Comic speaks as BBC bungles its apology

In his first interview since the scandal broke, the comic said the worst comments were never broadcast – and added that he thought the Fawlty Towers actor had given them tacit approval for the segments to go ahead.

In an interview with The Observer, he said: ‘We were told that Andrew Sachs had okayed it.

‘The grey area is that our brilliant young producer Nic Philps called Andrew Sachs afterwards and said, “Is it OK, can we use it, do you mind?” And he said, “Oh yeah, but can you tone it down a bit?” So we did. We took out the more personal stuff.’

However, today’s Mail on Sunday, whose original story prompted the furore, says Sachs desperately tried to stop the broadcast, and offered to go onto Brand’s Radio 2 show the following week to avoid the messages being aired.

Brand and Ross left the messages after the actor failed to pick up the phone for a prearranged interview. Brand boasted of sleeping with Sachs’s 23-year-old granddaughter Georgina Baillie, with Ross leaving a string of obscenities on the voicemail. Much of the outrage stems from the fact the show was recorded two days before being aired on October 18.

Brand said today: ‘I don't think it would have happened on a live show, but because it was a prerecord situation it was a little bit more loose. But that doesn't take away from the fact that it was left on his answerphone.

‘The thing that I think was bad is that Andrew is a lovely man; like at the time you don't think, “Oh, he's 78 years old, this will upset him.” You just think, “Oh, it's a bit daft.”

‘There was no malicious intent - it was like an evolving, rolling thing. If you listen, I say sorry more than I say anything offensive - the message is mostly an apology. In fact, it’s the acknowledgment of how wrong it was that is the source of the comedy. What’s difficult about the whole thing is that it was completely devoid of malice, and there’s been a retrospective application of cruelty and intention to cause offence.’

Asked whether big egos like himself and Jonathan Ross are hard for producers to keep under control, Brand said: ‘Yeah, I think so. I think that's relatively fair: myself and Jonathan are quite experienced broadcasters. I take complete responsibility. I don't think this is a situation where I'd go, “Oh my god, why didn’t you protect me from myself, Nic Philps?”

‘I completely and utterly take responsibility. I've apologised unequivocally, I've resigned from the BBC.’

Respected Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas was also forced to resign in the wake of the controversy, and on Friday David Barber, the station’s head of specialist music and compliance, also quit. Ross has been suspended from his £6million-a-year BBC contract for three months without pay.

Radio 2 yesterday broadcast an apology to Sachs in the slots previously occupied by Brand and Ross’s shows – but managed to further anger Sachs in the process.

The corporation failed to check the wording of their message with the actor, who rang the BBC after the first apology, at 10.03am, to complain that it only mentioned him and his granddaughter, and did not acknowledge the harm the affair had had on his wife Melody and Georgina’s mother, Kate.

Sachs told the Mail on Sunday: ‘'I rang the BBC and thanked them for the apology but I said I was very concerned that my wife and Georgina's mother didn't get a mention.

'I told the BBC they could have avoided all of this if they'd rung me before they broadcast the apology to check I was OK with the wording.’

Yesterday's first on-air apology said: '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 later announcement, at 9.03pm, was amended to extend the BBC’s apologies to his wife and family.

Published: 9 Nov 2008