Bob Mills said she could be 'cured' of homosexuality

The BBC has apologised for a radio show in which comic Bob Mills discussed ‘curing’ Clare Balding of homosexuality.

Corporation bosses have admitted they ‘got it wrong’ over Saturday’s broadcast of the Radio 5 Live show Fighting Talk.

During a section of the show called Defend The Indefensible, host Colin Murray asked Mills to argue the case for the statement: ‘Give me 20 minutes with her and I'm sure I could turn around Clare Balding.’

In his reply Mills said that Balding was a ‘horse woman’ who ‘appreciates... a bit of power between her thighs’.

He then added: ‘All I am saying is, there is not a woman in the world who cannot be cured.’

Boos were heard from the 5,000-strong audience in Liverpool's Echo Arena, where the show was broadcast live as part of the station’s Big Day Out.

Five viewers complained about the segment, which has now been removed from the iPlayer catch-up service.

Ben Summerskill, from gay rights campaign group Stonewall, called the show ‘canteen bullying from the 1960s'.

In a statement, the BBC said: ‘Fighting Talk is a live programme and on this occasion we got it wrong.The Defending the Indefensible item was inappropriate and as such we have removed this short section of the programme from iPlayer.’

Published: 3 Jun 2013