The Stage

Ross suspended for 3 months

Published Friday 31 October 2008 at 11:10 by Matthew Hemley

Jonathan Ross has been suspended from the BBC for three months on no pay for the part he played in prank calls made to actor Andrew Sachs.

Ross will not be permitted to do any broadcasting for the show until mid-January 2009.

His suspension follows the resignation earlier this week of Russell Brand, with whom Ross made the prank calls to Sachs, best known for playing Manuel in Fawlty Towers.

Ross and Brand left messages on the veteran actor’s answer phone when he did not pick up the phone for a prearranged interview.

They said Brand had slept with Sachs’ granddaughter and that the actor might kill himself when he heard the messages.

Following the incident, thousands of people complained to the BBC about the messages, which were prerecorded but cleared for broadcast on Brand’s Saturday night BBC Radio 2 show on October 18.

Director general of the BBC, Mark Thompson, yesterday met with the BBC Trust about the incident, following which it was announced Ross had been suspended for three months and Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas had resigned.

Thompson said: “The ultimate editorial responsibility for BBC programmes lies with producers and editorial managers. The consequences of errors of judgement are therefore more serious for managers. Nonetheless, Jonathan Ross’s contribution to this edition of the Russell Brand Show was utterly unacceptable and cannot be allowed to go uncensured or without sanction. A 12-week suspension is an exceptional step, but I believe it is a proportionate response to Jonathan’s role in this unhappy affair.”

He added that Ross “fully understands the seriousness of what has happened” and said: “I have made very clear to him the central importance of the clause in his contract about not bringing the BBC into disrepute. We agree that nothing like this must ever happen again and that tight discipline will be required for the future.”

At the meeting with the trust, Thompson outlined a series of proposed management actions to be carried out as a matter of urgency, including a comprehensive review of compliance procedures across all radio output at the BBC, with recommendations for action to be delivered to the BBC Trust by December.

Thompson also announced that the director of BBC Audio and Music, Tim Davie, had been tasked with ensuring that all programmes are re-assessed for editorial risk and that all those identified as representing a high risk have additional and strong oversight.