Second Radio 2 exec quits

The Andrew Sachs phone-call row has cost another senior BBC executive their job.

David Barber, Radio 2’s head of specialist music and compliance, is the second executive to have resigned , following the departure of controller Lesley Douglas last month.

His role included checking the content of programmes before transmission.

Meanwhile, BBC Radio 2 is to broadcast an apology to licence fee payers over the ‘the serious breach of editorial standards’ in airing Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross's obscene phone messages.

The apology will be aired twice, first at 10am on Saturday when Ross's show would have gone out, and then at 9pm in Brand's former slot. Ross was suspended for three months over the row, and Brand resigned.

The apology – approved by the BBC Trust which oversees the corporation – reads: ‘On 18 October, 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.’

The pair joked that Brand had slept with 23-year-old granddaughter Georgina, leaving graphic messages on four separate messages. The calls were recorded two days before they went out, even though Sachs registered his disapproval.

Although only two listeners complained at the time, the figure rose to more than 42,000 after the case was taken up by the newspapers.

In resigning, Brand said he took ‘complete responsibility’ for the incident, while Ross issued a statement saying he was ‘deeply sorry’ over the incident.

Ross has also stepped down from hosting next month’s British Comedy Awards in the wake of the scandal.

Published: 7 Nov 2008