Russell Brand Show prank telephone calls row

Russell Brand Russell Brand Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...	Jonathan Ross Jonathan Ross Jonathan Ross may refer to:* Jonathan Ross , English television and radio personality* Jonathan Ross , United States Senator, Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court* Jonathon Ross , former Australian rules footballer...	Andrew Sachs Andrew Sachs Andrew Sachs is a German-born British actor. He made his name on British television and is best known for his portrayals of Manuel in Fawlty Towers, a role for which he was BAFTA-nominated, and Ramsay Clegg in Coronation Street.-Early life:Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Katharina , a...

The Russell Brand Show prank telephone calls row concerned a series of voice messages that English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

entertainers Russell Brand

Russell Brand

Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...

and Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Ross may refer to:* Jonathan Ross , English television and radio personality* Jonathan Ross , United States Senator, Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court* Jonathon Ross , former Australian rules footballer...

left on the answering machine of actor Andrew Sachs

Andrew Sachs

Andrew Sachs is a German-born British actor. He made his name on British television and is best known for his portrayals of Manuel in Fawlty Towers, a role for which he was BAFTA-nominated, and Ramsay Clegg in Coronation Street.-Early life:Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Katharina , a...

, which were labelled obscene by many media commentators and politicians. It followed a BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

broadcast of an advance-recorded episode of The Russell Brand Show
The Russell Brand Show (radio show)
The Russell Brand Show is a radio show first broadcast in 2006 on BBC 6 Music. The show's host is English comedian Russell Brand, who is usually joined his by co-host and long-term friend, Matt Morgan, as well as the show's poet laureate, Greg "Mr Gee" Sekweyama...

on Saturday 18 October 2008. In the show, Brand and Ross left lewd messages on the voice mail of Sachs, including comments about Sachs' granddaughter. The two originally called Sachs as a guest to interview on the show, and after he failed to answer the telephone, Brand and Ross left the messages on his answering machine

Answering machine

The answering machine or message machine, also known as the telephone answering machine in the UK and some Commonwealth countries) and previously known as an ansaphone, ansafone, or telephone answering device is a device for answering telephones and recording callers' messages.Unlike voicemail,...

.

After little attention, a Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it became Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper following the closing of The News of the World in July 2011...

article on 26 October 2008 about the show led to a record number of complaints and criticism of Brand, Ross and the editorial decisions of the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

. The two presenters were criticised by a number of MPs, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown

James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...

. Following the complaints, Ross was suspended from his positions at the BBC while both the BBC and Ofcom

Ofcom

Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...

launched investigations. Both Brand and Lesley Douglas

Lesley Douglas

Lesley Douglas is a former British radio executive. She was the Controller of BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music from early 2004 until her resignation in October 2008 over the Russell Brand Show prank telephone calls row.-Early life:...

, Controller of Radio 2, resigned from the BBC. Ross was suspended without pay for 12 weeks on 30 October, later describing the experience as "fun". The BBC was fined £150,000 by Ofcom

Ofcom

because of the incident.

Background

From April 2006 through to October 2008, Russell Brand presented the weekly BBC radio show The Russell Brand Show
The Russell Brand Show
The Russell Brand Show is the name of several works:* The Russell Brand Show , a radio show and podcast* The Russell Brand Show , a television show...

. In almost every show Brand was joined by his co-host Matt Morgan

Matt Morgan (comedian)

Matthew "Matt" Morgan is an English comedian, actor, writer, DJ and radio presenter. He is best known for his work with Russell Brand, with whom he shared numerous writing credits, as well as co-hosting The Russell Brand Show on BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music.-Writing:Morgan met Russell Brand when he...

who would often steer him in certain directions regarding what to talk about. However, following an argument about the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards

2008 MTV Video Music Awards

The 2008 MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 7, 2008 live from Paramount Pictures Studios , honoring the best music videos from the previous year. Nominations for a majority of the categories were announced on the MTV program FNMTV after being selected through viewer online voting at...

, which Brand hosted (which led to him receiving death threats over negative comments he made about US President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

and the Jonas Brothers

Jonas Brothers

The Jonas Brothers are an American boy band. The band gained its popularity from the Disney Channel children's television network. From the shore region of New Jersey, the band consists of three brothers: Paul Kevin Jonas II , Joseph Adam Jonas , and Nicholas Jerry Jonas...

' purity ring

Purity ring

Purity rings are worn as a sign of chastity. The practice originated in the United States in the 1990s among Christian-affiliated sexual abstinence groups....

s) in September 2008, Morgan refused to do the radio show. Brand therefore called in celebrity friends of his to co-present the show each week, including Noel Gallagher

Noel Gallagher

Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...

