Video taking off 18x its usual first day

Walliams investigation examines the pressure to stay silent

Today in Focus pairs Lilly Creightmore's account with a reporter's explanation of the investigation and Walliams's denial of sexual misconduct.

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Today in Focus Story of November 11, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 272,941 views a day, 18 times a normal first day on this channel (15,343).

The allegations against David Walliams | Investigation by the Guardian and ITV News

Things we can learn from the video

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3:39Nosheen Iqbal introduces investigations correspondent Maeve McClenaghan to explain the joint Guardian and ITV News findings.
4:05Lilly Creightmore recounts meeting Walliams on the Little Britain set and receiving an unexpected card.
7:50Creightmore describes sexual pressure while staying at Walliams's flat and hostility after she refused.
11:02Walliams's lawyers deny grooming Creightmore and reject allegations of sexual misconduct.
28:07Walliams's letter acknowledges thoughtless behaviour in relationships but denies abusing his power or breaking the law.
48:43McClenaghan and Iqbal examine why women felt unable to speak publicly for years.

Lilly Creightmore remembers an unexpected card arriving after she met David Walliams on the set of Little Britain. In Today in Focus's investigation episode, that contact becomes the starting point for her account of a friendship in which she says she faced persistent sexual pressure.

Host Nosheen Iqbal and Guardian investigations correspondent Maeve McClenaghan examine the joint Guardian and ITV News investigation into women's accounts of Walliams using his celebrity to pursue them. Walliams denies sexual misconduct and abusing his power.

Creightmore describes staying at his flat during a period when she had nowhere to live. She recounts refusing to share his bed, resisting pressure to sleep with him and facing hostility after saying no. "I do feel on reflection that he possibly targeted me because I was vulnerable," she says.

The episode includes his lawyers' response: they say he regarded Creightmore as a close friend, deny grooming her and reject allegations of sexual misconduct. In a letter quoted in the programme, Walliams acknowledges behaving thoughtlessly in some casual relationships but denies breaking the law or abusing the imbalance that comes with fame.

The upload drew about 224,000 views in 16 hours, already far beyond the channel's usual full first-day audience for regular videos.

Alongside testimony, the programme revisits archive footage in which Walliams's pursuit of women was treated as a joke. Its closing discussion asks what made speaking publicly so difficult, with McClenaghan explaining the barriers women faced when challenging a powerful celebrity.

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