'I was sexually humiliated by David Walliams': 'Deeply uncomfortable' TV star Jeremy Edwards says he's suffered years of shame after 'predatory' comic pulled down his pants and mounted him on stage in degrading game of hide the sausage

Jeremy Edwards has told how he was sexually humiliated by David Walliams when he appeared live on stage to perform a sketch for Comic Relief.

The British actor recalled how the 'predatory' comedian pulled his pants down leaving his private parts exposed then performed a simulated sex act on him in front of an audience of 3,500 people including some of the biggest names in showbusiness.

The degrading ordeal was captured on a special release DVD which is still available to buy on the internet.

Jeremy – who was once engaged to S Club 7 pop star Rachel Stevens – told how he had suffered years of torment after the incident even though he was the innocent victim.

Jeremy, 55, told how he had agreed to take part in a light-hearted Little Britain sketch alongside Walliams and comedian David Baddiel at the Hammersmith Apollo in London in November 2006.

But he alleges he was duped by Walliams claiming the star – who is now mired in a scandal of allegations of grooming girls as young as 15 and harassing women in the workplace – launched into the premeditated assault.

Jeremy Edwards has spoken for the first time about the years of shame he suffered after appearing in the notorious hide the sausage sketch with the predatory comic David Walliams

Edwards, who rose to fame in the Channel Four soap Hollyoaks, says what happened to him was 'not OK' - and says that he felt it was a premeditated assault on him by Walliams 

Walliams, Edwards said, tickled him so that he lifted his arms and then took the opportunity to pull down his pants. When the shocked actor bent over to pull them up, Walliams then rugby tackled him to the floor and then climbed on top of him to mount him in the packed theatre

The actor is still angry with Walliams today, two decades on, for not warning him beforehand what was going to happen. He says the unpleasant incident has haunted him for years

Speaking exclusively about it for the first time to the Daily Mail, he said: 'It simply was abuse. I did not agree to it.

'You just can't do that to people. Having your trousers pulled down and you're stood there in your boxer shorts is one thing. Having your penis exposed is something very different.

'I didn't know that was going to happen. I'm angry because why did they think that would be OK with me?

'If they had said to me 'By the way they are going to expose you in front of everybody would you agree?'. Well the answer is no.

'What we are talking about here is consent and I didn't consent to it.

'In reality I went down, flip bang. It's all on video - bang to rights.

'If I had known I was going to have my genitals exposed in front of all those people then put on a DVD which has sold millions of copies and then for it for now to be on the internet for the rest of my life I wouldn't have done it for a million years.

'He knew exactly what he was going to do and had no qualms doing it to me.

'It's not something I'm proud of but I am the victim here. I wish it had never happened.

'It was supposed to be a bit of fun and instead it's been something that has haunted me for years.'

Insisting he had been deceived by Walliams, also 55, he added: 'I've never had an apology.'

Jeremy told how he had always believed that what had happened at the event had been an accident and that Walliams hadn't meant to go as far as he had done to raise a laugh.

It was years later that he was shown videos of the comedian carrying out the same stunt when other innocent members of the public were also exposed.

He said: 'I never knew it was something that was done with intent.

'It's only recently that I have seen footage of previous shows that I realised that was always the plan. It wasn't an accident that my pants got pulled down.

'They deliberately got me there to do that. There's videos of him doing it to other men but worse than me - grabbing them by the ankles and spinning them round for the audience after taking their pants down.

'I feel stupid that I felt I couldn't say anything. I can only imagine that for members of the public that must be magnified ten fold.'

The sketch ended up featuring as a highlight in the Comic Relief Does Little Britain Live DVD which was released in 2007.

Alongside Walliams and his comedy partner Matt Lucas the video features a glittering array of celebrities including Jonathan Ross, Dawn French, Russell Brand and Peter Kay.

Jeremy – who was known for his boyish good looks  – told how he had agreed to take part in the event at short notice after Duncan James from the boy band Blue had dropped out at the last minute.

Father-of-two Jeremy – who rose to fame in Channel Four soap opera Hollyoaks and also had a starring role in medical drama Holby City – had turned up at the event with wife Lydia and a friend.

In the sketch, Walliams performed as the character Des Kay, a predatory gay former children's entertainer and TV presenter.

Footage of the incident that has gone viral shows Walliams' character playing a game of 'hide the sausage' before he lunges at Jeremy pulling down both his jeans and underwear and exposing his private parts.

Describing the events that unfolded in his own words Jeremy said: 'I was contacted literally on the day of the show because Duncan from Blue had pulled out at the last minute. He was supposed to be doing it with David Baddiel.

Edwards said that afterwards he just had to get away and went to the toilets to be alone and process what happened. His wife Lydia (pictured) was concerned for his welfare afterwards

'The idea was David Walliams' character fancies my character. It was going to be Duncan and they wanted someone else of that ilk, the teenage poster thing.

'I was really keen to do it ironically because of David Walliams and ironically Russell Brand - these incredible people who were the kings of comedy.

'I was given a script. It was very short. I read the script. There was this character. It said he does this thing where he plays this game.

'The joke was that he was fancying me and falling all over me and being a bit inappropriate. Then he was going to chase me round the stage trying to pull down my trousers. I'm thinking Benny Hill.

'I agreed to do it. Everybody is there - Jonathan Ross, who always seems to be around, Dawn French, Kate Moss - you name it.

'I felt quite nervous. He got me out of the audience and I went up on stage. When it came to the moment he was very clever.