, Alan Carr

Alan Carr

Alan Carr is an English comedian and television personality. Born in Weymouth, he was raised in Northampton before moving to Manchester during his early 20's....

and, most famously, Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Ross

. Several commentators have said that Morgan would never have allowed the calls to have been made.

On 11 October 2008, the co-host was David Baddiel

David Baddiel

David Lionel Baddiel is an English comedian, novelist and television presenter.-Early life:Baddiel was born in New York, and moved to England when he was four months old. His father, Colin Brian Baddiel, was a Welsh research chemist with Unilever before being made redundant in the 1980s, after...

, who recalled having met "the Satanic Sluts" at Brand's home, one of whom told Baddiel that her grandfather was actor Andrew Sachs

Andrew Sachs

and said "Don't tell him I was here!"

Prank calls

On Thursday 16 October 2008, Sachs, best known in Britain for his portrayal of Manuel

Manuel (Fawlty Towers)

Manuel is a fictional character from the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers. Played by Andrew Sachs, he is an iconic character in British comedy history...

in the television comedy Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...

, was scheduled to be a phone-in guest on Brand's evening radio show, which was to be pre-recorded due to Brand's work commitments.

On opening the segment of the show due to feature Sachs, Brand stated "In a minute we're going to be talking to Andrew Sachs, Manuel actor. The elephant in the room is, what Andrew doesn't know is, I've slept with his granddaughter." After being unable to reach Sachs on his home phone, Brand and his guest of that week, fellow Radio 2 DJ Jonathan Ross, left four messages on Sachs' answerphone. In the first message, Brand joked about Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...

and the fact that both he and Sachs had appeared in The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...

, but was interrupted by Ross shouting out "he fucked your granddaughter". The rest of the message and the following three messages were all characterised by Brand and Ross attempting to apologise for Ross' outburst, but each quickly descended into farce, with, for example, Brand singing to Sachs: "It was consensual and she wasn't menstrual" and Ross asking to marry him.

Brand later said that when he listens back to those calls it is like hearing 'two idiots dancing towards a canyon.'

Complaints

Only two complaints had been received in the week after the show was aired on 18 October, to an estimated audience of 400,000 people, for Ross' use of an expletive.

On 25 October, Brand presented his last edition of his radio show with co-host Simon Amstell

Simon Amstell

Simon Marc Amstell is a BAFTA nominated, award-winning English comedian, television presenter, screenwriter and actor, best known for his roles as former co-host of Popworld, former host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and co-writer and star of the sitcom Grandma's House.-Early life:Amstell was born...

, which they performed live. Shortly before going on air, Brand was informed that The Mail on Sunday

The Mail on Sunday

The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it became Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper following the closing of The News of the World in July 2011...

would be running a story about the phone calls. Brand's reaction to this was to apologise on air to Sachs, but devote much of the show to deriding the Daily Mail

Daily Mail

The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

for its support of Nazism

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

in the run up to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Even in his apology to Sachs, Brand stated "what's worse - leaving a swearword on Andrew Sachs' answerphone or tacitly supporting Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

when he took charge of the Third Reich?" When Brand mentioned Hitler, the Mail on Sunday's editor-in-chief, Paul Dacre

Paul Dacre

Paul Michael Dacre is a British journalist and current editor of the British newspaper the Daily Mail. He is also editor in chief of the Mail group titles, which also includes The Mail on Sunday. He is also a director of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc and was a member of the Press Complaints...

, went "barmy".

The following day The Mail on Sunday

The Mail on Sunday

ran with the story on its front page, suggesting that Brand and Ross could face prosecution for the calls, and reporting that Sachs had been "terribly hurt" by the comments. An accompanying comment piece

Editorial

An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...

attacked the publicly funded BBC

BBC

for approving the show for broadcast, describing it as "verbal sewage", urging the police to review the transcripts of the calls and demanding a "grovelling apology" from Brand and Ross. The incident escalated into a media and political storm that, in much of the British media, eclipsed news of the global financial crisis, the U.S. Presidential election

United States presidential election, 2008

The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...

, and fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Sachs later denied he had given permission for the messages to be broadcast. The BBC originally stated that "they are not aware of any complaint by Mr Sachs", but later confirmed a complaint had been received, and apologised. Brand issued an apology for making the calls but stated it was "funny" during his last radio show, before the Mail had printed the story. Ofcom

Ofcom

, the telecommunications regulator, announced its own investigation. On 28 October 2008, the BBC said that it had received 4,700 complaints, after the calls became international news. Later the same day, this number had passed 10,000. In the same afternoon, Prime Minister

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

Gordon Brown

commented, calling the incident "clearly inappropriate and unacceptable". The following day the number of complaints was said to have topped 18,000. By 2 November, the number of complaints reached 38,000. This had been countered by 890 calls demanding the reinstatement of Brand and Ross, and various petitions.

