The BBC has removed its adaptation of Julia Donaldson’s Room on the Broom from iPlayer. This follows allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct made against actor and comedian David Walliams, who voiced Frog in the 2012 animated film.
Walliams was accused of grooming girls as young as 15 and sexual assault in a joint investigation by The Guardian and ITV on Tuesday, 10 November. He denies all allegations. The Metropolitan Police has since launched a criminal investigation into allegations of “non-recent serious sexual offences” against Walliams.
Despite Walliams having only three lines in the 30-minute programme, the TV film has been pulled from BBC iPlayer. A BBC spokesperson stated, “These are serious allegations. As such, the BBC is looking carefully at all material featuring and written by David Walliams on our platforms.”
The BBC is in the process of removing some programmes, including Little Britain, Come Fly With Me, and episodes of The Wheel and Would I Lie to You?, while a review is underway. Channel 4 has also removed episodes of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Chitty Flies Again. Sky announced earlier this week that it had dropped a planned film adaptation of Walliams' 2019 book, Fing!, which was set for release next year.