Martin Clunes reveals David Walliams was ‘very rude’ about him on TV show – saying ‘I was not flattered’
MARTIN Clunes has revealed David Walliams was ‘very rude’ about him on a popular TV show.
From 2010 to 2011, David wrote and starred in Channel 4 mockumentary Come Fly With Me with comedy partner Matt Lucas.
In one sketch, the pair portrayed excitable Japanese schoolgirls who were superfans of the Doc Martin actor.
This included the comedians performing a musical caricature of the Japanese language.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Martin revealed initial plans were for him to star in the sketch.
He would have filmed a scene with the pair’s characters and said: “Actually, I’m pretty big in Japan.”
As the actor explained: “But my schedule closed up and I couldn’t.
“So now I’ve got this pain-in-the-a**e song without any get out.”
Martin recounted: “I remember being very flattered they’d chosen me.
“Then I saw David Walliams talking about it on The Graham Norton Show] and I was not flattered: he was very rude about me.”
Speaking in 2010, David told presenter Graham: “Normally [some Japanese fans are obsessed] with someone like Robbie Williams.
“We thought, ‘Who’s the most unlikely person? We thought of Martin Clunes.”
Meanwhile, Martin was asked whether he’d heard the song often over the years.
He said in response that it had been “enveloped in the mist of casual racism.”
In 2020, Come Fly With Me (along with Little Britain) was removed from Netflix, BBC iPlayer and BritBox after controversy over the use of blackface characters.
David Walliams career so far
By Conor O’Brien
Comedian, actor and writer David Walliams has enjoyed a varied career spanning almost three decades.
The star (who was born David Williams) has found success across a wide range of formats.
Here is a look back at some of his biggest career moments.
- Little Britain: David co-created this fan favourite sketch comedy series alongside Matt Lucas. Originating on the radio, the series aired on BBC Three (then BBC One) between 2003 and 2006. David and Matt also played many characters between them as well as writing the show.
- Charity work: In July 2006, David swam the English Channel for Sport Relief – it took him 10 hours and 34 minutes to swim the 22 mile stretch. David raised over £1million in donations. Five years later, he swam the length of the River Thames to raise more than £2million for Sport Relief. In March 2010, he took part in an end-to-end cycle journey across the UK for Sport Relief. This raised over £1million.
- Britain’s Got Talent: David joined the judging panel of the popular ITV show in 2012. He appeared alongside Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon – the latter joining BGT at the same time. After a decade, he left the programme and was replaced by Bruno Tonioli.
- Children’s novels: Aside from on-camera work, the star has a very successful career writing books for children. Some of his titles include The Boy in the Dress, Mr Stink and Gangsta Granny. Altogether, eight of David’s books have been adapted for TV movies on BBC One.
BBC and BritBox both confirmed the TV shows had been taken down, telling viewers: “Times have changed.”
A Beeb spokesman added at the time: “There’s a lot of historical programming available on BBC iPlayer, which we regularly review.
“Times have changed since Little Britain first aired so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer.”
BritBox, which streams ITV and BBC shows, added: “Times have changed since Little Britain first aired, so it is not currently available on BritBox.
“Come Fly With Me has not been available on the service for six months.”