This incident is that with the second-highest number of complaints to the BBC in recent years, second only to the broadcast of Jerry Springer: The Opera
Jerry Springer: The Opera
Jerry Springer: The Opera is a British musical written by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, based on the television show The Jerry Springer Show. The musical is notable for its profanity, its irreverent treatment of Judeo-Christian themes, and surreal images such as a troupe of tap-dancing Ku Klux...

, which, because of campaigning by religious groups, garnered over 55,000 complaints to the BBC (and 8,860 complaints to Ofcom). 45,000 complaints were made to Ofcom about Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

's Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy

Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy

The Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy was a series of events related to incidents of perceived racist behaviour by contestants on the television series Celebrity Big Brother 2007 shown on British television station Channel 4...

in 2007.

Reacting to the incident, Baillie said that her relationship with Brand had been brief and she now felt betrayed that he had revealed it to her grandfather; she called for both Brand and Ross to be sacked by the BBC, and stated that she and her family would be considering whether to make a formal complaint to the police. Andrew Sachs has since stated that he had no intention of making a complaint to the police or taking the matter further.

Actions taken by Ross, Brand, and the BBC

On 29 October 2008, the Director-General of the BBC

Director-General of the BBC

The Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and editor-in-chief of the BBC.The position was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC and is now appointed by the BBC Trust....

, Mark Thompson

Mark Thompson

Mark John Thompson is Director-General of the BBC, a post he has held since 2004, and a former chief executive of Channel 4...

, announced that Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross were suspended, pending the report of an investigation by Tim Davie

Tim Davie

Tim Davie is the BBC's Director of Audio and Music. He joined the BBC in April 2005.In his current role, he sits on the BBC's Executive Board with overall responsibility for all of the BBC's national radio networks and the corporation's music output across all media...

, director of BBC audio and music. The suspension meant that for the week, Ross would not be appearing on his regular Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 November 2001. The programme featured Ross's take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band...

television show, Film 2008 with Jonathan Ross
The Film programme
The Film programme is a British film review television programme, broadcast weekly on BBC One, presented by Claudia Winkleman and Danny Leigh. The title of the show changes each year to incorporate the year of broadcast, with the current series being Film 2011, but when referring to successive...

, or his Saturday-morning Radio 2

BBC Radio 2

show, and similarly Brand would not be hosting his regular Saturday-night Radio 2 show or his appearance as a guest captain on Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a comedy panel game television show with a pop music theme, currently without a permanent presenter. It stars Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding as team captains. The show is produced by Talkback Thames for the BBC, and is usually aired on BBC Two...

due to be aired on October 30, even though this episode had been taped before his resignation - the episode was eventually broadcast on BBC Two over two years later on Wednesday 19 January 2011. Thompson called the events a "gross lapse of taste by the performers and the production team" (who had chosen to broadcast the advance-recorded show) that had angered licence-payers

Television licensing in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies, any household watching or recording live television transmissions is required to purchase a television licence every year. As of 2010, this costs £145.50 for colour and £49.00 for black and white. The licence is required to receive any live...

, and offered a personal and unreserved apology to Andrew Sachs and his family. In an interview, Sachs revealed that he had received and accepted written apologies from Brand and Ross. Brand resigned from the BBC later in the day.

On the evening of 30 October it was announced that Controller of Radio 2 Lesley Douglas

Lesley Douglas

had tendered her resignation, which had been accepted. Her resignation letter did not address the question of whether Douglas herself had approved the pre-recorded show for transmission. On the same day, Ross was suspended without pay from all BBC shows for a period of 12 weeks. The Daily Mail estimated that this would result in his losing £1,344,000 in wages.

The BBC issued an apology over the incident on 8 November, stating that the telephone calls were "grossly offensive" and a "serious breach of editorial standards". The corporation apologized specifically to Sachs and Baillie, and also to the license fee payer. David Barber, the head of specialist music and compliance at Radio 2, resigned the evening before the formal apology. Like Douglas, he had been aware of the contents of the show, and had sanctioned the segment's broadcast.

Reactions from politicians and the media

Fifteen MP

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

s signed a motion in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, tabled by Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay

Andrew MacKinlay

Andrew Stuart MacKinlay is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Thurrock from 1992 until he stepped down at the 2010 general election.-Early life:...

and Conservative MP Nigel Evans

Nigel Evans

Nigel Martin Evans is a British politician. Since 1992 he has been Conservative Party Member of Parliament for the Ribble Valley constituency. Since 2010 he has been First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means, a deputy speaker.-Career:...

