THE BBC Trust has strongly criticised the corporation for "a catalogue of editorial and management failures" that allowed the recording and subsequent broadcast of lewd calls by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand to actor Andrew Sachs.
In the now notorious edition of The Russell Brand Show, the two presenters left messages on the 78-year-old Fawlty Towers actor's answerphone, saying Brand had slept with Mr Sachs's granddaughter and joking that Sachs might kill himself.
The trust, which acts as the BBC watchdog, said the recording of the calls - amounting to "a deplorable intrusion" and "an unacceptable breach of privacy" - should have been halted by the show's producer, and noted the absence of one from Brand's production firm "with sufficient seniority and experience to oversee this challenging programme".
It was "not rocket science" to have expected a show featuring Brand and Ross to cause trouble, Chairman Sir Michael Lyons said yesterday.
The resulting furore saw Brand quit his BBC show, the resignation of two senior BBC executives and Ross's suspension from the airwaves for three months. Despite speculation that Ross might be forced to stand down, the trust upheld the BBC's action and said it would not be seeking further sanctions against the presenter.
Labour MP Alan Simpson last night tabled a House of Commons motion criticising Sir Michael and colleagues, and urging Ross's dismissal. He said: "In any other organisation the chief executive and chairman would have sacked the person on the spot and I think it is a measure of the extent to which either the BBC, or the media in general, feel that they are in a different world that does not hold itself to account in a way that every other institution in society would."
Liberal Democrat MP Phil Woolas also insisted Ross should be sacked, saying: "I think once again the BBC have demonstrated that it is one law for its highly paid stars and one law for everyone else. When we are forking out millions of pounds of taxpayers' money on presenters, the least we can expect is a level of propriety commensurate with what the public considers decent."
BBC deputy director general Mark Byford maintained that Ross was worth his reported £18 million (€21.26 million) three-year contract. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's PM show, he insisted: "I think Jonathan Ross is much valued by many licence payers across the land." Pressed as to whether he was worth £6 million a year, Mr Byford replied: "The BBC think the contract he has had is worthy of his talent, yes."
The trust upheld complaints about an edition of BBC One's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in which Ross swore and "used the f-word in an overtly sexual context" to tell actress Gwyneth Paltrow that he would like to sleep with her. It reminded BBC staff that "the casual gratuitous use of the most offensive language is not acceptable on the BBC, in accordance with the BBC's existing guidelines and practices".