BBC pulls Little Britain, but libraries keep David Walliams books on the shelves

Books by the British comedian and children’s author David Walliams will stay on the shelves of Bristol’s public libraries, the BBC reported. Bristol City Council said on 11 November that it had no plans to remove any of his books, as nothing in them breaches library policies. The BBC, meanwhile, is taking Little Britain, the sketch show in which Walliams starred with Matt Lucas, off its iPlayer streaming service.

The allegations

On 10 November the Guardian and ITV News published an investigation in which several women accused Walliams of sexual misconduct and “grooming”, including when they were teenagers. He could be named after Mr Justice Matthew Nicklin of the High Court refused his application for an injunction to stop the reporting, saying it would be an “exceptionally serious interference” with freedom of expression. Walliams denies the allegations. “I am not a sexual predator… I have not broken the law,” he said in a statement, while acknowledging he had at times “behaved thoughtlessly” towards others. The Metropolitan Police said it had contacted both news organisations so that any potential victims knew how to report to the police.

Who has cut ties

Independent Talent Group, his literary agency, said it no longer represents him. The BBC is reviewing all material featuring or written by Walliams, and Come Fly With Me and adaptations of his books are also unavailable on iPlayer. His publisher, HarperCollins, dropped him in December 2025 after an investigation into claims that he had “harassed” young women, and earlier this month the Alton Towers theme park closed its attraction based on his books.

Libraries: controversy alone is no reason

Bristol is part of Libraries West, a partnership of seven councils’ library services in the west of England. Its policy says that “in the interests of intellectual freedom” material will not be rejected solely because it is considered controversial. School libraries are a matter for individual schools, not the council. In Ireland, Education Minister Hildegarde Naughton took a similar line, calling the allegations very serious but saying she trusts principals and school communities to choose their books.

Walliams’s books include The Boy in the Dress and Gangsta Granny, and more than 60 million copies of his books have been sold worldwide.