, calling for Brand and Ross to no longer be funded by the licence fee (which funds the BBC).

The chairman of the House of Commons select committee on culture, media and sport, John Whittingdale

John Whittingdale

John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale OBE, , is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1992.-Education:...

, stated that an investigation by the BBC was needed, but stopped short of calling for Ross and Brand to be sacked. The chairman of the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

Select Committee on Communication, Lord Fowler

Norman Fowler

Norman Fowler, Baron Fowler, PC is a British Conservative politician who was from 1981 to 1990 a member of Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet.-Early life:...

, in a letter to The Times (see Fowler in Further reading) stated that there were fundamental flaws in the way that the BBC was regulated and governed, and that there was "confusion all round" because two parallel bodies, the BBC Trust

BBC Trust

The BBC Trust is the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation. It is operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and aims to act in the best interests of licence fee payers....

and Ofcom, were investigating the incident, and it was both unclear which of them the public should complain to and which of them had precedence over the other.

Shadow Culture Secretary

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport is a United Kingdom cabinet position with responsibility for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The role was created in 1992 by John Major as Secretary of State for National Heritage...

Jeremy Hunt, speaking on the Radio 4 Today Programme
Today programme
Today is BBC Radio 4's long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, now broadcast from 6.00 am to 9.00 am Monday to Friday, and 7.00 am to 9.00 am on Saturdays. It is also the most popular programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks...

on 30 October, also refused to say whether he thought Ross should be sacked, asserting that politicians should remain at "arm's length" from such decisions. In a speech at the London School of Economics

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

the previous day he had criticised the decision by the BBC to broadcast the programme, which had been recorded 2 days prior to its transmission, saying that "[t]he BBC was quite wrong to take the decision to broadcast the offensive phone calls". He also demurred about calling for the resignations of anyone in BBC management, saying that "[i]t is wrong, in principle, for politicians to be calling for heads of individual broadcasting to be removed", and criticised the BBC for not releasing the name of the person who had given the green light for the show to be broadcast.

Hunt was speaking to the LSE about socially responsible broadcasting, and stated "I do think the BBC is a socially responsible broadcaster, I just think we need to hear that." He argued that broadcasters were not being ambitious enough, and outlined his party's plans, should it be elected to government at the next General Election

General election

In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...

, to relax regulation for those broadcasters who agreed to provide only socially responsible output. In addition to citing the Ross/Brand/Sachs affair as a "perfect example" of where such a "responsibility deal" could have operated, he also pointed to Channel 4

Channel 4

as an example, stating that it was "not good enough" for it to produce "worthy" programmes such as Dispatches
Dispatches (TV series)
Dispatches is the British television current affairs documentary series on Channel 4, first transmitted in 1987. The programme covers issues about British society, politics, health, religion, international current affairs and the environment, usually featuring a mole in an organisation.-Awards:*...

documenting alcohol abuse in the U.S., whilst at the same time it was broadcasting programmes such as Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...

where such abuse took up, according to his estimates, 18% of screen time. The culture spokesman for the Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

, Don Foster, criticised this idea, stating that it threatened the very foundation principles of freedom and independence of British media, arguing that such government interference in television programming would be "a very sad day for British broadcasting", and pointing out that regulatory mechanisms already exist to deal with issues such as this.

On 29 October, Conservative MP Nadine Dorries

Nadine Dorries

Nadine Vanessa Dorries is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Mid Bedfordshire since 2005. She has been involved in parliamentary attempts to change the laws on abortion....

had already called for the BBC to terminate the contracts of both Ross and Brand, and in the Commons David Hanson

David Hanson (politician)

David George Hanson is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Delyn since 1992. He was the Minister of State for Security, Counter-Terrorism, Crime and Policing from 2009 to 2010...

had criticised the comments for being inappropriate and not "in keeping with broadcasting". The conservative journalist Charles Moore

Charles Moore (journalist)

Charles Hilary Moore is a British journalist and former editor of The Daily Telegraph.-Early life:He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge where he was awarded a BA in History and was a friend of Oliver Letwin.-Career:A former editor of The Spectator , the Sunday Telegraph and The...

announced he would not pay his television licence after the BBC's failure to sack Ross, a decision which eventually led to Moore being fined in May 2010.

Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw

Jack Straw

Jack Straw , British politician.Jack Straw may also refer to:* Jack Straw , English* "Jack Straw" , 1971 song by the Grateful Dead* Jack Straw by W...

