Bulletproof actor Noel Clarke has reportedly taken legal action against The Guardian, seeking substantial damages amounting to approximately $12 million (£10 million) in his defamation lawsuit.

The lawsuit follows multiple articles published by The Guardian in April 2021 that cited sexual misconduct claims made by a total of 20 women spanning 2004 and 2019.

Following the publication of the articles, numerous reports emerged regarding the actor’s loss of contracts and his management firm severing ties with him. However, the actor, known for his role in Kildulthood, vehemently denied all allegations made against him.

According to the BBC, which obtained court documents filed to London High Court, Clarke filed for $12 million in damages, which in the event of a favourable outcome for the actor, a judge will determine the appropriate compensation to which he may be entitled.

In addition to seeking general damages for the “devastating” impact on his reputation, Clarke is also pursuing compensation for specific financial losses incurred. According to the BBC, Clarke asserts that The Guardian’s articles had a profoundly detrimental effect on his financial situation. The actor alleges that as a result of The Guardian’s reports, all of his “‘existing or upcoming” contractual agreements were terminated.

Clarke’s counsel further claims that the Guardian’s pieces were part of a “relentless, targeted, vicious, and persistent nature of the wholly unjustified defamatory campaign,” for which the actor is now seeking damages considering that he has not secured a “single work contract” since the articles were published.

According to documents obtained by the BBC, Clarke’s lawsuit highlights the following financial losses:

Sky TV show Bulletproof, series 4
– Fee for acting in 10 episodes – £585,000
– Fee for writing two episodes – £90,000
– Fee for directing two episodes – £90,000
– Anticipated royalties – £250,000 (estimated figure)

ITV TV show Viewpoint, series 2
– Fee – £270,000
– Anticipated royalties – £200,000 (estimated figure)

Channel 5 TV show Highwater
– Producer bonus – £60,000
– BBC TV show Crongton
– Producer bonus – £60,000

StudioCanal pic Something in the Water
– Producer bonus – £40,000

– Former production company Unstoppable
– Minimum salary over 10 years – £1.25m
– Projected value of shares — £7 million –

Legal fees
£245,000

Following the aforementioned developments, it is anticipated that a high court judge will preside over the ongoing legal proceedings, tasked with the responsibility of meticulously assessing the veracity of The Guardian’s published articles and ascertaining whether they can be deemed defamatory in nature.

The initial hearing was planned for this week, but has been postponed until later this year as Clarke seeks new legal counsel.

The report comes months after Clarke withdrew his defamation lawsuit against BAFTA, which he recently addressed during an appearance on Zeze Millz Show.

Clarke responded to Zeze’s question on one of the accusers cited in the Guardians report, saying:

“As you know there’s there’s legal things going on – and, to your point, not me getting looked at [by police] but me trying to sue a newspaper – and the fact that I went to the police there’s stuff happening there, so I don’t really want to talk about her but what I will say is sometimes you fall out with people. Sometimes you can be close with people, you can be tight with them, and then you fall out. That’s that can happen in life.”

He then responded to a question about his intentions to return to the film industry, “That’s not up to me, that’s up to people watching. That’s up to people in the industry going ‘Wait a second, why did we actually do that?’ Do you know what I mean?”

Adding, “That’s beyond my control because the difficulty is is like, everybody knows I was sort of the rebel anyway, right, so I did it without these people opening the doors and I got in myself. Now they’ve slammed the doors so now to get back in they have to open the doors.”

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