The stink around bestseller

As writer David Walliams is dropped by his publisher over claims of inappropriate behaviour, Nick Hilton looks back at the years of building controversies around the comedian

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David Walliams has been dropped from his lucrative publishing contract with HarperCollins, following an internal investigation into alleged inappropriate behaviour towards young female staff at the company. Former employees alleged to The Telegraph that they were advised to work in pairs when meeting with him and not to visit his home. It is by far the most damaging in a string of controversies linked to the comedian and writer, who has strongly denied the new claims. He had previously managed to delicately balance his career as a provocative, womanising comic with a moonlit role as Britain's most important children's novelist. Finally, that precarious coalition seems to have collapsed.

Born in London in 1971, Walliams grew up in the suburbs and attended Reigate Grammar School, the alma mater of Sir Keir Starmer. While studying drama at the University of Bristol, Walliams enrolled in the National Youth Theatre, where he bonded with another young actor, Matt Lucas, over a shared appreciation for Vic Reeves Big Night Out. They had a mutual interest in comedy that verged on the grotesque, which led the duo to their first sketch show, Mash and Peas, directed by Edgar Wright, which appeared on the Paramount Comedy channel in 1996.

But it was their breakout hit,