, writing in his local newspaper the Lancashire Telegraph
Lancashire Telegraph
The Lancashire Telegraph, formerly the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, is a local tabloid newspaper distributed in East Lancashire, England. It has two separate geographic editions each day – one for the boroughs of Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley, and one for Burnley, Pendle, and...

on 30 October (see Straw in Further reading), became the first Cabinet Minister to call for the pair to be sacked, arguing that if both presenters had worked in local radio

Local radio

Local radio can refer to:In the UK:*BBC Local Radio*Independent Local RadioIn Australia:*ABC Local Radio by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...

"they'd have been given their P45 before you could say 'Jack Robinson'."

On the same day, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons

Leader of the House of Commons

The Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Commons...

, Theresa May

Theresa May

Theresa Mary May is a British Conservative politician who is Home Secretary in the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition government. She was elected to Parliament in 1997 as the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead, and served as the Chairman of the Conservative Party, 2003–04...

, called for a Commons debate on the BBC's handling of the affair.

Reaction against censures and suspensions

In the days following the suspensions, a number of celebrities, particularly from television and radio, came out in support of Brand and Ross. Many felt that, whilst the incident was unacceptable, it was not deserving of the strong criticism it received, especially when there were other issues troubling the United Kingdom.

Rod McKenzie, the editor of BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

Newsbeat
Newsbeat
Newsbeat is the flagship news programme on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. Newsbeat is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for a specifically younger audience....

, observed on the BBC Editors' weblog (see Further reading) that audience reactions to Brand's and Ross's remarks had been polarised, noting that whilst his colleagues at Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

, Radio 5 Live

BBC Radio 5 Live

BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...

, television, and the BBC World Service

BBC World Service

The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...

had been seeing one thing, the younger audiences of Radio 1 had been reacting quite differently, and were broadly supportive of Ross and Brand. Some were amazed at the comments of the Prime Minister, with one person observing that "[t]he financial markets are wrecked and all he can do is talk about a petty joke." Others stated that people should "calm down", "get a grip", and that the subject had been "blown out of all proportion". McKenzie also characterised the reaction from the news media as containing "anger: some genuine, some of it synthetic. Some of it comes from the BBC's usual critics." He stated that for the people who worked in the media "profile and salary-envy and schadenfreude

Schadenfreude

Schadenfreude is pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. This German word is used as a loanword in English and some other languages, and has been calqued in Danish and Norwegian as skadefryd and Swedish as skadeglädje....

may play a part in all this. But how many heard the original transmission and how many are responding to the newspapers' quotes or others' arguments?"

Tim Shaw, disc jockey

Disc jockey

A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

for Absolute Radio, also supported Ross and Brand, appearing on BBC News wearing a T-shirt

T-shirt

A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....

that read "I back Brand." The television presenter Paul O'Grady

Paul O'Grady

Paul James Michael O'Grady MBE is an English comedian, television presenter, actor, writer and radio DJ. He is best known for presenting the daytime chat television series, The Paul O'Grady Show and, more recently, Paul O'Grady Live, as well as his drag queen comedic alter ego, Lily Savage, as...

similarly backed the pair, stating at the National Television Awards that the Prime Minister should get on with more important matters than complaining about media gossip. Carol McGiffin

Carol McGiffin

Carol Deirdre McGiffin is an English broadcaster of radio and television, best known for her regular appearances on daytime talk show Loose Women. She married Chris Evans in 1991; the couple separated in 1994 and divorced in 1998....

, a presenter on ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

's daytime

Daytime television

Daytime television is the general term for television shows produced that are intended to air during the daytime hours on weekdays. This article is about American daytime television, for information about international daytime television see Daytime television....

programme Loose Women
Loose Women
Loose Women is a British lunchtime television programme, first broadcast in 1999 on ITV. It consists of a panel of four women who interview celebrities and discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs, to celebrity gossip...

similarly supported the pair, criticising those who complained and stating that she could not wait to download the official podcast

Podcast

A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...

which included the incident.

Oasis

Oasis (band)

Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...

leader and friend of Russell Brand, Noel Gallagher

Noel Gallagher

, commented on the situation: "Personally, I'm outraged that, yet again, the joyless fuckers who write the columns in the Daily Mail, The Telegraph or The Observer have dictated the tone and are telling people how to behave, I've seen the Daily Mail, they said that Russell should be arrested and charged. Arrested for what? For taking the piss? It's so typical of the English in general. 10,000 people get outraged, but only days after it has happened." Gallagher also said, "I spoke to Russell, he told me he was going to fall on his sword."

A petition on the GoPetition web site, calling for the BBC to "to turn blame on the 'Andrew Sachs' incident away from Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross, and instead onto whoever green lighted the show" had garnered 336 signatures by 29 October. At the same time, a similar group on Facebook

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

had over 1,000 members. By 30 October, the petition had risen to 4,000 signatures and the Facebook group to 15,609 members. By 2 November, the Facebook group had over 30,000 members, which had risen to over 43,000 members by 5 November.