'He tickled me under the arms so that I pulled them into my chest and as soon as he did that he dropped to his knees and pulled both my trousers and my pants down so I'm completely naked from the waist down in front of 3,500 people.

'I bent down to pull my trousers up and when I did that he knocked me over while I was off balance. Then he mounted me and sexually humiliated me. I was sexually humiliated. It got a massive laugh.

'I couldn't get him off. I'm 6ft 2ins but he's a big guy and very strong. I ended up tapping out like a wrestler. I was saying 'Get off me. Get off me'. I got up and pulled my trousers up.

'I was not expecting that - no way. Had they said he was going to debag me in front of all those people. I didn't want to be humiliated in that way, but I was.

'I felt angry but mainly embarrassed - and humiliated. It was deeply uncomfortable.

'I went to the toilet just to get away. I didn't want to go back into the auditorium as I had been due to because I felt like a fool.

'I went to the bar to wait for my wife Lydia who had been expecting me to come back to my seat. Everyone was coming up and laughing about it.

'When my wife came in she asked if I was OK. She felt sorry for me because it was so embarrassing.

'Everyone else was laughing it off apart from Rufus Sewell, who is a wonderful guy. He asked me if I was alright as he could tell that I wasn't.

'Then Walliams came over and said 'Of course he's alright - he got the biggest laugh of the night.'

Featured in the video for the Comic Relief sketch was Walliams friend, the rapist Russell Brand

Among those in attendance that night was another celebrity friend of Walliams, Jonathan Ross

'I was made to feel stupid for feeling humiliated. I think that was a way of him validating what he had just done - it's all about the laughs, it's for Comic Relief, don't be silly, it doesn't matter.

'I wasn't cool with it but I felt I had to be cool with it because of the peer pressure.

'I felt really stupid. Then the next day in one of the papers I was accused of being a bad sport and throwing my toys out of the pram because I didn't turn up for the curtain call.'

'It was an intoxicating line up for me to be a part of. I was just a filler part but because of what happened it then became the most popular thing and it went straight on the DVD.

'They sent me a copy of it but I've never watched it. David never said sorry or are you OK. The biggest thing for me was that it was premeditated. I didn't know that until recently. That really upsets me. That shows very little respect.

'I knew David. We were neighbours in Primrose Hill and used to walk our dogs together.

'He could have given me a heads up. He could have had the common courtesy.

'I had considered him to be a friend. It makes me angry that he had brought me into that situation with every intention of doing that.

'The fact that was always the intention is upsetting. Just to say 'Get over it. It's a laugh. You got a big laugh. What's the problem?'. The problem is you just can't do that to people.

'Now it's gone viral again. How many millions of hits has that got? Now it comes up. I was doing a theatre play and they all Google you and people say: 'Oh my God this happened to you'.

'For me to feel that much pressure - a decent sized bloke who works in the industry - to feel that I wasn't allowed to make a fuss shows you how much pressure people who aren't from the industry must feel, how much power these people have.

'I came away feeling I was being a bad sport but it wasn't OK. Then they put it on the DVD because it was so funny, because a man being humiliated in front of thousands of people is hilarious.

'I'm angry about it now. I think I always was but I didn't feel I could say anything.'

Jeremy still works as an actor and as well as a writer but now makes most of his income through public speaking training.

He said he could not be certain whether the experience had harmed his career but added: 'It's the bane of my life. It won't go away - it's never going to go away.

'Instead of going away with a little step up in my career and giving my time for free for a good cause I came away with complete humiliation. It's there and it keeps going on.

'Nobody said sorry to me.

'When David got sacked from Britain's Got Talent, I told him that people wanted me to speak out about it. I said no but I didn't know that it was meant to happen and at the time I had this misguided sense of loyalty. He thanked me for not saying anything.'

Explaining why he was speaking out he said: 'My personal thing is premeditation and the pressure.

'I had a misguided sense of loyalty because I thought it was a blooper and I thought he was a decent guy and I didn't want to add to his problems. Well, he isn't a decent guy - and it was deliberate.

'We should not be accepting this as a society. We should not be accepting that people are walking around thinking they are untouchable.

'Everyone was there. It was a big deal. It was a big event. I felt privileged to be a part of that but then I ended up being the butt of everyone's joke.

'I was with all these amazing people who I admire and I was just in a world of pain.

'I was duped. I feel like a mug.

Walliams, seen in January, was unmasked this week as the celebrity at the centre of an injuction around claims he preyed on teenage girls as young as 15 and young women for sex

'I'm just going to end up being known as the bloke who got done by David Walliams on stage.'

Walliams has previously spoken of his own account of the incident, saying: 'I played it with Holby City actor Jeremy Edwards and pulled down his trousers.

'His pants came down at the same time, which was a mistake.

'It's a very easy mistake to make! But I did expose him to thousands of people at London's Hammersmith Apollo. I did feel bad about it afterwards. But not that bad.'

Walliams performed the same sketch many times when he and Lucas toured the UK on their Little Britain Live Tour which kicked off in 2005 and again when the tour ran for 32 shows in Australia in 2007.

The following year (2007) the BBC broadcast a documentary which featured Walliams performing the routine during a Little Britain stage show in Australia – where he targeted three teenage males from the audience.

The footage – in which Walliams also simulated sex acts and appeared to kiss his victims' buttocks – sparked outrage when it re-emerged on social media in 2020.

It showed Walliams 'groping' and 'humiliating' the three males who were said to be aged 16 to 18 on stage while playing the same game.