Drake & Josh’s Drake Bell is publicly coming forward in a new documentary and alleging that he was sexually abused as a child star by Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck. A recent teaser confirms that Bell was interviewed for the upcoming Investigation Discovery series Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, which focuses on conditions of shows created by Dan Schneider in the ’90s and early 2000s. Per a Business Insider report from one of Quiet on Set’s executive producers, Bell opens up in the docuseries about Peck allegedly abusing him when he was 15 years old. (That would date the allegations to when Peck was working on The Amanda Show, which Bell starred on from 1999 to 2002.) In 2003, Peck was arrested and pleaded no contest to performing a lewd act against a 14- or 15-year-old and oral copulation with a minor under the age 16. Peck was ultimately convicted, sentenced to 16 months in prison, and ordered to register as a sex offender in 2004.
Bell, who has chosen chose to remain anonymous as the minor in the case until now, has had a tumultuous last few years. He was briefly reported missing by police in 2023. In 2021, a judge ordered him to serve two years of probation and 200 hours of community service after pleading guilty to charges of attempted child endangerment and sending inappropriate messages to a 15-year-old girl. Bell has also previously denied accusations of abuse by ex-girlfriend Melissa Lingafelt.
Quiet on Set, which is due to release on March 17 and 18, will reportedly include interviews with several other former child stars and crew members. Boy Meets World stars Rider Strong, Will Friedle, and Danielle Fishel recently shared that they had been approached by the docuseries, but wanted to instead address their history with Peck in an episode of their podcast. Peck, who appeared as an adult guest star on Boy Meets World, developed close friendships with the younger Friedle and Strong.
Fishel suggested that adults on set may have been worried about questioning relationships because of Peck’s sexuality. “There was probably a part of them that didn’t say it because they were afraid it was going to be taken as homophobia,†she theorized, “instead of, ‘This is a boundary, gay or not. This is a boundary between adults and kids.’â€
Friedle and Strong reflected on their past defense of Peck during his case, which included writing letters of support to a judge and physically showing up for him in court. “We’re sitting in that courtroom on the wrong side of everything … The victim’s mother turned and said, ‘Look at all the famous people you brought with you. And it doesn’t change what you did to my kid,’†Friedle recalled. “I just sat there wanting to die. It was like, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ It was horrifying all the way around.â€