On 30 October, fans of Ross and Brand protested outside of the offices of the BBC. On 31 October, fans prepared to hold a protest outside of the offices of the Daily Mail and of the BBC.

Comedian Jimmy Carr

Jimmy Carr

James Anthony Patrick "Jimmy" Carr is an English-Irish comedian and humourist. He is known for his deadpan delivery and dark humour. He is also a writer, actor and presenter of radio and television....

has also expressed his support for Ross, saying the issue had been blown out of proportion, and blamed the media themselves for escalating it further, and that Ross was a "national treasure".

Celebrity publicist Max Clifford

Max Clifford

Maxwell Frank Clifford is an English publicist, considered the highest-profile and best-known publicist in the United Kingdom...

has played down the apparent outrage aimed at Brand. In a recent interview he said "I don't think this will cause any problems for Russell Brand. He's known to be controversial and, if anything, it will make him more popular amongst his fans, who will have thought this was hilarious...They won't see anything wrong in what he did. It is a big PR success for him...He will have no problem with his career."

TV critic and columnist Charlie Brooker

Charlie Brooker

Charlton "Charlie" Brooker is a British journalist, comic writer and broadcaster. His style of humour is savage and profane, with surreal elements and a consistent satirical pessimism...

stated on his show, Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe
Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe
Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe is a British television review programme broadcast on BBC Four by Charlie Brooker. The programme contains reviews of current shows, as well as stories and commentary on how television is produced.-Format:...

, his worry that the controversy would lead to a chilling effect on comedy, and that the BBC and others would self-censor too much in future. He went on to say that the attitude displayed by the complainants and the BBC's backing down would have, in earlier times, precluded the production of much of what was at the time edgy comedy and made culture poorer for it (citing Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...

, The Day Today
The Day Today
The Day Today is a surreal British parody of television current affairs programmes, broadcast in 1994, and created by the comedians Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris. It is an adaptation of the radio programme On the Hour, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992...

and The Young Ones
The Young Ones (TV series)
The Young Ones is a British sitcom, first broadcast in 1982, which ran for two series on BBC2. Its anarchic, offbeat humour helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers...

amongst others as shows that would have not been commissioned owing to their controversial content). While pouring scorn on those who had complained without seeing the programme, and attacking newspapers that attempted to stir up further controversy (in particular the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

), he did not appear to defend Brand and Ross in particular, stating that the possibility of people being offended by some misjudged humour is "the price you pay for freedom of speech." In a further column in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, he reiterated this point as well as saying that "people who retrospectively complain to Ofcom about material they've only read about second-hand are, in essence, a bunch of sanctimonious crybabies indulging in a wretched form of masturbation."

Reaction from Georgina Baillie

Reacting to the suspension of Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross on 29 October, Baillie remarked: "I'm thrilled because justice has been done...It's despicable. Calling me that in public, not only does it damage my relationship with my granddad but it could permanently damage my life as well," despite having declared apathy to the sentiment referenced in the latter sentence on her Myspace

Myspace

Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

page.

A week later, on 5 November 2008, UK television channel Five broadcast a 1 hour documentary on the incident, titled Russell & Ross: What the F*** Was All That About? featuring an exclusive interview with Baillie. Baillie stated in the interview that "I think it's way out of proportion what's happened and I don't hate either of them - I don't at all", going on to say "I think they're really talented comedians and I think a world without Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand would be a very sad, dull place." She concluded by saying that Brand needed to learn about respecting women, while Ross should just think before he speaks, "I don't have any harder feeling than that." Baillie also made clear that she would not object to the reinstatement of both Brand and Ross.

On 14 May 2009, Baillie was a guest on the BBC politics and current affairs programme This Week

This Week (BBC One TV series)

This Week is a current affairs and politics TV programme in the United Kingdom on the BBC, screened on Thursday evenings, hosted by former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil alongside former Conservative Member of Parliament and Minister Michael Portillo, and a left leaning guest panellist on...

. She was questioned by host Andrew Neil

Andrew Neil

Andrew Ferguson Neil is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster.He currently works for the BBC, presenting the live political programmes The Daily Politics and This Week...

and regular guests Michael Portillo

Michael Portillo

Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party politician and Cabinet Minister...

and Diane Abbott

Diane Abbott

Diane Julie Abbott is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987, when she became the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons...

about the Brand row within discussion of the general subject of the present day worth and genuineness of public figures saying sorry, in the wake of public apologies from Members of Parliament (MP's) and Prime Minister Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown

following the events of the MP's expenses row. Asked by Neil if receiving an apology from Brand and Ross had mattered to her, she said yes, as she had been "publicly offended and humiliated", and her father "had been humiliated too". When asked by Abbott if all the publicity surrounding the Brand row had helped her career, she responded "not necessarily ... one would think so, but not really." Neil further asked if the apology she received had helped, she replied yes, stating "definitely" to the follow-up comment from Neil of "better to get it than not get it?" When asked finally on the row by Neil if she thought the apologies from Brand and Ross were genuine, she replied that she thought Ross's was, but the fact that Brand had joked about the row on his later tour cancelled out his apology.

