Actor Noel Clarke has lost his High Court libel claim against the publisher of the Guardian newspaper over its reporting of misconduct allegations.

Clarke, 49, sued Guardian News and Media (GNM) over seven articles and a podcast, including an article in April 2021 that said 20 women who knew him professionally had come forward with allegations of misconduct, including bullying, harassment and sexually inappropriate behaviour.

The Doctor Who actor denies the allegations, while GNM defended its reporting as being both true and in the public interest.

Mrs Justice Steyn agreed, dismissing Clarke's claim in a judgment on Friday saying that the newspaper "succeeded in establishing both truth and public interest defences to the libel claim".

She added: "I have accepted some of Mr Clarke's evidence... but overall I find that he was not a credible or reliable witness."

The High Court in London heard evidence from multiple witnesses who made accusations against Clarke, including that he had allegedly shared nude photographs of them without their consent, groped them, and asked them to look at him when he was exposed.

However barristers for Clarke told the court that there was a conspiracy of people with financial and personal grudges against him who engineered his downfall because they could not bear to see him receive a Bafta award.

Philip Williams, representing the actor, said that his client was a "casualty" of a media "purge" following the emergence of the MeToo movement.

However Gavin Millar KC, for GNM, said there was "not a shred of evidence" to support Clarke's claim of a conspiracy, describing it as "nonsensical and rather desperate speculation".