Russell Brand: The rise and fall of a TV star

Following Russell Brand's conviction for rape and sexual assault, Evelyn O'Rourke looks back at his rise to fame and the role television played in both his career and the exposure of allegations against him.

Russell Brand has always loved television.

Growing up in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, television was a huge part of his childhood. He watched hours and hours of it, and indeed Brand recalled in later years that the most useful part of his education came from obsessively watching TV comedies.

He diligently practised his imitation of Basil Fawlty's walk in Fawlty Towers and learnt off reams of dialogue from popular shows.

Later Brand would write in his best-selling 2007 memoir My Booky Wook that growing up, television became an obsession and a sanctuary.

He was bewitched by the lights, the glamour, and he understood the power and cultural impact of television on 1970s and 1980s Britain.

When Brand got his turn to try out performing IRL at age 15, with his first stage role in a school production of Bugsy Malone, he said he was "inconsolable" after the show had finished, asking himself, "how could I get back the feeling that I’d had in front of an audience?"

The die was cast.

He went on to audition for stage schools, but the chaos of his later teenage years and early 20s led to disrupted training as he led a turbulent personal life.

Brand has spoken openly about his drug use, and how he was regularly using heroin during this period.

By the age of 25 though amidst the chaos, Brand, was still drawn to performing, and was exploring stand-up comedy. He headed to Edinburgh festival where his performances caught the eye of MTV.

In 2000 he launched his TV presenting career with the network, but when he turned up to the studios, dressed up as Osama Bin Laden the day after the September 11 attacks in 2001, he was fired.

In 2002, he got sober, celebrating the milestones over the years on his social media posts.

In 2004 television bosses at E4 thought he was worth a punt, and offered him a gig presenting, Big Brother’s companion show, Eforum, which developed into Big Brother’s Big Mouth.

He was a hit.

Brand’s unique high-speed patter, a mash-up of Victorian Dickensian speak, mixed with knowing modern day quips, charmed television executives.

The media opportunities came pouring in with producers and audience relishing his edgy, charismatic, cheeky screen persona.

The camera loved him, and he loved it right back.

For many mainstream UK viewers, their first introduction to him came courtesy of an appearance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in May 2006.

Lolling on the couch, exchanging rapid-fire lines with Ross, Brand was unlike any character on the media landscape at the time.

He was a tall, striking figure, wearing heavy eyeliner makeup and was totally comfortable in his role as on-screen entertainer, happy to provoke outrage with his outlandish stories.

Brand openly discussed his drug use, joked about sexual exploits and it all made for captivating television.

Today, as Brand faces the consequences of his conviction, it is difficult to convey just how significant a media figure he had become in Britain by the mid-2000s.

Brand was celebrated and ushered into the heart of British popular culture.

He and Jonathan Ross were kings of the small screen, but another scandal was brewing.

In 2008, Sachsgate erupted.

The controversy involved Ross and Brand making a prank call on BBC Radio 2, recording offensive voicemails for actor Andrew Sachs, (a much-loved British figure for his performance as Manuel in the iconic Fawlty Towers show.)

The story made its way onto the front pages of the Daily Mail and as the scale of the fallout from the calls grew, BBC Radio 2 controller, Lesley Douglas resigned, the BBC received a £150,000 fine from Ofcom and Jonathan Ross was suspended for 12 weeks.

Brand resigned from the BBC, and headed off to America, where he quickly moved on to his next career move, a Hollywood star.

He landed a role in a major comedy romance movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall which was released in 2008.

Other movie roles followed, and he was at the height of his powers, dating pop star Katy Perry.

He appeared on RTÉ's The Late Late Show in November 2009 discussing their relationship and the pair would go on to marry in 2010 making global headlines.

Brand’s star continued to rise, and he appeared in the Olympics closing ceremony in the UK in 2012, singing I Am the Walrus from the rooftop of a psychedelic bus.

As his celebrity status developed, Brand became politically active too and was celebrated by many on the left in the UK.

He was invited as a guest on the high-profile Question Time panel on BBC in 2013 along with Boris Johnson.

Later that year he was interviewed by Jeremy Paxman on BBC’s Newsnight.

Their lively exchange about a revolution in society and voting (Brand claimed he had never voted) went viral and sparked mainstream political debate.

Brand was big news.

In 2014, the comedian launched his first YouTube project, and he continued to act and perform, mixing with political figures and sharing his political views.

As his audience on YouTube grew during the Covid pandemic, his political commentary began to shift towards vaccine scepticism and conspiracy theories.

But behind the scenes, serious allegations about Brand’s behaviour towards women were emerging, and journalists were beginning to investigate.

In 2019, away from the cameras, Channel 4 commissioned an investigation into allegations about Brand’s behaviour towards women, which would eventually form part of a joint investigation with The Times and The Sunday Times.

On 16 September 2023, Channel 4 broadcast a special edition of Dispatches, while The Times and The Sunday Times published the findings of their joint investigation into allegations against Brand.

On that same night in 2023, when the 90-minute documentary film was being aired on Channel 4, Brand was not at home watching television though.

Instead, he chose to perform live on stage in London to a sold-out crowd of fans.

Those investigations made global headlines however, and his reputation across the mainstream media was now in shreds.

Since those investigations were published in 2023, and criminal proceedings on his horizon, Brand has been focused on growing his online community, garnering millions of subscribers and views for his endless videos.

Now, in November 2026, Brand is once again making television headlines, but not for the kind of attention he once courted.

Instead, his trial on serious sexual offence charges has brought him back into the public spotlight.

On Thursday, a jury at Southwark Crown Court found him guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault against four women, in offences committed between 2004 and 2009, during the years in which his entertainment career was flourishing.

He was acquitted of two further rape charges and one charge of attempted indecent assault. Brand had denied all seven charges.

With the verdicts now delivered, four women who brought allegations against Brand have seen him convicted of offences against them.

The Metropolitan Police paid tribute to the women who came forward, praising their courage, resilience and determination in giving evidence despite intense public scrutiny.

Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy said Brand had used his influence, status and fame to exploit and sexually offend against women.

Following the verdicts, Mr Justice Bennathan told Brand that the consequence of his convictions would be a "significant custodial term".

Brand was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on Monday, 9 November.

Russell Brand has always loved television, but it was a Channel 4 Dispatches programme in 2023, alongside reporting by The Times and The Sunday Times, that brought serious allegations against him into the public eye and led to a police investigation.

A programme produced for the very medium that had made him famous.

On Thursday, the television cameras were waiting once again, this time outside Southwark Crown Court. But at the heart of the story were four women against whom Brand has now been convicted of committing rape or sexual assault.