Photo: TNS
Former child star Drake Bell (pic) is ready to break his silence about his time working with Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck, including the abuse he allegedly suffered.
The Drake & Josh and All That star, 37, is among the interview subjects for the documentary Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV.
In the clip, interview subjects and All That alums Bryan Hearne and Giovonnie Samuels speculate about "who was being hurt" by Peck, who served as a dialogue coach on shows including The Amanda Show and All That. Bell starred in the former from 1999 to 2002, then co-starred with Josh Peck for the Nickelodeon comedy Drake & Josh from 2004 to 2007.
Just before the brief snippet ends, Bell — wearing a seafoam green suit — enters an unlit room, breathes a heavy sigh and settles into a chair, ready to tell his story.
"Former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell will be sharing publicly, for the first time, the story of the abuse he suffered at the hands of Brian Peck," the YouTube description of the clip reads.
Los Angeles police arrested Peck in 2003 for "lewd acts with a child." The alleged acts involved an unnamed minor who received coaching from Peck, according to a 2003 police statement. The alleged abuse also occurred at Peck's home in Valley Glen. Leading up to the arrest, the minor's family reported that Peck allegedly molested the child "over a six-month period."
A year later, in 2004, Peck was convicted of child molestation after pleading no contest to performing a lewd act with a 14-year-old or 15-year-old and oral copulation with a minor, according to multiple reports. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender.
The allegations against Peck will be among those examined in Quiet On Set, a four-part documentary from Investigation Discovery. The project says it will "pull back the curtain" on former Nickelodeon creator and producer Dan Schneider's TV empire, which included iCarly, Victorious and Drake & Josh.
"Quiet On Set reveals an insidious environment rife with allegations of abuse, sexism, racism and inappropriate dynamics with its underage stars and crew," said an ID description.
For years, former child stars have spoken out against the alleged abuse they faced from Schneider and other Nickelodeon bosses. Jennette McCurdy alleged in her 2022 memoir that the network offered her a pay cheque to keep quiet about unsettling experiences from her time on set when she starred in iCarly. Zoey 101 actor Alexa Nikolas led a 2022 protest outside Nickelodeon's Burbank studio, alleging that she and her fellow actors "were not safe."
"I did not feel protected at Nickelodeon as a child, personally," Nikolas said in a livestream of the protest. "I'm demanding that Nickelodeon starts protecting children and not predators." – Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service
