Andrew Sachs has thanked Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand for helping his career with the obscene messages affair.
In an interview with the Guardian
Weekendmagazine, Sachs (79) said it had been awful for his wife Melody and daughter Kate, but added: "I came out of it very well. My profile's up. Great! They did me good. Thank you very much."
Last autumn the two presenters left a series of lewd messages on the Fawlty Towers actor's answering machine while recording Brand's Radio 2 show.
The pair said Brand had slept with Sachs' granddaughter, Georgina Baillie (23) and joked that Sachs might kill himself.
The ensuing public outcry saw 33-year-old Brand quit the station and Ross suspended from the airwaves for 12 weeks without pay.
Asked his opinion of Ross, Sachs said: "I think he's got great talent. Although he talks too fast — so fast sometimes I can't understand him. He's got a very quick brain. If only he'd get rid of the other stuff, he'd be twice as good. But the sexual innuendo and the way he treats his guests is not good."
He denied ever being invited to guest on Ross's television show and said he was unlikely to go on.
As for Brand, he said: "I think he's aimed at a much younger audience than me. No wonder he doesn't attract many of the more mature generation."
Sachs said the reason he thought the public were on his side was because of their love for Manuel, the hapless Spanish waiter he played in
Fawlty Towers.
He said he was not close to his granddaughter. But he was not particularly shocked by disclosures about her work as a burlesque dancer.
"She has her own life to lead, you know, and she knows we wouldn't approve.
"I knew what Georgina was doing, sort of. But there was a lot of misquoting going on. I didn't say much. People interpreted that as, 'He's so dignified.' I'm not dignified, I just didn't know what to say."
PA