In 2010, Baillie teamed up with singer Adam Ant

Adam Ant

Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...

(whose drummer Hayley Leggs was a member of the Satanic Sluts alongside Baillie) to compose the song Gun In My Pocket, about Ross, Brand and the entire affair. Ant intended to release the song as the lead single for his planned new album Adam Ant Is The Blueblack Hussar In Marrying The Gunner's Daughter (with a rerecording of early 1980s outtake Who's A Goofy Bunny Then? as the B-side in tribute to the recently deceased Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...

). Gun In My Pocket was performed live on at least one occasion, at a guerilla gig (one of several he played around this time) at London's Troubadour Café on 2 April 2010, and was setlisted, (but not performed) at Adam's Pirate Metal Extravanganza concert at the Scala

Scala (club)

Scala is a nightclub in London, England, near King's Cross railway station.-History:The Scala was originally built as a cinema to the designs of H Courtney Constantine, but construction was interrupted by the First World War and it spent some time being used to manufacture aircraft parts, and as a...

on 30 April 2010, while the recording received a club play when Adam DJ'd at the Family Affair clubnight in Shoreditch

Shoreditch

Shoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east-northeast of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...

, London on 24 April. The single, along with its parent album, was put on hold when Ant (who has a history of bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...

and was widely suspected around this time to have been undergoing yet another manic episode) was once again sectioned

Involuntary commitment

Involuntary commitment or civil commitment is a legal process through which an individual with symptoms of severe mental illness is court-ordered into treatment in a hospital or in the community ....

on 18 May 2010 and it remained to be seen if a medicated and stabilised Adam would wish to continue this project or not. However, interviewed by The Sun on 31 December 2010 Ant - by his own admission once more unmedicated and now including Baillee on backing vocals in his live band - confirmed the song as still on the album. "Georgina is a friend of mine who has really been through it. Her grandad still won't speak to her because he is so hurt."

Support for Lesley Douglas

A number of radio personalities employed by the BBC came out in support of Lesley Douglas

Lesley Douglas

, after her resignation. Douglas was aware of the contents of the programme, but had not heard them before they were broadcast. She sanctioned its broadcast with a single word e-mail of "Yes" sent from her BlackBerry

BlackBerry

BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...

. Amongst her supporters were Chris Evans and Terry Wogan

Terry Wogan

Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...

, both of whom worked for BBC Radio 2 at the time, and Dame Liz Forgan

Liz Forgan

Dame Elizabeth "Liz" Anne Lucy Forgan, DBE is an English journalist and executive for radio and television.-Early life:Forgan was educated at the independent Benenden School in Kent, a girls's boarding school, and at St Hugh's College, Oxford, then an all-female college.She initially worked on...

, who called her one of the "outstanding broadcasters of her generation", and said that the BBC had "lost its wits". Mark Thompson said that because of her knowledge of the broadcast, she had to shoulder some of the responsibility.

Subsequent appearances by Brand and Ross

Ross had been scheduled to host the 2008 British Comedy Awards

British Comedy Awards

The British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.-History:...

for ITV

ITV

during the period of his suspension from the BBC; however, on 31 October he stepped down.

On 31 October, Brand left the country, saying that he had work to do in America, including TV programmes and film collaborations with Judd Apatow

Judd Apatow

Judd Apatow is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter. He is well known for his work in comedy films, especially for films he has been involved with throughout the latter half of the 2000s. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, a film production company that also developed the...

and Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren

Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...

. The second series of Brand's Channel 4

Channel 4

television show Russell Brand's Ponderland
Russell Brand's Ponderland
Russell Brand's Ponderland is a BAFTA nominated comedy on the British television station Channel 4, presented by comedian and actor Russell Brand. The show consists largely of Brand giving a series of monologues in a stand-up style, interspersed with old television and video footage....

aired as normal on the previous evening, attracting 1 million viewers, the show's largest ever audience. A further 180,000 watched the show time-shifted on the Channel 4+1 timeshift channel

Timeshift channel

A timeshift channel is a television channel carrying a time-delayed rebroadcast of its "parent" channel's output. This channel runs alongside their parent: the term "timeshift" does not refer to a network broadcasting at a later time to reflect a local timezone unless the parent is also available...

