David Walliams: Britain's Got Talent producer reaches 'amicable resolution' with comedian over leaked rant

Fremantle, the producer of Britain's Got Talent, has issued an apology and reached an "amicable resolution" with David Walliams following the leaked comments he made while serving as a judge on the show. The 52-year-old comedian, who appeared on the ITV talent show between 2012 and 2022, was suing the company a for misuse of private information and for breaching UK General Data Protection Regulation (UKGDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

High Court documents released last month said Walliams was accusing the company of causing him psychiatric harm and financial loss after being removed from the ITV show in November last year. His departure came in the wake of a leaked transcript that revealed comments he had made about contestants during a break in filming.

In this transcript, which was published by The Guardian, he repeatedly used derogatory language, referring to one elderly contestant using offensive terms and making inappropriate comments about another contestant. These comments were inadvertently captured by his microphone during auditions at the London Palladium in January 2020.

After the comments became public at the end of the year, Walliams issued an apology, asserting that they were part of private conversations never intended for public consumption. However, he resigned from the show two weeks later.

A Fremantle spokesperson said in a statement to the PA news agency on Monday (November 27): “We are pleased that we have achieved an amicable resolution of this dispute with David. We are sincerely sorry that his private conversations when a judge on Britain’s Got Talent were published, and the great distress this caused David.

“We have reviewed our production practices on the show to ensure they fully respect the expectations of our talent whilst satisfying the requirements of the show. We have enjoyed a great relationship with David over many years. We thank David for being an important part of the Britain’s Got Talent family and the enduring success of the show and hope to have opportunities to work with him in the future.”