as DS Sean Stone and Clarke as DCI Carl Prior in the TV programme ‘Chasing Shadows’
One woman, who worked as a producer alongside Clarke between 2014 and 2017, alleged that the actor had secretly filmed a naked audition of another woman and bragged about it.
She also claimed Clarke exposed himself to her in a car before groping her in a lift the next day.
According to several accounts, Clarke showed colleagues sexually explicit photos and videos of women, or implied he had access to them. He was also accused of unsolicited sharing of sexually explicit images.
Other women have alleged that the actor would subject them to unwanted physical contact, which included kissing or groping.
Another, who as a teenager starred in Kidulthood, Clarke’s debut film, said one day near the start of filming he ‘put his tongue in my mouth’ and afterwards would constantly grab her and try to kiss her.
It is alleged that when Clarke heard about a newspaper investigation into the allegations, he attempted to contact several of his accusers.