. The first series of Ponderland, aired in October 2007, had been watched by 840,000 viewers, including those watching Channel 4+1. The channel reported that it had received 164 complaints from the public, many of these criticising the decision to broadcast the programme, rather than a reflection on the content, and the majority before the programme was transmitted; the show also attracted 212 emails and phone-calls of praise from fans and as such was the most praised programme screened on Channel 4

Channel 4

for that month.

On 2 November a Sunday newspaper published a camera phone clip recorded during production of the Ponderland show, in which Brand is allegedly heard talking about the incident despite being told not to by the show's producers, and stating of Baillie, "I mean, that poor, innocent satanic slut."

Jeremy Clarkson

Jeremy Clarkson

Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson is an English broadcaster, journalist and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May...

, presenter of the BBC motoring show Top Gear
Top Gear (current format)
Top Gear is a British television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars. It began in 1977 as a conventional motoring magazine show. Over time, and especially since a relaunch in 2002, it has developed a quirky, humorous style...

, made a brief quip about the incident, "Andrew Sachs had been due to be our star in a reasonably-priced car. Messages have been left for Sachs about it but we've heard no word from him."

Brand similarly continued to be on the front cover of PETA

Peta

Peta can refer to:* peta-, an SI prefix denoting a factor of 1015* Peta, Greece, a town in Greece* Peta, the Pāli word for a Preta, or hungry ghost in Buddhism* Peta Wilson, an Australian actress and model* Peta Todd, English glamour model...

's "Vegetarian Starter Kit" booklet, despite people protesting to the organisation. PETA's director, Robbie LeBlanc, said that Brand, who had previously won PETA's Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity contest twice, would remain on the cover "because Mr Sachs, who is also a PETA supporter, has accepted Mr Brand's apology, and that's good enough for us."

Brand went on to win the British Comedy Award for Best Live Standup Performer. In his acceptance speech, Brand dedicated his award to Ross.

After being taken off the air due to Ross' suspension, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 November 2001. The programme featured Ross's take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band...

returned to BBC One

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

on 23 January 2009, featuring guests Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....

, Lee Evans

Lee Evans (comedian)

Lee Evans is an English comedian, writer, actor and musician.-Personal life:Lee Evans was born in Avonmouth, Bristol, England to an Irish mother and a Welsh father, Dave Evans, a nightclub performer. He left Bristol at the age of 13 and then went to The Billericay School in Billericay, Essex...

and Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry

Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...

. The show was watched by 5.1 million viewers, an increase from the 3.74 million of the last show before going off air. Ross's return attracted 25 complaints and 3 messages of support to the BBC.

In 2009, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was nominated for a BAFTA. According to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

, Ross was nominated soon after he was banned. Melody Sachs complained about Ross being nominated so soon after the controversy in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, saying: "I am amazed that Ross should get rewarded with a mouth like his. Nobody is saying he hasn't got talent, but what he did was so disgusting. Of course he is not worth the money, but he is good at his job. However, I don't think he should be rewarded so soon after what happened. It is like people are saying, 'Let's forget all about it and see what we can give him.' It is wrong and bad timing to give or even put up this guy for recognition when he has done such a terrible thing. It was unforgivable, really. I'm not angry, I just don't believe it."

Andrew Sachs himself said that the nomination was: "a bit of a surprise", and that: "One would question the reasons when it comes so quickly after what happened. I wonder how much it has to do with trying to comfort him. I don't know. That is how it happens. That is showbusiness."

BBC Trust ruling

On 21 November 2008, the BBC's watchdog BBC Trust

BBC Trust

said that the phone calls were a "deplorable intrusion with no editorial justification." The Trust found that the existing BBC guidelines should have been sufficient to have prevented the incident, and that the "very offensive" programme should "never have been recorded." It found the failures lay in mistakes made by BBC editorial and compliance management. The Trust gave its backing to the BBC's response to the incident and Ross's 12-week suspension.

Echoing the findings of the BBC Trust, the BBC itself stated the incident was a "very, very serious failure in a radio programme where editorial judgement was exercised that seriously let the BBC down."

The Trust also criticised Brand's "so-called apology" of 25 October, and the staff of Chris Moyles

Chris Moyles

Christopher David Moyles is an English radio and television presenter and author, who currently presents The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 and Chris Moyles' Quiz Night on Channel 4....

's BBC Radio 1 show for also breaching BBC guidelines for comments by Brand in an interview on the morning of 21 October at a time when children were likely to be listening. The Trust recommended tighter controls for programmes such as Brand's, made by companies owned by their performers. Long-term effects of the controversy would include the setting up of a register of high-risk programmes.

External links

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