Russell Brand: Disgraced comedian's partners including Geri Halliwell, Peaches Geldof, Kate Moss, Georgina Baillie and others

One of the reasons is that Brand made sex and relationships "his" thing. He had on-stage routines - several of which were used in the documentary - which went into graphic and sometimes uncomfortable detail about sex. Many at the time found them distasteful; with hindsight they appear sinister, as does his well-known on-screen flirtatious manner, which seems even more predatory than it did then.

By his own admission he slept with "thousands" of women in his younger days, but he says everything was consensual. The evidence presented last night suggests otherwise. Another reason he may have avoided exposure is that Brand had had a string of beautiful and high-profile girlfriends. This list is not to implicate them in any wrong-doing, nor suggest they could have acted differently, but it shows how Brand became a fixture in the tabloid papers in the mid to late-noughties, accompanied by a new face every month.

He became almost a professional lothario - and perhaps any complaints against him were dismissed as sour grapes from spurned women. Among the relationships detailed by the website whosdatedwho.com are these, below. And in addition, Brand was married to American pop star Katy Perry from 2010 to 2011, and is currently married to Laura Gallacher.

From November 2005 to March 2006 Brand was said to be dating adult model Cassie Sumner, but the site says in 2006 in February and March he was in a relationship with Big Brother contestant turned glamour model Imogen Thomas. That year he was also stepping out with model Kate Moss in May and June and rumoured to be with Peaches Geldof in August and September - although she disputed this version of events - and was linked to presenter Kat Shoob in August and for a couple of years afterwards.

He was also linked to Big Brother contestant Becki Siddiki in 2006, as well as PR agent Jessica Renton and Big Brother contestant Makosi Musambasi, and is rumoured to have hooked up with Hole singer Courtney Love in 2006 too. Brand's relationship with Georgina Baillie in 2008 was sadly pulled into the public that year because of Sachsgate - when he and Jonathan Ross left vile and explicit messages on her grandfather Andrew Sach's answerphone about her.

Other relationships have been with Spice Girl Geri Halliwell (now Horner) in 2012, stylist Maeve Reilly that year, former talent agent Isabella Brewster, actress Nikolett Barabas and DJ Zara Martin in 2013, as well as Australian actress Teresa Palmer. Charmingly, he later told a newspaper about their four-month fling: "I had to romance her so I didn't fall in love with her". He had a relationship with English socialite and magazine editor Jemima Khan in 2013 as well, and hooked up with model Sophie Coady that year too.

However, he has not always had things his own way. The Daily Mail mentioned in 2006, as he started his Radio 2 show, that several women had brushed off his advances. "Singer Myleene Klass, formerly of Hear'Say, told him to get lost. As did Dannii Minogue, who described him as a 'vile predator'," wrote showbusiness reporter Alison Boshoff. "Former Big Brother winner Kate Lawler denies sharing anything more than a few drinks with him ('We never even snogged,' she wailed), as does Peaches Geldof, who flirted with him at a party, but no more than that.

"Rod Stewart's daughter Kimberly also decided that Brand - who boasts about bedding more than 2,000 women, mostly groupies and prostitutes - was infinitely resistible. "'I'd never sleep with him', she said after they were pictured together at a nightclub. 'I know his reputation'."

Prophetic words, indeed.