Clarke, best known for his Kidulthood film trilogy, is suing the Guardian over articles published in 2021 and 2022 following an investigation by its journalists into allegations of misconduct against him.
The first article reported allegations from 20 women, including complaints of unwanted touching or groping, sexually inappropriate behaviour and comments on set, and taking and sharing sexually explicit pictures and videos without consent. Further articles reported 10 other people had made additional allegations. Clarke argued that the meaning of the articles was that he was definitely guilty of the allegations.
However, at a preliminary hearing a judge rejected that view and said a reasonable reader would interpret most of them as meaning there were “ strong grounds to believe” he was guilty, a less serious meaning for legal purposes.
Clarke says his media career has collapsed as a result of the allegations, which he denies. After the publication of the report, Bafta suspended a lifetime achievement award that it had given him the previous week, and ITV declined to broadcast the final episode of the thriller Viewpoint, in which Clarke was starring.
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