British actor Noel Clarke has been pictured for the first time since revealing he considered taking his own life after more than 20 women accused him of sex offences – and as police face backlash for dropping the idea of a criminal probe.
Social media users have criticised the Metropolitan Police for not pursuing the allegations, questioning the reasons behind the decision and expressing support for women who come forward to report sexual violence.
Mr Clarke was spotted outside a London restaurant yesterday looking calm and collected in casual wear with striking red trainers.
He was seen coming out of the fine-dining restaurant Launceston Place in Kensington, reportedly after meeting friends for lunch.
It was the first time he has been seen since he told The Mail On Sunday he had considered suicide, saying: ‘I needed to do something unsurvivable.’
In 2021 allegations emerged from more than 20 women, who all knew the actor, 46, in a professional capacity and reported incidents while working with him on TV and film projects.
The allegations, spanning a 15-year period, include 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.
Noel Clarke, 46, was spotted outside a London restaurant in casual wear which showed off his tattoos. He is currently suing several media organisations which reported on the allegations against him
Mr Clarke was pictured seeming upbeat with a big smile and sunglasses. The photos were taken yesterday, June 16, on what was the hottest day of the year so far
Mr Clarke was coming out of a restaurant in Kensington when he was spotted – reportedly after attending a lunch with friends
But in March of this year the Metropolitan Police confirmed they would not be opening an investigation into Mr Clarke as the information did not amount to the threshold for a criminal investigation.
In a statement at the time Clarke said he ‘vehemently’ denied ‘any sexual misconduct or criminal wrongdoing’.
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’.
He is now suing The Guardian, the paper which broke news of the allegations, as well as Bafta for defamation.
Separately he is suing magazine publisher Conde Nast, which ran a piece about the controversy in its glossy men’s monthly GQ.
Mr Clarke spoke candidly about how the allegations impacted his mental health with The Mail On Sunday, revealing he at one point contemplated cutting his own throat as his mental health suffered.
He said it was his 11-year-old child who ‘snapped him out of it’ by asking him a question – about why he was carrying a knife in his pocket.
The British actor was pictured in jeans and a t-shirt, as well as striking, bright red trainers. It’s the first time he has been seen since revealing he suffered from suicidal thoughts after the allegations against him were made
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.
Mr Clarke now has four children – prior to the new baby, his youngest son was born in 2015.
Financially the family has been left ‘running on fumes’. Most seriously, at his lowest, Clarke was suicidal.
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.
‘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.’
‘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.’
He spends his days at home caring for his new baby, on the touchline when his older children play football, going to church on Sundays and attending therapy.
He has been so traumatised he hasn’t been able to watch TV for a year because he only sees people who have turned their backs on him, he said.
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.
Mr Clarke acknowledged that not all of his past behaviour has been beyond reproach, particularly when events of almost two decades ago are judged by the standards of today.
He told The Mail On Sunday: ‘I’m not a predator. I have crossed the road to avoid walking behind women since I was 15 years old.’
Mr Clarke revealed he was suicidal at one point after the allegations surfaced – only snapping out of it because one of his children asked him why he had a knife in his pocket
The actor’s career saw him voted as best guest actor for his appearances in Doctor Who in 2006 – but he says he has been cancelled and his career ‘destroyed’ by the allegations
Launceston Place in Kensington, London, is well-known for it’s fine-dining experience. Noel Clarke was seen dining with friends yesterday, June 16, and has largely stayed out of the limelight since allegations of sex offences came to light
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.
‘Sometimes you’re with each other for six, seven months, away from home. I think sometimes these are just normal, or slightly inappropriate, conversations that people have.
‘I was never involved in any conversation that I didn’t believe was mutual, wasn’t being reciprocated. Maybe I should have known better. But you know what, I didn’t always know better.’
Mr Clarke stayed off his social media such as Twitter for 13 months after he was first accused of sex offences – making a reappearance on May 28 to post the article for The Mail On Sunday.
The actor is best known for acting in Doctor Who and co-creating The Hood Trilogy.
He has also had notable roles in Brotherhood, Star Trek Into Darkness and Mute.
He was awarded BAFTA’s Orange Rising Star Award in 2009 and was awarded the 2003 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Most Promising Newcomer of 2002 for his performance in Where Do We Live at the Royal Court Theatre.
He criticised the influence of social media in ‘cancelling’ him and destroying his career: ”At what point did the broadcasters in this country become the judges, juries and executioners of people?
‘At what point did Bafta decide they were no longer about films, but they were about judging people’s lives? This is not about me, it’s bigger, it’s about due process.
‘Yes, people have said these things about me – but if I say you’re a donkey, it doesn’t make you a donkey, does it?’
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