BBC draws a line under radio row

BBC News 31 October 2008

The BBC is hoping that it has drawn a line under the furore provoked by the offensive phone calls made by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross.

The pair made the calls to the actor, Andrew Sachs, on Brand's Radio 2 show.

Brand resigned on Wednesday and Ross has been suspended from his BBC shows for three months without pay.

However, the BBC Trust has asked for a further report into the matter, and Ofcom is conducting its own investigation, which could mean a fine.

The BBC Trust wants more information on how the programme was approved for broadcast, and who was involved in the final decision.

The BBC radio show saw Brand and Ross make obscene comments about Sachs' 23-year-old granddaughter, Georgina Baillie.

Director-general Mark Thompson said there must be "tight discipline" in future and that "nothing like this must ever happen again".

The Controller of Radio 2, Lesley Douglas, has also quit over the row.

She said the decision to leave her job was "mine and mine alone" and was made with "enormous regret".

The Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans was visibly upset when talking about his former boss.

Ms Douglas was "the best boss in the world", he said.

However, he said employees of the station understood the "severity of what's gone on".

"Andrew Sachs doesn't want to be 78 years old and remembered for this, he wants to be remembered for what he did brilliantly."

'Deplorable intrusion'

Thompson also called Ross's actions "utterly unacceptable", adding that the presenter should regard it as a "final warning".

Thompson said Ross's three-month suspension was "an exceptional step". It is believed the suspension of pay will cost the entertainer more than £1 million.

Thompson met with the BBC Trust to discuss the crisis over lewd phone calls made to Sachs during Brand's programme.

The Trust has demanded an on-air apology and called for editorial standards in the BBC to be tightened, with particular attention to "high risk" programmes.

In a statement issued after their meeting with Thompson, the Trust said it was "dismayed" that the broadcasts "fell so far short of audience expectations".

It said there had been a "deplorable intrusion" into the privacy of Sachs and his granddaughter".

They issued an unreserved apology to licence fee payers, as well as to the Fawlty Towers actor and his family.