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BBC Radio 2 to broadcast apology over prank calls row

08/11/2008

A BBC Radio 2 apology over the lewd voicemails left by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross will be broadcast twice today (Saturday November 8th).

More than 40,000 people complained about the incident, which led to Ross' suspension without pay for three months and the resignations of Brand and Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas.

And as a gesture to licence fee payers over a "serious breach of editorial standards", the apology is essential, said the BBC's governing body, the BBC Trust.

The following apology was approved by the trust's Editorial Standards Committee:

"On October 18th, the BBC broadcast an exchange between Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross on the Russell Brand show on Radio 2.

"This concerned the actor Andrew Sachs and his granddaughter, Georgina Baillie.

"Some of this exchange was left on the voicemail of Mr Sachs.

"The conversation was grossly offensive and an unacceptable intrusion into the private lives of both Mr Sachs and Ms Baillie.

"It was a serious breach of editorial standards, and should never have been recorded or broadcast.

"The BBC would like to apologise unreservedly to Mr Sachs, Ms Baillie and to our audiences as licence fee payers."

During a pre-recorded segment broadcast on Brand's Radio 2 show on December 18th, the pair left a series of offensive voicemails on Sachs' telephone, in which they joked that Brand had slept with Sachs' granddaughter, Ms Bailie.

Both have offered profuse apologies over the incident, which has seen the BBC's editorial standards come in for severe criticism.