Its been a long wait for the BBC to find out how Ofcom was going to punish them after their poor handling of the the Sachs prank phone call controversy however, they have finally agreed on a £150,000 fine.
Oftom say that the BBC had breached the Broadcasting Code twice by airing the incident. The incident was when Russel Brand and Jonathan Ross decided to leave messages on veteran actor Andrew Sach’s phone - which involved Brand boosting about having relations with his grand daughter Georgina Baillie.
The TV watch dog said that the broadcast had “unwarrantably and seriously infringed” the privacy of Sachs and his granddaughter and described the programme as “gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning”.
The BBC said:-
“We accept Ofcom’s findings,”
“As we said last October, this material should never have been broadcast and we apologised unreservedly for that”
“We note that Ofcom has found that senior management acted swiftly to mitigate the offence and damage caused by the breaches of the Code.”
“The BBC has since taken comprehensive action to deal with what were unacceptable failures in editorial judgement and compliance which led to the broadcast.”
As a result of this event, Jonathan Ross was suspended without pay for 12weeks, Russell Brand left his Radio 2 show and station controller Lesley Douglas quit.
The Colour Of Money host Chris Tarrant, was arrested at his Esher, Surrey apartment yesterday morning due to alleged claims that he has been involved in an assault.
The 62-year-old, best known for hosting Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, was accused of assaulting a women during a domestic incident at his home. The women is yet to be Identified. He was taken in for questioning at Stains Police Station but was later released without charge.
A Police spokes person said:-
“We can confirm a man in his early 60s was arrested in the early hours following a domestic dispute on suspicion of common assault.”
Tarrant, is yet to comment on the event.
Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr are trying to get George Michael on their TV show Sunday Night project as a celebrity host.
Unfortunately there efforts to approach the star have been rejected on more than one occasion. It is speculated that George will not go on the show because of a sketch Justin and Alan did on the show months before hand, which he didn’t take a liking too.
“Both me and Al would really love George Michael to do it. He’s been asked more than once, but he won’t do it. I think it’s because we had a sketch, which I remember well, which featured a George Michael lookalike. I don’t know if this is true, but we’ve heard that he didn’t take too kindly to it. But we would desperately love him to do it.”
George isn’t the only one on their hit list as they are also trying to get Kylie Minogue and Britney to appear in the future.
Although Jonathan Ross has been suspended for twelve weeks due to his antics with Russel Brand in October, he has been allowed to film the celebrity edition of The Apprentice.
The show is for comic relief. Ross will not be taking any payment for presenting the show as its for charity and the fact that Sir Alan Sugar offered him the role back in May and it will not be aired until 3 months after his suspension is finished, the BBC allowing this to take place as a one off.
A BBC insider said: “Jonathan was in a difficult position as his suspension came just days before filming began on the show. Pulling out at such short notice would have left producers with a headache.”
A spokesman added: “The BBC agreed to Jonathan Ross taking part in an advance recording of Comic Relief Does The Apprentice. The BBC did not wish to disadvantage the charity.”