The BBC has removed The God Complex from its streaming service, iPlayer, after allegations against David Walliams, who appears in the episode.
Walliams plays Gibbis, an alien from Tivoli, in the Series 6 episode, which also stars Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, alongside Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams. The God Complex is written by Toby Whithouse and directed by Nick Hurran — it’s a stunning episode, and central to the arc of Series 6, seeing as it concludes with the Doctor’s companions leaving the TARDIS.
There are allegations against Walliams about “inappropriate sexual activities” with girls and young women, including alleged grooming of teenagers. Walliams denies all allegations and affirms that he’s not a “sexual predator”. It’s been confirmed that Walliams is the previously unnamed celebrity who attempted to stop the publication of his identity in relation to these allegations. When they initially came to light, he’s said to have attempted suicide. This is indeed a tricky case on which to comment.
A BBC spokesperson said:
“These are serious allegations. As such, the BBC is looking carefully at all material featuring and written by David Walliams on our platforms. We are in the process of removing some programmes, including Little Britain, whilst this review is underway.”
Little Britain was the series written and starring Walliams alongside Matt Lucas (Twelfth Doctor companion, Nardole). Other shows with episodes removed from iPlayer include Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel and Would I Lie to You?, with Walliams guesting on both.
I don’t actually think it’s a good thing that the BBC has removed The God Complex. Of course, if Walliams did do what he’s accused of, it’s repugnant. By deleting content, in a way, it’s like being guilty until proven innocent, which is always dangerous. But then, if you censor or remove any content that might have even a whiff of controversy, there might be little actual content left on streaming services or perhaps on TV. If we take a similar stance, you’d have to remove content featuring anyone with similar allegations against them — Noel Clarke, for instance. If you got rid of anything with his name attached to it, you’d lose much of Series 1 and Series 2, plus Combat (the episode of Torchwood), The Stolen Earth/ Journey’s End, and The End of Time: Part Two. The BBC is very unlikely to remove the latter, seeing as it’s David Tennant’s swansong as the Tenth Doctor!
So: a minefield that rivals Skaro.
What do you think, DWC readers?
