David Baddiel ended his two-year sobriety after filming his upcoming documentary ‘Holocaust Denial: A History’.
The 55-year-old star – who is Jewish and related to victims of the Holocaust – says his upcoming BBC Two documentary took its toll on him because he had to speak to people who claim the horrific genocide never took place.
In an interview airing tonight (12.12.19) on Sky One’s ‘The Russell Howard Hour’, he says: "When it was announced this documentary was happening, this bloke trolled me. He put an axe through a TV on Holocaust Memorial Day.
"So I met him and he was difficult. All my family were killed in the Holocaust. It’s in my bones as a thing I know happened, so having to sit with a bloke who says it didn’t is really complicated.
"What I did do was have a drink afterwards and I haven’t had a drink in over two years."
In the documentary, David will talk to academics and historians to figure out how denial has evolved since the end of World War II, as he seeks to discovery why people are still claiming the Holocaust didn’t happen.
Announcing the programme, he previously explained: "I’ve always had a dark fascination with Holocaust denial.
"The fact that since it happened (indeed whilst it was happening) forces have tried to undermine one of the most well-documented truths of history seems to me a key battleground in the fight between truth and lies, a battle made more complex by the emergence of new technology, a post-truth world and more insidious, ‘soft core’ forms of denial.
"As the last survivors, including those in my own family, begin to pass away, and with them, living memory of The Holocaust, I’m grateful to the BBC for allowing me to explore this complex subject, in all its difficulty and darkness."
David Baddiel had a drink for first time in 2 years after filming Holocaust show
