Actor Drake Bell told his former Nickelodeon co-star Josh Peck that he worried about the fate of their friendship after he reported allegations of child abuse during their time on “Drake & Josh.”
The former child stars, who reunited for the first time in nearly 20 years for an episode of Peck’s podcast, “Good Guys,” reflected on the revelations made in last year’s docuseries “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.”
The Investigative Discovery series, which aired in March 2024, featured interviews with several actors and former child stars who alleged abuse, inappropriate behavior and a toxic work environment when they appeared on some Nickelodeon shows.
It was the first time Bell had publicly addressed his accusations of child sexual abuse against Nick dialogue coach Brian Peck (no relation to Josh Peck), who was arrested in 2003 and charged with “lewd acts with a child,” according to a news release from the Los Angeles Police Department. The release said Brian Peck had molested an unidentified minor he had worked with over a period of six months.
After he pleaded no contest, Brian Peck was convicted of lewd or lascivious acts with a 14- or 15-year-old child and oral copulation with a minor under 16, according to a case summary from Los Angeles County Superior Court. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
Brian Peck was “walking around set” during the filming of the show’s pilot as the investigation was happening, Bell said in the podcast episode.
“Where I felt most comfortable, where I was the happiest, was when I was on set with you guys,” Bell told Josh Peck. “And the worst part was, every day I got there, the monster was there.”
Attempts to reach Brian Peck for comment were unsuccessful Monday.
At the time the “Drake & Josh” pilot was being shot, Bell said, he agonized about whether the situation would negatively affect the show’s future. He was afraid the investigation would go public.
“When this drops, is Josh going to look at me and be like, ‘Bro, you took our dream away?’ … Like, are we going to lose our show?” Bell said as he recounted his stress. “Dude, I was losing my hair. Like, I had these giant scabs on my head.”
“Drake & Josh,” in which the two played stepbrothers and polar opposites, ended in 2007. Bell’s identity in Brian Peck’s case wasn’t revealed until the docuseries debuted last year.
Josh Peck previously said he had reached out to Bell privately in the days after “Quiet on Set” was released.
When they caught up on the podcast episode, Josh Peck recounted the moment he noticed Brian Peck had suddenly disappeared from the set.
He said he “had a feeling something happened” and recalled asking Bell one day whether he still spoke to Brian Peck, to which Bell had replied, “No, Brian’s a really bad guy.”
But it wasn’t until the docuseries came out, Josh Peck said, that he learned the full extent of what his co-star went through.
“In watching the documentary at 38, as a father, as a grown-up, so much was revealed to me of what you had to go through,” Josh Peck said. “I can’t even imagine that.”
He later said that working as a child actor during that time, “there were so many things that you would see on set in a day and just go, ‘I don’t know if that’d be cool anywhere else but here.’”
“And so when you had tyrannical bosses or just people acting inappropriately,” he continued. “I think the assumption was, in Hollywood, like, this was just kind of part of it.’”
A spokesperson for Nickelodeon previously issued a statement about the docuseries.
“Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional workplace environment free of harassment or other kinds of inappropriate conduct,” the spokesperson said in March 2024. “Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests not just of our employees, casts and crew, but of all children, and we have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience.”
Before “Quiet on Set,” Bell had faced his own controversy. He was sentenced to two years of probation for child endangerment after he was accused of “grooming” a female victim when she was 12. He pleaded guilty to felony attempted child endangerment and a misdemeanor charge of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles.
After the docuseries was released, Bell experienced a wave of support. But some of his fans lashed out at his own accusers, who faced online harassment.
Part two of Bell and Josh Peck’s conversation is scheduled to drop Thursday.
